When asked what came through most strongly from the ‘Sustainable forestry in the bioeconomy transition: how to achieve ambitious goals for biodiversity’ session, participants said:
- The need for robust scientific data
- The opportunity to make science more accessible for engagement with stakeholders
- Shared data needs to work across different sectors and geographies
- The importance of indigenous communities and knowledge
The IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 saw a dynamic fishbowl session hosted by Florence Curet from the IUCN Business and Nature team and led by Dr Healy Hamilton, Chief Scientist from Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Dr Hamilton was joined by three members of the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition, Annika Nordin from Stora Enso, Yuuko Iizuka from Sumitomo Forestry Co, Ltd and Giordano Automare from Suzano, alongside Professor Philip McGowan from Newcastle University and Anand Punja from Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC).
These worldwide leaders in the forestry industry from Sweden, Finland, Brazil and Japan discussed what the launch of the new IUCN RHINO approach and the STAR metric mean for measuring progress and delivering nature-positive outcomes.
The forestry industry holds power and responsibility, as a major landowner. There was consensus among the panellists that the forestry industry plays a critical role and delivering ambitious goals for biodiversity starts with quantification through robust scientific measurement.
“I was thrilled when I came across STAR - this metric can be directly linked to the normal decision support system we use in Sweden and Finland at Stora Enso,” Annika Nordin, Senior Vice President Sustainability at Stora Enso.
“We are proud to be one of the first companies to explore the potential of IUCN RHINO, as it helps make tangible the critical role our industry plays in biodiversity conservation. Importantly, it also supports the alignment of our strategy with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and our commitment to nature-positive outcomes,” Giordano Automare, Sustainability Executive Manager at Suzano.
The discussion addressed what true sustainability in the sector requires, the growing availability of data, the role of regulation and certification, and the need for accountability, transparency and collaboration. The panel discussed how too much data can be overwhelming in what they described as the ‘freeze effect’ and the need for the standardisation of data to drive comparability and accessibility. Panellists agreed that ‘outcome-based' data offers organisations a new opportunity to better connect to markets and finance for improved forest stewardship.
Philip McGowan, Professor of Conservation Science and Policy at Newcastle University, involved in a collaboration with Stora Enso, Newcastle University and IUCN, said: “It is an exciting time to be working in this space, and we are progressing with the tools we need to respond to the urgent challenge and opportunity on time.”
Participants also highlighted the vital role indigenous communities and diverse views play in species protection in forestry. In the words of one fishbowl participant: “The exchange between companies, academia and indigenous knowledge is the promising way forward for Nature Positive approaches. This session demonstrated this convincingly.”
Get involved here www.iucnrhino.org