In a time where the world’s forests are threatened by illegal logging and high rates of deforestation, DLH is committed to the responsible sourcing of wood products. To help achieve this goal, we have established the Good Supplier Programme (GSP).
GSP is a tool used to collect and evaluate information on how suppliers produce, process and trade wood. Information is collected primarily on origin, legality and verification and certification. GSP serves as a risk-assessment tool covering all tropical countries as well as Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and China.
During 2010, in view of our new corporate strategy and in line with our commitment to continuously improve our work on CSR, we have revised and further developed GSP. The new edition of GSP will allow DLH to: 1) improve data gathering and analysis; 2) collect further information and documentation on timber origin and legality; and 3) collect information on social and labour standards at the supplier level. The new GSP is expected to be fully operational early in 2012.
How does the Programme work?
GSP is based on self declaration from the supplier. Our local procurement staff receives the information from the suppliers and evaluate it based on their specific knowledge of each supplier and country in question.
GSP does not substitute independent third party verification or certification. Therefore, we encourage our suppliers to obtain full verification of legality from an independent third party or to aim for full certification in accordance with an international acknowledged certification scheme.
What are the major achievements?
GSP was first launched in 2002 in a number of African countries. Since then, the GSP has been revised several times and today it covers all tropical countries, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and China. More than 700 suppliers are currently participating in the programme. GSP has proven to be an excellent "early warning" tool that allows us to be pro-active in problematic situations. As a direct consequence of GSP, we have stopped procurement in some countries and regions altogether and are phasing out suppliers from high risk areas that are not able to provide us with adequate information.
Results 2010
In 2010, 96% of all purchases from risk countries were covered by GSP and DLH had information on the origin of 87% of all timber purchases in risk countries covered by the programme.
These results are promising in terms of DLH’s mid-term goal of being able to document the origin and legality of all timber purchases, but unfortunately, the results are below the targets for the year.
During 2010, DLH underwent a transition period and major organizational changes worldwide. Thefocus was set primarily on strategic issues, thus affecting operational processes such as GSP and GSP targets. With the new structure in place in 2011, DLH will set focus on developing new and improved plans to achieve the targets. The new GSP, as it is intended to improve data gathering and analysis, will play a key role in this respect.
The goals for 2010 have been reset for 2011, as we are firmly committed to improving our performance. They are as follows: