Forest Certification in India

T R Manoharan FSC National Representative for India

01 July 2013

IGNFA Dehradun

Eco labels

Forest Certification

Chain of Custody certificate (CoC) is a process of tracking wood products from

the certified forest to the point of sale to ensure that product originated

from a certified forest.

Forest Certification refers to two separate processes:

forest management unit (FMU) certification is a process that leads to the issuing of a certificate

by an independent party, which verifies that an area of forest/plantation

is managed to a defined standard

From forests to stores with FSC

Forest Management (FM) certification

Chain of Custody (COC) certification

Forest

Retailer

Processor

Forest Management (FM) certificate

• An internationally recognized forest management standard

• Applicable to all types of forests worldwide, including natural forests and plantations

• 10 Principles and 56 Criteria, with locally developed indicators

• Forest operators following the FSC requirements with the certificate can sell their products as FSC-certified

Forest

Chain of Custody (COC) certificate

• Confirm the FSC materials are kept segregated and document system is properly maintained

• Audited annually by independent certification bodies

• Required for all organizations that have legal ownership of the FSC certified products who want to:

– Process or transform FSC certified products

– Affix FSC Product Label to show its FSC status

– Pass on the FSC claim to the subsequent buyers through sales and delivery documents (i.e. the buyers who further process, or want to make FSC claims about their purchases)

FSC

• An independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization guided by its multi-stakeholder membership

• Founded in 1993 after the 1992 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, by concerned business representatives, social groups, and environmental organizations to promote:

– environmentally appropriate,

– socially beneficial, and

– economically viable

…management of the world's forests

• Based on participation, democracy and equity

• Equal voice and power for: social, environmental, and economic interests, North and South (industrialized & developing countries)

Unique Governance Structure

© Jurie Senekal / FSC

FSC activities

• Setting standards for responsible forest management

• An accreditation/certification system to monitor adherence to FSC standards

• A product labeling system that rewards responsible forest managers

FSC Supply - Chain of Custody

FSC -10 Principles

1. comply with international, national and local laws and FSC Principles,

2. respect tenure & use rights and responsibilities,

3. protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights,

4. assure community benefits and worker’s rights,

5. generate multiple benefits from the forest,

6. manage and limit environmental impact,

7. compile and follow a management plan,

8. monitor and assess forest management impact,

9. maintain High Conservation Value forests,

10. ensure that plantations comply with FSC principles.

1. Compliance with Laws

2. Workers’ Rights and Employment Conditions

3. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

4. Community Relations

5. Benefits from the Forest

6. Environmental Values and Impacts

7. Management Planning

8. Monitoring and Assessment

9. High Conservation Values

10. Implementation of Management Activities

FSC 10 Principles - Revised

Why FSC has an international standard ?

FSC Principles and Criteria

• Provide an internationally recognized standard for responsible forest

management

• Harmonizing framework for addition of indicators implemented at the forest

management unit (FMU) level

• FSC Principles and Criteria plus a set of local indicators constitute an FSC

Forest Stewardship Standard

• Avoid Technical Barriers to Trade rules and meet WTO agreements.

FSC Product Labels

• Affixed by Certificate Holders on products to illustrate the FSC status of the forest-based content

• Allow end consumer to distinguish products from FSC sources

(1) FSC 100%

All materials are from FSC-certified sources

(2) FSC MIX

The materials contain a mix of FSC-certified sources and eligible recycled fibre, and from FSC Controlled Wood.

(3) FSC Recycled

The product is made from recycled materials

Maintaining an unbroken supply chain

• FSC claim can only be passed down from a Certificate Holder to its buyers

• If any company along the supply chain is not certified, the FSC claim terminates at this company, no matter the product has the FSC Product Label or not

Forest

(Certified) (Certified) (Certified) (Not certified) (Not certified)

In this case, the Printing House is not certified. Even the Printing House

purchased FSC paper for printing, their productions has lost the FSC

Claim. Hence, the bookshop cannot claims their books are FSC certified

How to pass down the FSC claim

• Upon obtaining FSC COC certification, each certificate holder will receive two codes:

1. FSC Trademark License Code

• This code grants the license for using FSC trademark. It is used on FSC Product Label or Promotional Panel

2. FSC COC Certificate Number

• This code refers to the certificate obtained by the companies. The COC Certificate Number has to be written on the sales document (e.g. invoice / delivery document) to pass down the FSC claim

FSC® C000000

The symbol, ® or TM, refers

to the registration status

of FSC trademark in the

product distribution region

Randomly generated six digits

code, specific to each Certificate

Holder, different from the FSC

COC Certificate Number

1. FSC Trademark License Code

FSC Product label

Affix on end-products to show

the FSC status

It contains the FSC status,

100%, MIX, or Recycled

Promotional Panel

Used in promoting FSC as a

system of the FSC status of

products (e.g. on promotional

materials / websites / reports)

“C” refers to “Certificate Holder”

SGS-COC-000000

Abbreviation of the Certification Body

The type of certificate obtained,

COC or FM/COC

Randomly generated six digits

code, specific to each

Certificate Holder

2. FSC COC Certificate Number

To pass down the FSC claim

FSC COC Certificate Number and FSC status

of the product must be written on the sales

document

How to check the materials is FSC certified

• Certified products need to be described as such on sales document (e.g. invoices) with an accompanying FSC COC Certificate Number of the supplier

• ‘Vague claims’ or documentation are not accepted – Statements about company policy

– From a “sustainable source”

– ISO 9000 or 14001 certification

– ‘our company has an FSC chain of custody’

– Copy of FSC certificate

– Phyto-sanitary certificates

Procedures for checking

1. Look for COC Certificate Number and FSC claim for each item

2. Verify the company’s FSC certificate at FSC Online Database, http://info.fsc.org or with the certification body directly

Supplier validation

Check the supplier FSC COC Certificate Number

to confirm the validity of the company

Forest certification in India

Description

2007

2012

No of Chain of custody Certificates

4 354

FSC Certified Forest Management Areas (Ha)

688 418018

FSC Forest Management Unit Certificate (FM/CoC) in India

Certificate Holder

Area

(Ha) Species

State Year

New Ambadi Estate (P) Ltd

688 (Rubber) Tamil Nadu

2007 and

12 Sept 2012

Patneswari Agri. Co-

Operative Ltd. (PACL)

928

Eucalyptus camaldulensis;

Acacia mangium; Eucalyptus

tereticornis Orissa 3 Nov 2011

Society for Afforestation,

Research And Allied Works

(SARA)

10643

Eucalyptus tereticornis;

Eucalyptus spp; Acacia

harpophylla; Eucalyptus pellita;

Dalbergia sissoo; Leucaena

leucocephala; Eucalyptus

urophylla; Eucalyptus urograndis Karnataka 13 Dec 2011

ITC Limited - PSPD Unit

Bhadrachalam 8028 Eucalyptus spp; Andhra Pradesh 22 Feb 2012

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and

Papers Limited

19561.49

Eucalyptus spp; Gmelina

arborea Roxb.; Dalbergia sissoo;

Acacia mangium; Melia

azedarach L. Tamil Nadu 6 July 2012

Bhamaragarh Forest

Division, Maharashtra

Forest Department

(Government of

Maharashtra State) 378170

Tectona grandis;Terminalia

spp.;Bombax ceiba L; Dalbergia

sissoo; Pterocarpus marsupium

Roxb.; Dendrocalamus strictus Maharashtra 12 Dec 2012

Total 418018.49

FSC Support from Business and NGOs

Govt. initiatives

Ministry of Environment and Forests

• National Working Group on Forest Certification by MoEF in May 2005

• Three committees: Certification Criteria, Certification Processes, Accreditation Criteria & Processes

• First meeting of three committees, October 2007

• Constituted NationalForest Certification Committee(NFCC) by merging three committees (Chair: Dr Maharaj Muthoo).

• First meeting of NFCC Dec 2008

• NFCC submitted Final Report in Sept 2010 with recommendation to establish Indian Forest Certification Council (IFCC)

• Stake holder consultations conducted by the MoEF in 2011 at various levels and prepared a frame work.

• IFCC is not yet established.

EPCH, Ministry of Textiles

• Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), set up by the Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India is providing incentives for certification for wooden handicraft exporters.

Challenges

• Inadequate awareness on the benefits of forest certification in domestic markets

• Absence of approved national standards or indicators for forest certification. In the absence of local standards/indicators, Certification Bodies will use interim standards developed by them for certification.

• Lack of policy guidelines from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India to third party, voluntary and private certification schemes to forests/plantations managed by the government.

• Cost of certification, in particular to SMEs.

Opportunities

• Green Public Procurement

• FDI in retail sector by MNCs (many of them have committed to FSC globally)

• Legality requirements in International Markets: US Lacey Act ( amended in 2008), EU Timber Regulation, effective from 3 March 2013, Initiatives in Australia, Japan.

• Linking with programmes and projects (both Govt and Corporate) to support sustainable standards

• FSC established Standard Development Group in India in 2012 to develop national standards/local indicators for India to the FSC International Standards.

Suggestions

• Policy guidelines on Forest Certification on Government Forests/plantations.

• Incentives for forest certification, support to small holders, farm forestry/social forestry schemes at various levels

• Promote Green Public Procurement to generate demand in the domestic market

• Create awareness on the benefits of certification

• Support the development of national standards, indicators with a view to adapt certification in the national and local contexts.

Thank you