Worldwide many indigenous peoples depend on the forests for their livelihoods. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), half of the indigenous population lives in the tropical rain forest, which is known to harbour 80 per cent of the world´s biological diversity. The Netherlands is one of the world´s largest importers of tropical timber, importing 700,000 m3 annually in the period 2007-2008.

In the past years, Together with other NGOs and parts of the business sector in The Netherlands, NCIV lobbies to make the timber market sustainable. As a result of this, from 2010 on, the Dutch government aims that all its administrative bodies purchase 100% sustainable timber. In order to be able to decide what is sustainable timber the Dutch government developed the Dutch Timber Procurement Criteria. In this process, NCIV successfully advocated the inclusion of safeguards for the rights of indigenous peoples in these criteria. Subsequently, the Timber Procurement Assessment Committee (TPAC) was appointed to judge which timber certification systems are conform with these sustainability criteria.