forest stewardship council pub 2009

7/30/2019 Forest Stewardship Council Pub 2009

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A PuBlICATIon oF THE ForEST STEwArdSHIP CounCIl

The Hma FactThe Evimet,a Histic Appach

The Ecmic Agmet


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A PUBLICATION OF THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNC

A message fromExecutive DirectorAndre Giacini de Freitas

started with the innovative idea to

bring diverse interests together in

one forum and nd solutions to the

pressures facing the worlds forests. Our global community

now includes a growing international staff, dedicated

national initiatives in over 55 countries, thousands of

forest managers and business leaders, and over 800

international FSC members. Weve joined forces to face

challenges and effect lasting improvements in forest

management. Now in our 16th year, we can clearly

see the impacts of our collective efforts.

FSC is fast-growing with over 1,000 Forest Management

certicates and 15,000 Chain of Custody certicates in

more than 100 countries around the globe. More than

117 million hectares of forests are certied to FSCs

Principles and Criteria, including small, low intensity

and community managed forests where FSC certication

can have profound effect.

The tremendous growth in certicates and the continual

adoption of FSCs Principles and Criteria shows how FSC

certication is integral to improving forest managementworldwide. The measurable effects of FSC standards,

governance and processes on improving social, socio-

economic and environmental conditions become

increasingly evident.

Still, our shared concerns remain urgent matters, and FSC

remains dedicated to its vision that the worlds forests

meet the social, ecological and economic rights and needs

of present and future generations. The complex issues in

forestry today span a wide range of considerations including

ecosystem services, indigenous peoples rights, the fate offorest-dependent peoples, protection of high conservation

value forests, workers rights, and improved access to

benets for small and community forest operations.

FSC remains central to these dialogues. Widely recognized

as the highest social and environmental criteria, FSC

certication is the most credible way for forest managers,

businesses and governments to engage with the global

consensus on responsible forest management. The

democratic, multi-stakeholder structure of FSC facilitates

solutions towards environmentally appropriate, socially

benecial and economically viable forest management.

With this publication we share not only our vision and

mission, but some of the stories where FSC certication

is making a lasting impact. As the worlds forests and

the millions of people that depend on them face new

pressures, FSC will continue to play a central role in

the global efforts to save the worlds forests.

Sincerely,

Andre Giacini de Freitas

Executive Director, FSC

FSC


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Table of Contents

Taking Responsibility for Our Planet:

An Idea Whose Time Has Come ................................5The environmental movement has raised alarmsabout the extent of humankinds inuence on thenatural world for decades. Why stewardship ofour natural resources is more important than ever.

The Forest Stewardship Council: Who We Are ..........6

An introduction to the Forest Stewardship Council,including the mission and goals of the organizationand FSCs three-part vision encompassing the social(human), ecological (environmental), and economicpotentials inherent in sustainable forestry.

The Human Factor ..................................................12

A look at how FSC certication impacts people incountries worldwide, including case studies thathighlight examples of successful partnerships.

The Environment, a Holistic Approach ....................18

A detailed examination of the planets fragileecology and the role that forests play in the earthswell-being. Also, how intelligent managementcan help protect vital ecosystems and the rareand threatened species that call them home.

The Economic Argument ........................................24

Properly managing forest resources is not just thesocially responsible thing to do, it makes goodeconomic sense. How FSC certication offersnew opportunities to market timber and non-timberforest products and helps preserve resources forfuture generations.

Looking Forward: FSCs Role in New Challenges ....31

The Global Strategy commits FSC to continued

leadership in advancing responsible forestmanagement globally. It particularly stressesthe importance of making progress with smallforest owners, certication in endangeredtropical forests, and growing the marketshare for FSC-certied products.

Publisher

Jeffrey Barasch

Editorial Director

Wendy Murphy

Art DirectorBruce McGowin

Project Coordinator

Justin Colby

Contributing Writer

Don Heymann

IMPACTis published exclusively for

the Forest Stewardship Council by:

Onward Publishing, Inc.

in partnership with

National Geographic Magazine

6 Bayview Avenue,

Northport, NY 11768

Phone: 631.757.8300

www.onwardpublishing.com

This publication is adapted

from the 2009 report

FSC Impacts and Outcomes

available online at

www.fsc.org/fscpublications.

2009 Forest Stewardship Council, A

All rights reserved.

Cover Photo: San Rafael Falls on the Coca

River in wet temperate rainforest, Ecuador.

Inside Cover Photo: Waterfall in pristine

tropical forest, Sierra Tamaulipas, Mexico.

FPO


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Taking Responsibilityfor Our Planet:

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

or thousands of years the environmental impacts of

humankind were relatively small. While communities

tapped the natural world for its resources, their inuence

was small on a global scale. The picture changed rapidly

with the industrial revolution and the subsequent growth in

populations and consumption. As we were marveling at the

growth of new technologies, early environmentalists were

beginning to catalog measurable changes to the earths health.

During the 20th century the worlds population increased

from 1.5 to 6 billion. Energy use grew by a multiple of 14,

CO2 emissions by 17, and industrial production by 40. Today

we are using about 25 percent more resources every year

than the earth is able to produce an unsustainable decit.

The modern environmental movement sprouted from

the aftermath of World War II, and has continued to gain

momentum. In 1972, the United Nations Conference on the

Human Environment in Stockholm declared, A point has

been reached in history when we must shape our actions

throughout the world with a more prudent care for their

environmental consequences. This conference laid the

groundwork for the new environmental agenda of the UNand for the Earth Summits and agreements that have followed.

In the 1980s the UNs Brundtland Commission conducted

extensive worldwide studies to gain perspective on the

environments most pressing needs. Their 1987 report,

Our Common Future, warned that despite growing evidence

of the declining state of our biosphere, the scale of human

encroachment continued to grow. The report urged all nations and

organizations to devise ethical and social practices that would lead

to better management of the earths resources. They popularized

the term sustainable development, dening it as development

that meets the needs of the present without compromising the

ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

This concept of sustainable development is clearly linked to the

common human value of justice intergenerational justice

that recognizes the rights of future generations to inherit a

livable planet; intra-generational ethics that asserts that the

living share the worlds resources justly rather than according

to relative power or wealth; and bioethics which recognizes

that society bears a responsibility for protecting nature.

Since the Brundtland Report the world has seen the

environmental vision gain ground both in developed and

developing countries. Earth Summits have been held in Rio de

Janeiro, Johannesburg, and Copenhagen, and at each delegates

have grappled with the central question of how to balance

preservation of common resources with human advancement.

Out of this movement came international actions that have

brought environmental issues within the context of global

economic and trade policies. Eco-labeling, which aims to

measure a products ecological and social inuence over its

life cycle, has given environmentalists a signicant tool by

which informed consumers can speak with their wallets.

The Forest Stewardship Council is the oldest and best known

of these certication processes.

F


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Boreal forest in the Pechora-Ilych Reserve, Russia.

The Forest Stewardship Council:

Who We Are

orests have been worshipped in ancient religions

and continue to be held in reverence in the folklore

of many peoples. And with good reason.

They provide us with clean water and fresh air. They anchor

the soil in watersheds, control damaging runoff, and prevent

desertication in arid lands. They provide food, fuel, medicine

and important natural resources such as timber for building.

They provide habitat for the majority of the worlds birds andanimals, while providing recreational and aesthetic benets

for humans. They make an important contribution to climate

regulation and carbon sequestration. Lastly, they provide

income and ways of life for countless humans, some in

developed countries, many more in developing countries.

Three major types of forests exist, classed according to

latitude. Each supports a variety of native wildlife and is

responsive to a host of environmental forces including

temperature, soil and water conditions. Boreal forests (taiga)

represent the largest forest communities or biome, found

between 50 and 60 degrees north latitudes, in a belt stretchin

from Eastern Siberia through Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska

Their predominately evergreen needle-bearing conifers tolerat

cold temperatures and a short growing season. Temperate

forests occur primarily in northeastern Asia, western and

central Europe, and eastern North America between latitudes

25 and 50 degrees north. Temperate forests thrive in

well-dened seasons with a moderate climate and a growing

season of 140 to 200 days during four to six frost-free months

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Fests ccpy appximatey e-thi f Eaths a aea actai abt 70 pecet f cab peset i ivig thigs.


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In natural forests they typically support several broad-leafed

deciduous tree species within a single community among

them oak, hickory, beech, hemlock, basswood, birch and elm.

Tropical forests, characterized by a habitat that supports the

greatest diversity of plant and animal species, occur near the

equator within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees

north and south. Their seasons are divided not by temperature

change but by rainy and dry conditions, and they grow

undisturbed in nutrient poor, acidic soil.

Since the 1980s its been clear to every segment of the

scientic community that the worlds forests are drastically

stressed. Research on forest ecosystems indicates that

forests in general, and tropical forests in particular, are

deteriorating at a frightening rate, taking with them valuable,

irreplaceable human, environmental and economic resources.

The strain on forest resources comes from two main activities:

commercial use of wood for building materials and other

products, and from deforestation. The latter is due to landuse changes, including the expansion of agriculture, ranching

and mining developments, uncontrolled res, illegal logging,

and the construction of dams and irrigation in forested

areas. Along with the decline of forests, the socio-economic

conditions of the traditionally forest-dependent people who

live there are being disrupted. In some countries as much

as 80 percent of the timber harvested today is done so

illegally, often in violation of human rights, often with little

or no recognition that the forests economic value can

exceed that of the activities that replace them when they

are systematically and scientically managed.

In 1993, some of the worlds leading environmental groups

became frustrated that their efforts to inuence governments

or intergovernmental agencies to take appropriate and timely

action in stemming forest losses had not been fruitful. Good

intentions were foundering under bureaucratic wrangling

and political indecision. Meeting in Toronto, Canada, some

130 participants from 26 countries formed a voluntary,

non-prot, non-governmental organization (NGO) called

the Forest Stewardship Council. FSC quickly took the lead

in establishing the worlds rst global forest certicationsystem, initially from its ofces in Oaxaca, Mexico and later

from its international headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

FSCs essential idea was relatively simple: Set responsible

forest management principles, have national and subnational

committees develop standards based on regionally appropriate

forest types and climate conditions, and bring in independent

parties to audit forestry operations for compliance. This would

introduce voluntary policy changes through commercial

rewards rather than through external regulatory enforcement.

Companies or agencies that passed the audits would receive

FSC certication, a public badge of honor, that over time

would lead to greater market acceptance among concerned

customers while bringing improvements to the forest

environment itself. Initially FSC leaders focused on certifying

natural tropical forests, where forest losses were happening

faster and where the need for quick action was demonstrably

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Lowland tropical rainforest with epiphytic growth on canopy,

Papua New Guinea.


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most urgent, but they soon found footholds among forestry

companies operating in natural, mixed and plantation

forests in temperate and boreal zones.

FSC spurred a revolution in forest management, with

numbers of competing forest management certication

systems being created since the 1990s. Most of these serve

national or regional forest programs, and each claims topromote improved forest management practices using

some level of verication, but none has the global reach,

or is as rigorous in its certication principles as FSC, and

virtually all of the competitors are dominated to some degree

by commercial forest interests. The FSC is well known for

its stringent forest management standards, but what really

sets FSC apart is the transparency that permeates all its

certications, says Rod Taylor, director of WWF Internationals

Forest Program. FSC has from its beginnings sought to engage

a broad range of stakeholders including some groups who

have never before had a voice in evaluating what constitutesresponsible practices in their communities.

FSCs Tripartite Mission

To set the stage for this broader

outreach, FSCs governance

structure is based upon an equal

balance of voting power among

the various social, environmental,

and economic stakeholders

impacted by forest management.

It also recognizes in its internal

voting equal representation

from the northern and southern

hemispheres. Two ideas drove

this critical balancing act. The

rst was to eliminate the natural

tendency for business interests

to dominate in policymaking;

the second was to ensure that

the more developed nations of

the north could not dominateat the expense of southern

hemisphere nations, an issue

that had remained unresolved

at the Rio Conference and

had played a role in the notable failure of that body to

achieve a binding forest agreement the previous year.

FSCs core document is the Principles and Criteria (P&C) for

forest management. The P&C describes how a forest should

be managed to meet the three coequal social, environmental

and economic needs of the present and future generations. To

achieve certication applicants must adhere to ten principles

built around responsible forest management, including:

Compliance with all applicable laws and international treaties. Demonstrated and uncontested, clearly dened, long-term

land tenure and use rights.

Recognition and respect of indigenous peoples rights,

a still disenfranchised community of stakeholders.

Maintenance or enhancement of long-term social and

economic well-being of local communities and forest workers.

Reduced environmental impact.

Maintenance of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs)

where important ecological conditions are protected and the

fauna and ora therein are conserved. Moreover areas ofoutstanding cultural or economic signicance for the forest

populations must also be maintained.

Lumber worker holding FSC logo stencil


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Under the FSC approach two facets of stewardship are audited

for certication: forest management (FM) and chain-of-

custody product management (CoC). FM goes right to

the forest source and includes forest planning, inventory,

timber harvesting, forest road construction, worker treatment,

water and soil protection and other on-the-ground operations.

Silviculture practices, which include how a working forest

regenerates to ongoing nursery practices and timber stand

improvement, are monitored with particular rigor.

CoC certication includes the credible tracking of FSC material

from the forest, through all the production processes, until it

reaches committed retailers and consumers. Only FSC/CoC

certied operations are allowed to label products with the

coveted FSC trademark. The range of FSC products that

currently carry the FSC/CoC label range from paper and

lumber to furniture, jewelry, musical instruments, footballs

and cosmetics.

Because of our core mission, FSC is recognized by the World

Trade Organization (WTO), the International Organization for

Standardization (ISO), and the World Bank, as well as many

government bodies who not only make procurement of FSC

products a priority but also contribute directly to FSC funding.

FSC sets the framework for the maintenance of standards, the

protection of its copyrighted certication logo, and educational

outreach to the public and the marketplace. It also operates

a decentralized network of national initiatives and regional

ofces in more than 50 countries around the world. A national

initiative, FSCs voice in the region, can be a contact person

or a multi-stakeholder working group, promoting FSC by

providing information, running marketing campaigns, and

offering support to local groups interested in promoting

sustainable forestry. In countries without national initiatives,

FSCs regional ofces provide more comprehensive services.

By design, FSC does not participate directly in certication.

This critical component is carried out by independent third-

party organizations called certication bodies, whose function

is to evaluate on-the-ground compliance with FSCs Principlesand Criteria. As of late 2009, there are 22 certication bodies

accredited by FSC; many of these independent accreditation

agencies have multiple regional ofces around the globe, the

better to have presences close to where the forests are.

Forest owners who seek certication must apply to one of

the certication bodies, submitting basic information on the

physical size of their forest operation, the species harvested,

whether natural or plantation, and the quantities of timber or

other forest products being extracted annually. Applicants also

provide data on the numbers of workers involved and other

key indicators that relate to FSCs principles. If they pass the

pre-assessment, at least one auditor, typically a professional

forester, but often a team of auditors with such interdisciplinary

Temperate forest, Mexico.


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A PUBLICATION OF THE FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

skills as anthropology and social science, depending upon the

complexity of the site, arranges to conduct the rst of several

inspections in collaboration with local experts and perhaps

a translator. Stakeholder groups wildlife specialists, for

example, or local elders from indigenous communities living

in and around the forest may also be invited as observers.

Often the auditors have to travel to remote areas and stay

for several days or even weeks, conducting their surveys

in sometimes physically rigorous settings. CoC certication

typically involves visits to several sites, wherever in the

world processing and manufacture take place. Auditors

must certify that products which met FM standards are the

only ones moving through the subsequent chain of custody.

Often the auditors will nd it necessary to issue one or more

Corrective Action Requests or CARs. A minor CAR indicates a

partial failing, not so severe as to prevent certication, but one

that must be remedied within an agreed upon time frame. A

major CAR is a fundamental failing, one so signicant as toneed remedy before certication can be considered. Producers

who achieve certication also undergo annual surveillance

audits, sometimes unannounced, over the ve-year life of

the certicate, after which a full certication survey must be

undertaken again. Auditors are required to publish a public

summary of the principal assessment and the annual audits

as well, including all CARs raised and their resolutions.

FSC by the Numbers

After nearly 16 years in operation, FSC is actively promoting

responsible forest stewardship in more than 100 countries

worldwide. Through the joint efforts of different FSC

supporters and constituencies, more than 117 million

hectares of forest are managed and certied according

to FSCs high standards. Thats roughly ten percent of

the worlds managed forests.

Markets for certied products continue to be strongest in

Western Europe and the United States, though FSCs message

is gradually gaining attention around the world. Retail home

improvement chains such as Lowes and Home Depot in the

U.S., B&Q, Homebase, Sainsbury and Meyers in the U.K., andIKEA, the Swedish retailer, are among the best known retailers

to use their commitment to FSC principles in their marketing

and consumers are demonstrating their appreciation in their

purchasing choices. In the articles that follow you will read

about some of the specic ways in which FSC is having an

impact on the human, environmental, and economic well-beingof forests across the globe.

Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Mount Hood National Forest, U.S.


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The Human Factor

orests are home to an estimated 800million people around the world,

including some 60 million indigenous

peoples. Community-owned property

rights the de facto arrangement for

many forest dwellers, particularly in

developing countries often exist

outside the constitutional frameworks

of their governments. The post-colonial,

post-monarchical legal systems adopted

by many states throughout Asia, Africa,

Central and South America, typically follow

conventional Western rules when it comes

to property rights. Nothing less than formal

legal documentation will do signed

contracts, recorded land transfers, settled

population centers, and the like.

This has left large segments of indigenous, nonliterate,

semi-nomadic forest dwellers disenfranchised, treated as

squatters regardless of their multi-generational presence in

the forest. Into these legal voids come new government laws

that assert national ownership of their forests, ostensibly asguardians for all their citizens. But because these governments

typically lack the expertise to manage these precious resources,

management responsibilities have routinely been turned over

to independent logging concessionaires in exchange for the

payment of modest royalties. At best the money goes to support

the state bureaucracy; at worst itnds its way into private accounts;

rarely do the people at large benet.

In such arrangements there are

few if any incentives to manage

timber resources in a sustainable

manner, or to protect the forest-

based cultural heritage.

Into this breach, FSC has focused

much attention on identifying and

protecting traditional local property

rights, and while the problems of

illegal timber operations continue

to grow in many places, FSC

certication has brought about

notable victories in some areas.

Worlds Apart in the Congo

Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), a subsidiary of the Danish

timber company Dalhoff Larsen & Horneman Group, is the

Congos largest private employer. From its operational center

in Pokola, a community of 13,000, it manages ve concessions,roughly 1.3 million hectares, within the Congo Basin. Pokola

now has electricity, running water, schools, brick housing for

employees, a hospital, and high-capacity sawmills. In the

process the town has grown from a small shing village on a

gentle bend in the Sangha River to its present size in a few short

years. Yet only a few kilometers away in the surrounding tropical

F

Sciay beecia fest maagemet heps bth ca pepe a

sciety at age ejy g-tem beets a as pvies stgicetives t ca pepe t sstai the fest esces a ahee

t g-tem maagemet pas. Taken from FSCs Mission Statement

A Baka Pygmy family by their temporary leaf house in the rainforestof Republic of Congo close to the Cameroon border.


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forests 9,000 Mbendjele Pygmies practice a lifestyle that is

closer to the Stone Age. Semi-nomadic, pre-literate hunter-

gatherers, they are skilled with bow and arrow and possess

the wisdom that comes from living in harmony with their

surroundings for countless generations. They know little of

Pokolas culture and want no part of it.

The CIB began its application for FSC certication focusing

on the Kabo concession, with the intention of certifying the

remaining four concessions as they learned what forest

management practices would need to be changed. It took

several years and the assistance of an assortment of

environmental agencies to assess CIBs operations, identify

gaps in performance, and bring them into line with FSC

certication standards. The Tropical Forest Trust (TFT), a

non-prot organization based in Switzerland that advises

timber traders on good forest management practices and

tropical forest conservation, led the effort with assists from

Greenpeace, The World Bank, the Wildlife Conservation

Society, the London School of Economics, and several other

NGOs and development agencies to achieve certication.

The task was daunting. CIB already had a good record

with protecting the environment, but no experience with the

indigenous people from whom they had to obtain free, priorand informed consent to achieve certication. Consent could

come only from people whose knowledge of their territory

was communicated in very specic terms to the loggers and

for whom assurances of protection could be made. But due

to the Mbendjeles reclusive lifestyle, the fact that they speak

no European languages, live in groups of 30 to 60 people with

no recognized leaders, and are often hard to locate in their

wanderings, getting their consent and providing the evidence

was going to be extremely difcult for CIB to achieve.

Mapping the Mbendjeles critical sites was the rst essential

step, but how to do it? The Mbendjele not only were

unfamiliar with maps or compasses; they had no conceptof Earth! After extensive consultation with anthropologists

and others familiar with Mbendjele ways, it was determined

that the best solution would be to teach the Mbendjeles to

plot their prized locations with GPS-enabled devices adapted

to their particular preliterate skills.

Dr. Jerome Lewis, an anthropologist at the London School of

Economics and an expert on Pygmy culture, helped design

a software package called CI Earth that runs on a rugged

hand-held GPS device with a receiver powerful enough to

pick up satellite signals even through the dense forest canopy.

To get around the literacy obstacle, Lewis, in concert with the

Pygmies, devised a set of pictograms representing activities

and resources most vulnerable to damage from logging and

therefore off limits to CIB. The users could simply walk their

usual forest paths, pressing combinations of buttons and

icons to describe the signicance of each site and identify their

precise longitude and latitude coordinates. This data could then

be transmitted to a remote computer where the information

could be stored and analyzed by CIB forest managers so that

loggers could mark their own maps with the locations of

sacrosanct places, not to be disturbed by logging activities.A pictogram of a domed hut indicated a camp site; a small

syringe meant a tree of medicinal importance; other symbols

indicated burial grounds, natural springs, shing holes, sites

of spiritual signicance. Migratory routes of game and choice

food gathering locations a patch of wild yams, a sapelli tree

known for its tasty caterpillars also had their pictograms.

Reportedly, it took no more than a two-hour eld tutorial to get

the most venturesome Mbendjele off and running. The elders

were not far behind in trying and mastering the GPS devices

and the youngest members of the clan seemed to intuit the

technology as though they had been raised on video games.

