In February 2015, Madinter was awarded the first STTC award for its work with Sustainable Tropical Timber.
The European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition (European STTC) has recognized with this award the work of Madinter to increase demand for timber from sustainably managed forests.
Tropical forests are the origin of over 80% of the wood that Madinter sources. Some of the most valued species in the music industry grow in these forests: Ebony, Madagascar Rosewood, Indian Rosewood, Ovangkol, Sapele, African and American Mahogany…
At Madinter we want to guarantee the future of these precious woods, often endangered by irresponsible forestry practices.
This is why we are strongly committed to responsible trade, we exclude from our supply any wood that comes from illegal logging and we support forest certification as a guarantee for the consumer.
Almost 30% of our wood is FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council®) certified, and we work every day to increase this number.
Whenever a species is available with FSC® certification, we purchase it from a certified supplier.
When this is not possible, we work together with our suppliers to help them become certified.
However, not all species can be certified with the FSC® parameters, which has led us to look for other ways of certification and continue to offer the best guarantees to our customers.
New routes to certification
Madinter’s ebony comes from our factory in Cameroon, which we manage together with Taylor Guitars, our partner in this project. We are the biggest legal producer of ebony in the country, with a quota of 1200 tons for 2016.
The ebony is extracted from community forests through the permits that the Government of Cameroon gives to the producers. Unfortunately it is not possible to have our ebony FSC® certified, as the forests are not private, and therefore they cannot have a management plan.
We have established our own traceability protocols through the use of GPS, in order to guarantee the legal origin of the wood and the supply chain.
Researching new woods with Copade and Fair Timber®
Our commitment to Sustainable Tropical Timber extends to other species that are not as well known in the music sector. We are working with Copade and with the Honduran cooperative COATHLAL, researching new species of wood to introduce in to the music industry.
At the same time, we are working with Copade to certify our company with Fair Timber®. This certification unifies both sustainable forest management guarantees and compliance with the Fair Trade principles.
About the STTC
The European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition (STTC) is an alliance of industry, business, government and NGOs dedicated to increasing European demand for sustainably sourced tropical timber.
Working in close partnership with the European Timber Trade Federation (ETTF), the STTC’s aim is to develop the market in order to incentivise the growth and spread of responsible forest management in tropical countries.
Madinter is a member of the STTC coalition since its establishment.
Learn more about the Coalition and its activities here.