Dezeen promotion: there are just three weeks left to enter the Timber Trade Federation's Conversations about Climate Change design competition.
The competition challenges designers and craftspeople to create innovative, playful and thought-provoking designs using sustainably sourced tropical timber, in a bid to show the importance of the natural resource.
Creations can be anything from a piece of furniture or a sculpture to an installation or a functional design object. The competition closes for entries on 24 August 2020.
The competition challenges entrants to create "conversation pieces" from sustainably sourced tropical timber
According to Hopkins, responsibly foresting and sourcing timber is an "essential part of the solution" in reducing harmful carbon emissions. However, tropical forests are often taken advantage of, and forest land is cleared for other uses. The FLEGT initiative helps combat illegal logging, subsequent illegal timber trade and deforestation.
"We have focused on tropical timber as this is the main area that needs attention internationally," said Hopkins. "We are trying to encourage better and more responsible sourcing of product, along with better understanding of the UK & EU's FLEGT Action Plan."
"FLEGT is designed to improve governance and management of forests in the tropics, encouraging investment and trade as a result. We're very much in favour," he continued.
"Research shows that timbe...