With this success, CIB nally had an effective means of

working cooperatively with the indigenous people and in

2004 the Kabo concession became the rst forest in the

Republic of Congo to achieve FSC certication.

Pygmies using GPS to save sacred sites and ecologically sensitive

areas, Republic of Congo.


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CIB and TFT did not stop there, however. Given that the

Mbendjeles are often on the move, the TFT thought a more

reliable means of communication would be mutually valuable

and they set up a radio station. This was another unknown

technology but like the GPS it gained rapid acceptance.

Pygmy-managed Radio Biso Na Biso (Between Us in the

local Lingala language) began broadcasting from Pokola in

2008. Two thousand inexpensive portable wind-up radios

were distributed to families under a World Bank grant. Biso

Na Biso provides public service programming news on

forestry issues, cultural programming including traditional

music, reports on health services available, newsashes when

illegal logging is suspected, and other discussions of general

interest to the community. All of these features contribute to

the empowerment of the Mbendjeles as they consolidate their

place in a changing world. And it is providing a shining model

for other FSC-inspired programs in other parts of the world.

The Democratic Impulse Awakenedin Nepals Forest Model

FSC also provides protection for resources other than those

sought for timber harvest. A case in point is the effort that has

gone into monitoring more than two dozen non-timber forest

products (NTFPs) in Asias Nepal. This certicate the rst

for NTFPs in Asia covers products ranging from handmade

papers and essential oils to beauty products and Ayurvedic

medicines sold on the international market. And it brings new

benets to a number of poor and marginalized groups living in

the temperate forest regions of Dolakha and Bajhang provinces.

A little background: Nepal is situated in the southern Himalayas.

It is ranked near the top in its diversity of plants, butteries,

birds, freshwater sh and other growing things, but its forests

have been severely degraded since the late 1960s owing in

large part to clearing of the hilly lands for agricultural purposes.

Due to changes in government laws, and terrible experiences

with mudslides, strenuous efforts have since been made to

replant many of the eroded hillsides.

A largely Hindu nation, ruled by a monarchy until only recently,

its caste system is a principal feature of social organization.Nepal also has a number of indigenous peoples such as the

internationally known Sherpa who are marginalized, have

little opportunity to participate in economic and social

decision-making, and are generally impoverished.

More than 80 percent of Nepals population is now dependent

on forests and agriculture for its livelihood. The forests are

largely government-owned but managed by local people

organized into legally-recognized Community Forest User

Groups (CFUGs), of which there are approximately 14,387

managing about 1.2 million hectares of forest. While the

concept of CFUGs seemed a viable route to better forest

management, the reality was that these community forests

were still far from sustainably managed. Try as they might to

make headway, the CFUGs failed for decades to adequately

protect the resources they had owing to their lack of expertise.

What was desperately needed were people with professional

sales and marketing skills.

To resolve the problem the Nepalese government, the Ministry

of Forests and Soil Conservation, and a number of outside

conservation agencies banded together in 1995 to create the

Federation of Community Forestry Users, Nepal (FECOFUN).

FECOFUN set some admirable goals to reduce poverty,

improve conservation techniques, reduce the exclusion of

women and other marginalized people from participation, and

put the distribution of prots from the sale of forest products

on a more equitable basis, setting aside moneys for community

improvement. FECOFUN received the support of the Asia

Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB),

which had the funds and experience to lead a unique alliance

of industry, government, NGOs, communities and forest

certiers toward the common goal of FSC certication.

A view of the Himalayas, Nepal.


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This, they argued, would rmly link Nepali suppliers with

international NTFP buyers and markets.

In time a group certication model was adopted with FECOFUN

working as a resource manager on behalf of the CFUGs. To

participate in the group certicate CFUGs had to apply to

FECOFUN and comply with the forest management guidelines

prepared by them. FECOFUN for its part was to providecapacity building support on the ground and monitor the

CFUGs for compliance.

In January 2004 the Rainforest Alliance/Smartwood awarded

FSC forest management group certication to FECOFUN on

behalf of its CFUGs, which were initially 11 in number but

have since grown to 21. Smallholder group size varies from

65 to 544 households and from 28 to 1,981 hectares per group.Additionally, eight forest enterprises have received FSC Chain of

Custody certication, including the rst handmade FSC-certied

paper in the world. (The richly textured, parchment-like Mailika

paper is made from the bers of the Lokta bush, which grows

at Himalayan heights of up to 2,700 meters. The bushes

regenerate in cycles of four to six years and have provided

Nepalese papers for royal documents for some 13 centuries;

they are now available globally providing the basis of a thriving

economy in the Bajhang region.)

While there have been many benets to certication, the

strengthening of democratic institutions within these

communities ranks near the top. CFUGs in Dolakha, for

example, have negotiated settlements with Yak grazersover tenure and territorial issues, and created a micro-loan

program for its poorer members. Sociologists studying the

impact of certication in Nepal also note that social change

has come to the role of women, who have gained a political

presence in community decision-making. And the work of

donor communities and NGOs in generating knowledge has

provided the Nepalese with opportunities to innovate and

experiment in ways previously not part of their cultural mindset.

Guatemalas Win-Win Experience

In 1990 the government of Guatemala created the MayaBiosphere Reserve (MBR), comprised of over 2 million hectares

in northern Petn. Rich in biodiversity, the MBR is home to

hundreds of species of animals including jaguars, pumas, howle

monkeys, scarlet macaws, and literally hundreds of other bird

species. Many of the MBRs people are descendants of the

ancient Mayans, but hold no title to the land on which they live,

having only what is known as usufruct (revocable users) rights.

Guatemala divided the MBR into three zones with varying

degrees of resource management. The rst zone was a core

protected area, including the World Heritage archaeological

site of Tikal with its more than 4,000 Mayan ruins, which was

designated for strict protection. Second was a multiple use

zone, designated for managed and sustainable low-impact

activities such as extraction of high-value rain forest timber

and non-timber forest resources; only forest concessionaires

who achieved FSC certication were permitted to operate here

for concession periods of 25 years with the option to renew.

Third was a buffer zone, a 15 kilometer-wide zone at the

southern limits of the MBR where eld agriculture and private

land ownership were permitted. The governments goal in all

this was to preserve the regions natural and cultural heritagein the face of rapid population growth, an expedient culture

of slash-and-burn agriculture, and increasing pressures

on the biosphere from tourism which was rapidly rising.

They also hoped to develop a model for monetizing the

value of environmental services to the benet of potential

buyers and to those with patrimonial rights to the land.

The bark of the Lokta plant is used to make prized Mailika paper.


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By late 2007 nearly 60 percent of the multiple use land where

harvesting is permitted was FSC-certied. Today, 12 community

and two commercial concessions manage local timber

industries, all of them certied by the Rainforest Alliance to

meet the standards of FSC. Uaxactun, a town of 850 people

located in the rainforest north of Tikal, is one such community.

Chicle, a tree sap used in chewing gum, was the basis for the

local subsistence economy until Uaxactun teamed up with the

Rainforest Alliance to seek one of the governments long-term

concessions under the FSC umbrella. Getting certied was

pretty difcult, explains Benedin Garcia, one of the groups,

founding members. We felt inconveniencedbut in the long

run, we realized that those changes were essential for improving

our forest and addressing our communitys basic needs.

Today, with the help of trained foresters, Uaxactun logs less

than one percent of the concession each year, allowing the

remaining 99 percent of standing wood to grow and regenerate.

Despite the low harvest rate a mix of 300 or so mahogany

and other trees annually the community has been able to

construct a sawmill where it lls specialty wood orders such

as those that go into Gibson guitars. They also export weekly

shipments of jade palm leaves (xate) to the a U.S. oral

supplier. And they employ a trained accountant as well as

a vigilance committee to respond to forest res and other

threats. They also spend generously to educate their children,

maintaining a small high school and sending the best and

brightest to Saturday computer classes in the provincial

capital. We want the next generation to be ready, explains

Floridalma Ax, secretary of the forest cooperatives board.

The nearby village of Carmelita has had a similar evolution

since certication. In 1997 the Guatemalan government

awarded the community, home to 75 families, the rights

to manage roughly 53,800 hectares. With the help of the

Rainforest Alliance they became FSC-certied and found

international markets for their chicle, xate and woodproducts. The remote community has not only gained a

steady income for its people but it has also invested its

communal prots in a potable water system, a new

elementary school, a health center, and a soccer eld.

It has also made investments in its industrys infrastructure:

tractors, new saws, re-ghting equipment, and two new

structures in which to store wood and mill logs to order.

Carlos Crasborn, president of the Carmelita concession, is

grateful for all that FSC certication has brought to Carmelita

but hes not ready to rest until Carmelita invests still more in

education. The people from the community are key to the

forests.They are more likely to care for and protect them.

We want children to stay in the community, and to do this

we must have the facilities to educate them up to 18 years.

While the decision to grant any forest concessions within

the reserve had been a contentious issue initially, it proved

to be strategically advantageous to the long-term protection

of the forest. As compared with other parts of the Maya

Biosphere Reserve, the multiple-use zone has experienced

dramatically fewer res and the deforestation rate in

FSC-certied concessions has been as much as 20 timeslower than in areas where any harvesting is technically

prohibited. The likely reason, say forestry experts, is the

greater degree of personal investment locals have in

monitoring forests that they see as their own.Top: Slash-and-burn farmers and illegal loggers have destroyed nearlyhalf of Laguna del Tigre National Parks forests in Guatemala. Bottom:Responsible logging practices in the Maya Biosphere Reserve provideincome for the Carmelita community while reducing the incidence of res.Photos: David Dudenhoefer, Rainforest Alliance.


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18 | IMPACT

The Environment, a

Holistic Approach

Evimetay apppiate fest maagemet eses thatthe havest f timbe a -timbe pcts maitais the

fests biivesity, pctivity, a ecgica pcesses.Taken from FSCs Mission Statement

he ecology of our worlds forests is tragically fragile.

Take, for example, the plight of young orangutans in

Borneo. Many of these gentle creatures are called oil

palm orphans because their forest habitats were destroyed

and parents killed by the swift growth of the oil palm

industry. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation is

providing protection for a number of orangutans, with the hopeof releasing them back into their natural habitat the majestic

rainforests and swampy peat lands of central Kalimantan.

But for many, this hope wont be realized, because suitable

habitat in Borneo and Sumatra the two islands that are

home to the worlds entire population of wild orangutans

is being deforested so rapidly that its becoming increasingly

difcult to nd locations.

Prime orangutan habitat in Kalimantan has declined by more

than 50 percent from over 14 million hectares in 1992 to

fewer than 7 million hectares today. Since 1975, the extent

of primary forest cover in Sumatra has decreased by more

than 90 percent. It is estimated that between 1,500 to 5,000

orangutans die each year, out of a population of only 54,000

in Borneo and 6,500 in Sumatra.

And thats just one species in one small area of the world.

While forests only cover about 30 percent of the worlds

T


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surface, they are home to about half of terrestrial

biodiversity and millions of the poorest people.

In addition to the tragic impact on animal and human

communities, the loss of tropical forests to agriculture

and other uses in many countries constitutes their

primary source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Cumulatively deforestation contributes to morethan a fth of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

Monitoring and Managing Forests

Now it will be easier than ever to assess the damage caused

by deforestation and the efforts to halt it. The Group on Earth

Observations (GEO), a global partnership of 80 governments

and more than 50 organizations, is launching pilot projects in

Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Guyana, Indonesia, Mexico, and

Tanzania to inventory forests and track rates of deforestation.

Such annual monitoring will play an important role in

supporting programs in which governments, conservationgroups, and investors pay to preserve tropical forests.

An international mechanism for preserving forests using

carbon credits is expected to be approved at the Copenhagen

UN climate conference in December. The only way to

measure forests efciently is from space, said Jose Achache,

director of GEO. Investors will want some sort of guarantee

that forests will remain there and remain in good condition.

Meanwhile, there is also hope on the ground. While simply

drawing a line around forests to preserve them is not

workable in every case, systems can be developed tobalance the needs of people and forests in ways that

reinforce sustainability, community livelihoods, biodiversity

conservation and carbon sequestration.

According to a new report from the World Wildlife Federation,

responsible forest management and logging in accordance

with FSC Principles and Criteria can preserve adequate living

conditions for great apes by forming corridors between

isolated great ape habitats. Since many great apes dwell in

logging concessions, their continued existence depends to a

great extent on how well they can survive in managed forests.In the past 50 years, the number of great apes living in the

wild has been cut in half, said Matt Lewis, senior program

ofcer for African Species Conservation. However, market-

oriented solutions like responsibly managed forestry can help

save them, along with stricter poaching controls and increased

protected areas.

Honduras Cooperative OvercomingObstacles to Achieve Success

Half a world away in Honduras The Regional Agroforestry

Cooperative, Coln, Atlntida, Honduras Ltd. (COATLAHL), whichrst obtained FSC certication in 1996, is making great strides

in responsible forest management. The cooperative holds a

group FSC certicate on behalf of 14 small timber-producing

community groups 180 individual producers who

manage 19,500 hectares of natural broadleaf forests.

An aerial view of the Mexico-Guatemala border demonstrates thepressures the worlds forests face as trees are burned and clearedfor corn farming.


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20 | IMPACT

COATLAHL, founded in the 1970s, is based in communities

in the Cordillera Nombre de Dios mountain range in Atlntida,

in northern Honduras. The highly biodiverse tropical forests

in which they work are public land, with permissions granted

to community forestry groups for management and protection.

COATLAHL provides marketing and sales services and hasa furniture workshop with a certied supply chain. Its main

products are sawed timber and solid wood furniture.

COATLAHL is a pioneer in forest certication. But as with most

pioneers, the journey has not been without challenges. In

addition to expectations of higher prices and market security

based on FSC certication, which were not initially realized,

there was also a crisis period of nancial insolvency and

spiraling debt due to a combination of problems, including

competition from illegal timber extraction. So, the cooperative

decided not to renew its FSC certicate when it expired in 2002.COATLAHL, however, did not give up easily, ghting from

the edge of bankruptcy and systematically addressing its

challenges. Together with the Danish NGO Nepenthes, and

with funding from the Danish development agency DANIDA,

COATLAHL decided to simultaneously seek FSC recertication

and establish a viable business.

After achieving recertication in 2003, they still faced two

major challenges: nding markets that would appreciate

their certied products, and building internal capacity and

working capital, to fulll large international orders and meet

client demands for quality assurance and timely delivery.

Nepenthes helped establish a relationship with a Danish

retailer (COOP Danmark) for the sale of furniture made

from lesser-known timber species.

COOP was interested in selling FSC-certied products from

rural cooperatives, but was initially unsure of COATLAHLs

ability to meet the requirements of quality and quantity.

In 2004 the retailer placed its rst order for 2,200 wooden

doormats, but requested an initial sample of 50 units. While

this seemed excessive to COATLAHL, the test was crucial

in building client condence. Since then, COOP has placed

subsequent orders for a range of products, and the Spanish

NGO COPADE has also helped to promote additional furniture

sales in Spain.

