About the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade Program

Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) is a five-year program with substantial funding provided by USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) from 2006-2011. RAFT influences the development and implementation of the public policies and corporate practices needed to improve forest management and bring transparency to the timber trade in Asia, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. We do this by:

Working as a Partnership. RAFT amplifies the impact of existing networks, expertise and resources by strategically bringing together partners working toward a common set of goals.

Working Across the Supply Chain. RAFT supports and aligns efforts all along the global timber supply chain that are needed to put into practice responsible forestry and trade.

Connecting Policy and Practice. RAFT informs policy-making processes with experiences from the ground, and translates good policies into good practices through training and demonstration of sustainable forestry and supply chain management techniques.

RAFT is managed by The Nature Conservancy and implemented in partnership with IUCN, RECOFTC –The Center for People and Forests, The Forest Trust (TFT), the Tropical Forest Foundation (TFF), TRAFFIC– the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network and WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN). In addition to these key implementing partners, RAFT works with government, industry, inter-governmental organizations and academic institutions from across the region and beyond.

RAFT works in eight countries in Asia and the Pacific: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam.