Some of the world’s poorest people have opened up a new source of revenue by selling the world’s first sustainably harvested African blackwood from their forests.

The timber harvest was carried out under the strict criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and is destined for woodwind instrument manufacturers in the UK.

The harvest is the first step in a new campaign called Sound and Fair which aims to realise a sustainable trade in African blackwood through a fully-certified chain of custody linking village communities in Tanzania to woodwind instrument musicians in the UK.

The timber was felled in late 2009 in a Village Land Forest Reserve managed by Kikole village, in Kilwa District, south-eastern Tanzania. Kikole received a payment of around £1,200 in return for 15 cubic metres of African Blackwood.

Previously the community would only have received around five pence per log. In all Kikole were able to realise an income nearly 400 times more than they would have received previously on the 63 logs which were sold.

Kikole intend to spend the money they have raised on improving the road to the village, improving market access for impoverished farmers and providing local employment.

Mr Mwinyimkuu Awadhi, Chairman of Kikole village, comments: “In 2009 the communities of Kikole Village we have realized for the first time the benefits from selling our own timber. All the money was paid to the villages unlike in the past where by this money would have gone to the government. We the villagers now have full control of our forest resources and we will benefit even more when we do more harvesting in the near future.”

Local resident, Mwanaisha Likoko adds: “Changes have come to our village through the forest we own and manage under our control, the money we have received will be used within our village to improve our social services.”

Kikole’s forest reserve was established in 2006 after the District Council approved a management plan which the community had prepared setting out how they intended to manage the forest sustainably.

In 2009, Kikole became the FSC certified, community-managed forest in Africa, via an FSC-group certificate managed by the Mpingo Conservation Project, the Sound and Fair campaign’s Tanzanian partner.

Neil Bridgland, Sound and Fair Campaign Manager says: “This harvest represents a sea change for forest communities in Southern Tanzania.  For the first time, they have security over their natural resources and can reap the benefits from them. The challenge now is to persuade UK classical music instrument manufacturers and users to accept FSC certified timber as standard so creating the necessary demand for African blackwood that will enable the roll-out of Kikole’s success across Southern Tanzania.”

Jasper Makala, National Coordinator of MCP in Tanzania says: “Community forestry is not just about giving local people a stake in how the forests are managed, but ensuring they can reap the benefits. This is both social justice and effective conservation.”

From Kikole village, the wood will soon be taken to an FSC certified sawmill, where it will be sawn into billets for export to the UK.

Dr Azim Fazal, Director of the sawmill, Sandali Wood Industries, says: “This is a proud moment for us. Now we hope that Western buyers will embrace FSC certification and start discouraging enterprises who harvest and process irresponsibly.”

On arrival the wood must then be properly seasoned (dried out), a process which takes at least one year. It is expected that the first FSC-certified blackwood instruments will be available in the UK from summer 2011.

DOWNLOAD PDF OF PRESS RELEASE – 19 JANUARY 2010

It features the results of a small consumer survey of musicians covering customer types, key issues, demand assessments and perceived willingness to pay a premium for musical instruments made from certified timber.

Download PDF version of African blackwood instruments consumer market report (2008)

Key Findings

Broadly speaking, classical musicians are typically highly aesthetic people, creative yet precise in the way they play their music, and similarly so in the way in which they engage with life in general.

As such, the appeal of a fairly traded, certified instrument tends to fit well with the typical musician’s personality and purchasing decisions.

Ethics, moral choice and environmental sustainability are important to these consumers. Conservation and fair trade concerns are most important of all.

Consumers can be classified as professional, semi-professional or amateur. Students, depending on their levels can be regarded as either semi-professional or amateur.

Professionals may play in symphony orchestras, as soloists, as chamber musicians or in specialist associations such as early music ensembles.

Symphony players are the most common, making up perhaps three-quarters of professional woodwind players.

Chamber musicians account for an estimated 15% of professionals whilst approximately 5% are soloists and an estimated 5% are specialist performers.

The purchase of a premium oboe or clarinet represents a major investment and instruments are usually repaired rather than replaced, but the wear and tear on woodwind means they are replaced more regularly than say string instruments.

Buying a musical instrument is, in retailing parlance, a ‘want’ rather than a ‘need’ purchase.

Typically the need for a functional instrument is outweighed by the aspirational aspect of buying an instrument, a purchase that makes the musician feel that not only are they investing in quality, and they are improving themselves and benefiting their audiences by paying extra for a better product.

Linked to this is the critical issue of quality. It is clear from this research that to reach the requirements of a musician, particularly above the amateur level, a fairly traded, certified product will not be enough to sway the potential buyer.

The most important factor in deciding on a purchase is not its price, nor the origins of the wood, nor the social and ecological impact, but the intrinsic quality of the instrument itself.

Qualities of sound, of feel, of function, and of material are all essential to the buyer. Yet if the quality aspirations and requirements of the consumer can be met, strong demand exists for FSC-certified, Fairtrade and other ethical products, sold with a price premium, especially at the top end of the market.

A product’s provenance and added value is a selling point. Consumers generally are increasingly making buying decisions on a product’s ‘eco-value’, especially for premium and luxury products, and FSC-certified instruments would fit well into this picture.

In the current eco-conscious consumer market, asking buyers of musical instruments to pay a small percentage price premium is a realistic proposition.

Some 78% of musicians questioned stated they are willing to pay a more for a certified, fairly traded instrument, with three quarters of those indicating they would be prepared to pay a premium of between 10-25%.

This aspect of the research is absolutely fundamental to the viability of the project.

End consumers have indicated a willingness to pay the premium that is necessary to fund the FSC certified supply chain that will deliver increased incomes to forest- dependent communities.

Download PDF version of African blackwood instruments consumer market report (2008)