Having produced only small quantities of furniture previously,

COATLAHL was a bit intimidated by the size of their rst

international order. Thats when national and international

View down a rainforest river, Sarawak state, Malaysia.


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experts, supported by Rainforest Alliance and Nepenthes,

provided training, which helped develop COATLAHL members

skills in carpentry, timber drying and furniture production, and

prepared the cooperative for mass production. Subsequently,

through trial and error, COATLAHL also built a strong, direct

relationship with its principal client based, initially, on

Nepenthes bridge-building role.

Another huge challenge was to secure sufcient credit to

nance the production of the rst major order. No advance

payment was available, and with no property as collateral,

Honduran banks did not consider COATLAHL a suitable risk.

A long and difcult search nally led them to a government

fund for cooperatives which agreed to provide credit. With

this funding, COATLAHL was able to nish the production

run and pay off the loan within the agreed time frame.

Unfortunately, the search for credit had to be renewed the

following year, when the government fund changed its

rules, deeming COATLAHL ineligible. But now with a track

record thanks to its timely repayment of previous loans,

the cooperative was able to obtain bank-managed funding

in Honduras and internationally.

With these ordeals behind them, COATLAHL members grew

stronger and learned the benets of ongoing communication

and trust building with clients, and the importance of allies

like NGOs, which can build bridges to international markets.

They discovered the positive results of tenaciously snifng

out funding sources that may not be widely publicized. They

also learned the advantages of providing detailed, realisticand measurable investment plans and fullling loan conditions.

Now the challenges are more typical of an ongoing

enterprise broadening their international client base

and breaking into the national market, investing in improved

production processes to respond faster to client demands,

and obtaining higher prices so they can pass on the benets

of certication to their workers.

A Canadian Companys Resurgence

FSC certication helped Canadian company Tembec, Inc. the largest single holder of FSC-certied forest area in the

world survive an industry-wide downturn long enough

to be restructured and reborn.

During a time of rising costs and decreased product demand,

the rising interest in FSC-certied products and continued

support from loyal customers helped to keep Tembec alive.

Beyond Tembecs commitment to customer service, many of

its clients hung on because of the companys FSC-certied

quality products.

In February 2008, the company proposed an innovativerecapitalization plan that the Canadian court approved. James

Lopez, president and CEO of Tembec said, Moving forward

with a secure nancial footing and solid stakeholder support,

Tembec will continue to concentrate on generating superior

operating and nancial performance while remaining the

global leader in sustainable forest management practices.

Forest of poplar trees, Yukon Territory, Canada.


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22 | IMPACT

With a total of 11.1 million hectares of FSC-certied

lands, Tembecs entire group of pulp, paper and building

products facilities are FSC chain-of-custody-certied.

With operations in Canada and France, Tembec sells

pulp, newsprint, engineered wood, paperboard, softwood

lumber and hardwood ooring to international markets.

Tembec is the preferred supplier of FSC-certied lumber

to such major North American home improvement retailers

as Home Depot and Lowes. Other major pulp consumers

became customers and hung on because of certication.

Not a single signicant customer deserted the company.

In 2001, Tembec committed to certifying all forest lands

under its ownership and management according to FSC

standards. In November 2007 it achieved its initial goal

when the last of its forestry licenses, Pine Falls in Canada,

earned FSC certication. Even through these difcult

times, the company continues to invest in FSC.

Tembec recognized the need to certify our forestry

practices and FSC was a good t because of its

international scope, multi-sectoral governance structure

and emphasis on partnerships, said Tembec environmental

and aboriginal relations manager Chris McDonell. We

intend to expand Tembecs original commitment by working

with external supply partners to further extend the forest

areas under certication.

Building a Community of Family ForestOwners in the U.S.

Sound environmental stewardship and economic success

through a group FSC forest management model is also

exemplied in the United States where family forest owners are

gaining access to a growing market for certied products. The

group, run by Northwest Certied Forestry (NCF), has grown from

seven members in 2005 to 123 members in 2009, and has

expanded from the state of Washington to neighboring Oregon.

NCF provides a suite of services that enables small landownersto take a more proactive approach to managing their woodlands

and marketing their forest products. The NCF program has been

active in developing national support networks to help assist

with overcoming the challenges of pursuing FSC certication

and for making certication as simple and affordable as possible

for its members. The groups services help landowners manage

their forests for ecological and economic diversity, including:

marketing assistance for certied products, help with identifying

nancial aid programs, and more recently, ecosystem service

market development (e.g.: carbon credits).

Through its membership and the active support of staff in

developing new supply chains, NCF is creating a growing

network of landowners, manufacturers and distributors that

specialize in locally produced forest products certied to FSC

standards and that pursue innovative and entrepreneurial

approaches to forest management.

A Mule Deer crossing a stream at night, Washington, U.S. A Big Brown Bat clinging to tree, Oregon, U.S.


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NCF is one of the best models Ive seen for connecting

small landowners to markets and services, says NCF

member Joe Kane, executive director, Nisqually Land

Trust.FSC offers us an opportunity to distinguish our

products in the marketplace and NCF group certication

cut our costs by more than half, adds member Richard

Pine, ONeill Pine Company.

Originally founded in 1992, NCFs parent, The Northwest

Natural Resource Group (NNRG), aims to promote

innovative forest management strategies that improve

the health of forest and freshwater ecosystems while

increasing economic development in rural communities

throughout the Pacic Northwest of the U.S.

NNRG supports the growth of a protable, sustainable,

and environmentally sound timber industry. Currently,

123 members of the group are responsible for more than

17,800 hectares of certied forestland member land

averages 145 hectares in size, with a median size of

25 hectares. The program is open to many types of

landowners in Washington and Oregon including family

forests, small forestry companies, tribes, conservation

groups and public agencies.

NNRG was one of seven organizations that formed the

FSC Family Forests Alliance in 2006: This works at a national

level to assist group managers, and to implement strategies

and priorities for advancing family forest certication.

NNRG also participates in the Healthy Forests, Healthy

Communities Partnership (HFHC), a program managed

by Sustainable Northwest. HFHC maintains a group

chain-of-custody certicate that currently has 15

members offering lumber, ooring, cabinets, windows,

doors, furniture and other FSC-certied products.

There are challenges to serving a large geographic area

encompassing two U.S. states, and NNRG has responded by

establishing satellite ofces to serve specic areas and building

contract auditor networks in areas too distant from staff.

Although there is growing demand for FSC-certied

products, the region suffers from a lack of supply because most

of the large public and private landowners have not

had their forests certied. This has resulted in relatively

few sawmills getting certied. NNRG is addressing these

challenges by educating and advocating for greater

participation in forest certication throughout the region.

In 2008, in fact, the Washington State Department of

Natural Resources achieved FSC certication for a portion

(over 58,000 hectares) of its state-managed lands.

NCF also recently completed a strategic planning process to

address goals and milestones for the continued growth of

the certication program. The primary remaining challenge

is to grow the group to a size that is economically viable andself-sustaining, and NNRG aims to grow the size of the NCF

group to roughly 500 members by 2012.

To maintain management of such a large number of

members, NNRG is developing database software and

member management systems that will support record-

keeping needs and auditing requirements.

A Great Gray Owl in a boreal forest, British Columbia, Canada.


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24 | IMPACT

The Economic

ARGUMENT

ustainable management of tropical forests is one of

the most powerful alternatives to the consolidation

of a forest economy. Trade in wood and paper

products in particular has become truly global. Thanks

to the efforts of such organizations as FSC, Fair Trade,

and other certication systems, these markets have

grown to recognize and accept the need for social and

environmental safeguards in trade.

