Trailblazers: The Story of Sustainable Timber In India

The demand for timber furniture from India is on the rise each year. Yet, the Indian timber market is perceived as unsustainable, with no visibility on where the wood comes from or who provides it, or who all are part of the supply chain.

Earthworm Foundation, through its WCS (Wood Control System) initiative, began working with sawmills - the centre point between exporters and farmers - to ensure that the wood can be traced to the farmer who provides it.

Thanks to the initiative of some of India's largest exporters, WCS has now evolved into SAMEDH, a movement that combines agroforestry and sylviculture, to enable the farmer to plant trees even as he harvests them.
The end result;
An alternate income source.
Timber traceable to the source farm.
An agroforestry movement driven by the farmers.

SAMEDH also brings together supply chain players who traditionally don not come together - the exporter, sawmill owner, farmer, the government, and scientific experts - to find common ground.

This video is part of Earthworm's work in India, specifically in the timber supply chain, initiated by brands, that focuses on agroforestry as a pillar of productivity, and where the farmer and the sawmill owner is the primary driver of change in the supply chain.

The WCS and SAMEDH initiatives are financially supported by Heritage Furnitures, Sharma Furnitures, Basant Furnitures, JC Antiques, and benefits from the engagement of communities, local government, and other local stakeholders.