Forests – and the wildlife and people that depend on them – have been at the heart of the WWF and IKEA partnership since it began in 2002.

Together, the partnership has supported forest conservation efforts in 21 countries, improved sourcing practices and transparency, and strengthened supply-chain resilience for forest-based materials.

Forest landscapes & stewardship

The WWF and IKEA partnership has contributed to efforts to conserve biodiversity including threatened species in forest landscapes while supporting forest stewardship and the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, for example:

• • Advancing responsible forest management in the Central Annamites of Viet Nam with the objective of contributing to positive outcomes for biodiversity and local communities – since 2008, WWF and IKEA projects have contributed to over 24,000 hectares of acacia plantations securing Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) certification, with more than 3,000 plantation owners benefiting.
  • Supporting responsible rattan production to conserve forest and support local livelihoods in a key orangutan corridor in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, as well as in Laos supporting communities in 30 villages to responsibly managing 30,000 hectares of forest for non-timber forest products.

The partnership has also worked to strengthen forest policy and governance at national and subnational levels to support improved forest management and efforts to reduce illegal logging, for example:

• • More than 90% of virgin and old-growth forests in the Carpathian region of Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine have been mapped, and more than 75% of them are protected – 30,000 hectares of which are UNESCO designated.  

Seeding impact and innovation

WWF and IKEA are also supporting the adoption and testing of best practices to incentivize responsible forest management, biodiversity conservation and more equitable forest governance. This work includes strengthening Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, piloting approaches to empower communities and improve governance, and developing new tools and guides. Through WWF’s Forests Forward programme, IKEA’s experience is used to encourage wider engagement from private-sector actors.

Responsible sourcing and transparency

The IKEA and WWF partnership has supported IKEA’s goal of securing only FSC-certified or recycled wood sourcing. Starting from a 2010 baseline of 10%, since 2020 IKEA has been above 95% and on 96,5% in FY25**. In 2023, IKEA took a bold step in transparency by releasing a public global wood supply map – among the first publicly kinds in the sector –  which identifies where its wood is sourced and which tree species are used. The partnership has also helped to increase the global availability of responsibly harvested wood and other non-timber forest products. 

*Responsible forest management refers to a set of measures and safeguards – applied in forests managed for wood or other forest products –  that avoid deforestation and protect vulnerable forests from illegal logging, encroachment, and agricultural conversion. Tailored to forest type and local conditions, it safeguards high conservation values, biodiversity, regeneration, ecosystem services, soil, water, and climate resilience, while supporting the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous People and local communities, worker welfare, and smallholder interests – often benchmarked by credible third-party certification (e.g. FSC). These ecological, social, and economic functions must be sustained at local, national, and global scales without harming other ecosystems, current or future generations. 

**Updated annual figures on the IKEA wood supply map.

From 2025 to 2030, the WWF and IKEA partnership continues this legacy of wide-ranging work, including a focus on forest landscapes in Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Romania, Slovakia, Thailand, Ukraine and Viet Nam. As well as bolstering work on responsible forest management and supporting livelihoods, this phase of the partnership also includes an increased emphasis on forest landscape restoration in Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Many challenges remain, but together, WWF and IKEA are demonstrating approaches intended to support forest stewardship alongside livelihoods and business resilience.