For forests, and the multiple products and ecological services

they provide, FSC has played a critical role in transforming

expectations about how forest management is practiced and

rewarded in the marketplace. FSC has succeeded for a

wide range of reasons the most widely known being

the higher prices that FSC-certied products can attain.

FSC tropical timber can be sold in Europe at higher prices

varying from 10 to 30 percent above non-certied products.This reality exists despite the consumers lack of desire to

pay more for a product that has guaranteed social and

environmental safeguards.

How is that possible? The answer lies in the knowledge

of the chain-of-custody process for forestry products that

eventually become furniture, doors, window frames or oors.

S

Ecmicay viabe fest maagemetmeas that fest peatis ae stctea maage s as t be sfciety ptabe,itht geeatig acia pt at the expesef the fest esce, the ecsystem, affecte

cmmities. Taken from FSCs Mission Statement


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Besides higher price tags, FSC tropical forest products

are unique. In many cases they are the only way to access

certain markets thanks, for example, to public procurements

in certain European countries and in some states of Brazil.

Many timber industries and retailers also committed

themselves to buy only FSC-certied tropical wood.

Additionally, FSC products present lower risk to the buyer

and the nancial community, because in general FSC-

certied companies are managed well. FSC principles,

criteria, policies, standards, and indicators are good

managerial tools for organizations. FSC products have

lower reputation risk, a crucial element in the tropical

timber market. The multi-stakeholder approach also

reduces conicts that can be a serious threat in the tropics.

All these issues can translate to reduced transaction costs,

which help explain why the demand for operators to follow

FSC principles has increased.

One of the major problems in tropical regions is a weak

institutional apparatus. The legal framework is fragile,

and law enforcement is inadequate. As a result, land

use and ownership are not clearly dened, causing all

kinds of conicts and forest misuse.


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26 | IMPACT

FSC principles mandate that all property and land use

rights be clearly dened to the satisfaction of allstakeholders before certication, which forces managers

to settle disputes fairly. This commitment to clear and

legal ownership has far-reaching implications. This is why

Brazil, for example, recently passed a law that incorporates

many aspects of the FSC principles for public forests.

Ultimately, FSC represents the success of the multi-

stakeholder process. Instead of governments setting

laws and rules, social, environmental and economic

constituencies all over the world are increasingly

playing a role in establishing frameworks that are

later incorporated by governments. As such, a paradigm

shift in institutional development is occurring.

Strength in Numbers in Portugal

In the case of the Grupo de Gesto Florestal da FLOPEN,

a forest group in central Portugal, many small, privately

owned forests in the Coimbra Region achieved certication

where there was no prior history of silvicultural planning,

and much initial skepticism about certication.

FLOPEN was the rst multiple-ownership, micro-properties

group scheme to be certied in Portugal. With no nationalprecedent to learn from, challenges were met by forming

strategic partnerships and by developing innovative

management planning tools.

The predominantly temperate and semi-natural forests of

the Coimbra Region are made up of very small, privately

owned properties, typically less than two hectares.

With years of forest properties being bought, sold and

divided through inheritance, information is often outdatedand incorrect, resulting in a general lack of planning and

intervention, and degradation of both landscape and native

habitats. Overall the region suffers from low productivity

and low market values for raw material.

Although FLOPEN group members were committed to FSC

certication, it was simply not possible to comply with all

the principles and criteria on such small scale operations,

particularly the requirements for establishing conservation areas.

And as the rst group scheme to be certied in Portugal

with no national precedent there was a general belief that

it couldnt be done on multiple-ownership micro-properties.

There was also some resistance to certication in the face

of the transparency requirements for chain-of-custody

certication. Timber was usually sold standing to a forest

contractor who then resold it to mills on delivery. The forest

owners were never aware of prices that the traders were

obtaining from mills, or how these compared with prices they

were setting for their raw material. Many contractors also were

not FSC-certied and were breaking the chain-of-custody.

In conjunction with SA Woodmark, the certication body, it was

decided that certication should be achieved at the group level.

Group structure was based on the already close collaboration

between the group manager (FLOPEN) and members. FLOPEN

inventoried and mapped all members properties to gather the

baseline data for management planning. Management options

were then discussed with and dened by the members,

according to their objectives.

A forest in Sintra, Portugal. Varieties of sustainably harvested woods from FSC sources.


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Certication pushed FLOPEN into devising new systems and

tools that worked for them. This included creating a databasethat enables the scheduling of operational activities, and

compiling GPS mapping data. With these tools, FLOPEN

was able to manage silvicultural operations and conservation

activities, and allow the members to share both mechanical

and technical resources and, therefore, costs.

As a result, FLOPEN is now able to negotiate better prices

with the mills for larger volumes of FSC-certied timber and

pass the new income directly to group members. This effort

helped to realign some of the power that the timber traders

gained through their closed negotiations with the mills.

Forest contractors sell their harvesting and transport

services to the FLOPEN group members in open bidding

sessions. Contractors have to prove they are in compliance

with legal health and safety requirements in order to

work in FLOPENs certied forests, and their operational

performance is monitored by group members to ensure

that FSC standards are maintained on site.

We have showed our members that they earn more by

being in the group than not in the group, not only in terms

of sales but also in having a close technical collaboration,

which raises the protability of forest management activities,

says FLOPEN executive director Joo Ribiera.

FLOPEN members have seen that thinking and acting as

one entity is more protable, both in sales and in technical

ability, than by acting individually.

Some remaining challenges for FLOPEN include educating

members on how to expand in an environmentally, economicallyand technically viable way, without affecting production rates or

conservation needs. They are also working on ways to protect

and enhance identied High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs)

using methodologies developed by the Portuguese national

initiative and the experience of existing FSC-certied companies.

Indonesian Smallholders Experimentin Cooperation

Indonesia has the highest rate of deforestation in the world.

But programs are under way to change all that.

One example of economic and environmental harmony is

in the formation of what is now a 550-member cooperative,

the Koperasi Hutan Jaya Lestari (KHJL), which received FSC

group certication in 2005. The group supplies teak for use

in the international furniture market.

When the cooperative rst received FSC certication, the group

of small forest owners, a membership of 196 individuals,

covered 152 hectares. Todays membership now covers an

area of 556 hectares. Along with FSC certication came

district and provincial recognition that these farmers provide a

signicant amount of teak to the international market, and thattheir needs should be recognized in regional forestry legislation.

The success of this effort has also led to an interest in

certication of other smallholder products such as cocoa,

cashew nuts, and black pepper, and information regarding

other forms of labeling and links to markets looking for such

certied products.

Cloud Forest interior, Mount Kinabalu National Park, Indonesia. Cocoa, a smallholder crop being considered for certication.


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28 | IMPACT

The background of this cooperative is instructive. In Konawe

Selatan district in southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, individual

families own one or more teak agro-forest plots with an

average size of less than one hectare. Due to legality

restrictions primarily related to the issue of harvesting

and transport permits most districts in the province

have only one or two wood buyers who could therefore

gain a monopoly over teak prices.

Not being organized into groups meant that individual farmers

in the district were obliged to sell their teak for very low prices.

The farmers partnered with Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) and

Jaringan Untuk Hutan (JAUH, Network for Forests). TFT is

a member organization comprised of retail companies in

Europe and America that are committed to buying tropical

hardwoods from forests that are FSC-certied or working

toward FSC certication. TFTs foresters support improved

forest management on the ground in the tropics. JAUH is a

network of environmental and social NGOs working throughoutsoutheast Sulawesi province, with expertise in community

organization, government advocacy, and media campaigns.

The cooperatives primary reason for becoming FSC-certied

was the strong demand for FSC teak among European and

American buyers, and the opportunity to sell wood for a higher

price directly to TFT member factories in Java. Certication

also meant that the local government would potentially

recognize the group for its forest management abilities.

TFT saw that farmers were managing their teak in a largely

sustainable manner, and had a willingness to work toward FSC

certication. So, TFT worked with JAUH to organize farmers

into a cooperative 46 villages were helped to form

farmer groups and elect representatives to come together

as founding members of the cooperative.

JAUH and TFT worked with the Indonesian Cooperative

Department to provide training on cooperative structure

and management, as well as intensive training and capacity

building for the KHJL Leadership Council in business and

forest management. Members also commissioned TFT and

JAUH to monitor the work of the KHJL Leadership Council

and make recommendations as needed.

In addition to the training and support in developing a Group

Forest Management Plan, a short-term loan was arranged to

help the cooperative process and pay for the initial permits

necessary for buying and selling wood. This rst sale was

successful and led to a 25 percent increase in wood prices

for the farmers, as well as additional ongoing contracts to

sell to TFT member factories.

It became clear for these farmers that group formation was

the only way to afford FSC certication, obtain the necessary

legal permits for wood selling, and link more directly to an

international furniture market.

Working with a regional NGO and a network of buyers giving

preference to FSC-certied wood was vital to the success

and formation of the KHJL, since these partners brought

key expertise and resources to the group formation process.

The farmers also saw that they could benet from capacity

building, access to resources, and information sharing among

group members.

Dyak indigenous people in a forest scheduled to become FSC certied,East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Forester in an area of native forest, Java, Indonesia.


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Thanks to the training in cooperative management, the

group learned how to form monitoring and management

boards, how to calculate prot and divide it appropriately

among staff and members, and how to set rules in a

transparent, democratic manner key components to

a sustainable, democratic group structure.

Forming a group is challenging, but group members benet

considerably from more access to information and resources,

says Tedy Rusolono, Smartwood assessor, who worked with

the management committee.

Today, the cooperative lobbies government for reform of unjust

forestry laws, distributes government aid related to agriculture

and forestry, and is starting a small loan program.

What are the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for

the KHJL? Continued training and capacity building in business

management and development, and in marketing and product

processing, will help the cooperative develop a long-term

vision and strategy for growth, including the sale of gardenfurniture components or sawed timber, which would keep

more funds in the community.

UK Home Improvement Giant B&QAims for 100 Percent

B&Q is the largest home improvement and garden center

retailer in the U.K., with 330 stores, 34,000 employees and

more than 40,000 products. But what really sets B&Q apart is

its long history securing sustainably sourced timber, based

on its early recognition of the link between climate change

and forest destruction.

In fact, B&Q helped establish the Forestry Stewardship Council

in the U.K. in the early 1990s and has made signicant strides

in securing appropriately sourced timber ever since. Not only

has Greenpeace U.K. cited B&Q as a retailer demonstrating

best practices, but the retailer has been awarded one of the

largest chains-of-custody in the world, so it can trace its

timber from forest to store.

B&Q sells more than 9,000 different product lines that

contain timber (such as ooring and garden furniture), all

sold in huge volumes. Seventy-four percent of B&Qs timber

is FSC-certied and a further eight percent is on track for

certication. While leading the retail industry with 95 percent

of sustainably sourced products, the retailer has plans in

place to reach 100 percent by the end of 2009.

In September 2009, B&Q announced its commitment to only

buy FSC-certied tropical hardwood plywood. Certication

for B&Qs entire supply of tropical plywood is a global rst

because it has been difcult to secure FSC certication forthis high volume of wood.

B&Qs tropical hardwood plywood is sourced from community-

owned and private forests in Brazil and, with FSC certication,

will be promoted with the FSC logo clearly displayed in

stores the recognized standard for responsible forestry.

All B&Q wood products are sourced sustainably and we are

delighted to be the rst retailer to gain FSC certication for

all our tropical plywood. Now those looking for fully certied

tropical plywood will have an easy way to get hold of what

they need, said Julia Grifn, B&Qs timber advisor.

Partnerships between FSC, retailers and forest managers mean greater choice for consumers worldwide.


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30 | IMPACT

B&Qs tropical plywood is sourced from Acre, Brazils westernmost

state. This area of the Amazon has been a major focus for

environmental associations such as WWF Brazil and Greenpeace

to help create responsible markets for sustainable activities and

help local communities gain FSC certication. B&Q is working with

two projects in Acre, Brazil St. Georges and the Anti Marie

through its supplier, Finn Forest, and through the retailers close

working relationship with the Brazilian government and FSC Brazil.

Three hundred-seventy families are involved in the community

forestry projects surrounding the production of B&Qs tropical

plywood supply. With the retailer requiring hundreds of thousands

of sheets of tropical hardwood plywood a year, we hope the

projects will expand to include an additional three hundred

families, says Grifn.

The facility where our tropical plywood is made opened in 2006

and is close to both projects, she explains. The forest is able to

be managed sustainably because the commercial incentives

for doing so are more appealing than cutting the trees down for

alternative uses. The facility itself is also highly efcient becaus

it burns waste wood to create its energy.

The St. George project is privately owned with a forest area

totaling 27,000 hectares. The area is high in biodiversity so ther

is limited cutting allowed. As part of the project, workers receiv

training in forestry as well as medical and dental checks and

funding for schools. The Anti Marie project is a government

community project currently involving 50 forest families, with

new housing and community areas in the process of being built

As part of these projects, 500 homes are being built for the

forest families at the plywood factory. In order to qualify for a

home, a family must live in the forest and parents must agree

to send their children to school.

Improved forest management principles are helping Mexico preserve natural resources, while providing opportunities for the development of sustainable indu


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Looking forward:FSCs role in new challengesI 2007, FSC fcse its piities ith a ve-yea Gba Stategy. The gas ietie

a cea path thgh existig, e a aticipate chaeges i fest maagemet

ie. wk tas this stategy has stegthee FSCs effectiveess i

eiveig its missi, a cties t gie the gaizati tas its visi

that the s fests meet the scia, ecgica a ecmic ights a ees

f the peset geeati itht cmpisig thse f fte geeatis.

The s fests a the miis f pepe that epe them ctie t

face e pesses. As e chaeges emege, FSCs stg mti-stakehe

gveace, iteatiay ecgize staa-settig, taemak assace

a acceitati sevices i ctie t pvie the ceibe, appicabe

mechaisms eee t ea ith cmpex evimeta a scia isses.

The FSC fm f ivese stakehes fm evimeta, scia a ecmic

iteests is hee these e piities ca be ee a hee the gba

csess espsibe fest maagemet ca k tgethe t

meaigf stis. FSCs e emais cea: ctie t ive impvemet

f fest gveace a maagemet, a big abt astig impacts.

Overview of the FSC Global Strategy 2007

Goal 1. Provide leadership in advancing globally responsible forest management

Goal 2. Ensure equitable access to the benets of the FSC system

Goal 3. Enhance integrity, credibility and transparency of the FSC system

Goal 4. Create more business value for products from FSC-certied forests

Goal 5. Strengthen FSCs global network to deliver on Goals 1-4

To learn more visit www.fsc.org/global_strategy


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FSC Iteatia Cete GmbH

Chaes-e-Gae-Stae 5 53113 B Gemay

Phe +49 (0) 228 367 660 Fax +49 (0) 228 367 66 30

[email protected] .fsc.g

forest stewardship council pub 2009

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