Impact of FSC
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- The role of forest certification for biodiversity conservation: Lithuania as a case study (2016) Type Journal Article
- Substitution effects of wood-based products in climate change mitigation (2018) Type Journal Article
- The Legitimacy of Bamboo Certification: Unpacking the Controversy and the Implications for a "Treelike" Grass (2015) Type Journal Article
- Portugal and Chile: Longing for sustainable forestry while rising from the ashes (2018) Type Journal Article
- Forest certification: More than a market-based tool, experiences from the Asia Pacific region (2019) Type Journal ArticleOver the last 25 years, the global area of certified forests has grown rapidly and voluntary forest certification has become recognized as an effective tool to engage international markets in improving sustainability within forest management units. However, the bulk of this growth has occurred in North America, Northern Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, with relatively limited uptake in the tropics. Since its creation, forest certification has been largely understood as a "market-based" mechanism, in contrast to government-led policies and regulations. Through the experience of the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade (RAFT) partnership in the Asia Pacific region, we find that the framing of forest certification as voluntary and market-based, and as a mechanism to overcome governance failure, has created an artificial dichotomy. In this dichotomy, voluntary certification and regulatory measures to promote sustainable forest management are conceived of and pursued largely independently. We argue that it is more constructive to view them as complementary approaches that share a common goal of increasing sustainability across the forestry sector. In practice, forest certification interacts with conventional governance institutions and mechanisms. Understanding these interactions and their implications, as well as additional possibilities for interaction, will help in realizing the full potential of forest certification.
- Forest Certification in Guatemala (Yale University Press, 2006) Type Book ChapterThe forest certification process in Guatemala has largely been confined to the forest concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR), representing 95% of the country's certified forest area. Forest certification in Guatemala is unique in that certification in accordance with the scheme of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is mandatory for both communities and industrial groups to obtain and maintain forest concessions in the MBR. Unlike other countries where forest certification has almost exclusively been advanced in a joint effort between non-governmental organizations, development projects and the private sector, the case of Guatemala shows the important role state agencies can play as agents backing the process. Despite initial resistance, the National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) as the state agency in charge of the Maya Biosphere Reserve permitted forest management in the MBR provided that it would be subjected to FSC certification. Sixteen forest management units covering close to half a million hectares of broadleaved forests have since been certified, including 10 community concessions, 4 cooperatives or Municipal Ejidos and 2 industrial concessions. In addition, two forest plantations outside the MBR have been certified. Notwithstanding the considerable progress towards sustainable forest management in Petén, economic benefits as returns to certification investments have generally not lived up to expectations. Moreover, forest certification has yet to gain momentum outside the Maya Biosphere Reserve where the process is voluntary. This requires a concerted effort between the various stakeholders involved, thorough cost- benefit analysis in each individual case, and the development of integrated supply chains of certified forest products. Towards this end, it is suggested to set up learning alliances between key actors in the certification process, such as managers from certified management units and processing plants, non-governmental and governmental organizations, certification and accreditation bodies, donor agencies, research institutions, and business development service providers.
- When and why supply-chain sustainability initiatives "work": Linking initiatives' effectiveness to their characteristics and contexts (Meridian Institute, 2019) Type Report
- Effects of Forest Certification on Biodiversity (Tropenbos International, 2009) Type ReportForest certification is widely seen as an important component of strategies for conserving the world's forests. During the 1990s concern about the loss of biodiversity in logged forests was a key driver behind the emergence of forest certification. It was thought that production forest could play a bigger part in conserving nature by adhering to a strict and widely agreed forest management standard that considers the effects of logging and other forest management activities on biodiversity. Since the introduction of forest certification more than 300 million hectares of forest have been certified under a variety of schemes, the majority of which are located in temperate and boreal areas. Less than 20 million hectares are in the tropics, mostly certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Although interest in forest certification has waxed and waned, it remains a cornerstone of forest policies. But does it work? As more than 15 years have passed since the first certificate was issued, it should be possible to evaluate the effectiveness of certified forest management by comparing the conservation performance of certified forests with non-certified forests.
- 25 years of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management: How intergovernmental C & I processes have made a difference. (2018) Type Journal ArticleGrowing concern about forest degradation and loss, combined with the political impetus supplied by the Earth Summit in 1992, led to the establishment of eleven intergovernmental, regional, and international forest-related processes focused on the use of criteria and indicators (CandI) for sustainable forest management (SFM). Up to 171 countries have participated in these processes to apply CandI frameworks as a tool for data collection, monitoring, assessment, and reporting on SFM and on achieving various forest-related UN Sustainable Development Goals. Based on an expert survey and literature analysis we identify six interlinked impact domains of CandI efforts: (1) enhanced discourse and understanding of SFM; (2) shaped and focused engagement of science in SFM; (3) improved monitoring and reporting on SFM to facilitate transparency and evidence-based decision-making; (4) strengthened forest management practices; (5) facilitated assessment of progress towards SFM goals; and (6) improved forest-related dialog and communication. We conclude that the 25-year history of CandI work in forestry has had significant positive impacts, though challenges do remain for the implementation of CandI and progress towards SFM. The work should be continued and carried over to other sectors to advance sustainability goals more broadly.
- Logging in the Congo Basin: What Hope for Indigenous Peoples' Resources, and Their Environments? (IWGIA, 2006) Type Working Paper
- Move to set science-based targets for timber sector as threat to northern forests grows (Reuters, 2020) Type News ItemEnvironmentalists warn that clear-cut logging permitted by the FSC and poor forestry management practices are undermining the ability slow-growing boreal forests to store carbon. Angeli Mehta reports While the focus of efforts to end deforestation has been on tropical rainforests, home to the majority of the world's biodiversity, ancient woodlands in the northern hemisphere are also critically important, storing the carbon equivalent of nearly twice the world's recoverable oil reserves in their soil.
- Carbon emissions performance of commercial logging in East Kalimantan, Indonesia (2014) Type Journal ArticleAdoption of reduced‐impact logging (RIL) methods could reduce CO2 emissions by 30-50% across at least 20% of remaining tropical forests. We developed two cost effective and robust indices for comparing the climate benefits (reduced CO2 emissions) due to RIL. The indices correct for variability in the volume of commercial timber among concessions. We determined that a correction for variability in terrain slope was not needed. We found that concessions certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC, N = 3), when compared with noncertified concessions (N = 6), did not have lower overall CO2 emissions from logging activity (felling, skidding, and hauling). On the other hand, FSC certified concessions did have lower emissions from one type of logging impact (skidding), and we found evidence of a range of improved practices using other field metrics. One explanation of these results may be that FSC criteria and indicators, and associated RIL practices, were not designed to achieve overall emissions reductions. Also, commonly used field metrics are not reliable proxies for overall logging emissions performance. Furthermore, the simple distinction between certified and noncertified concessions does not fully represent the complex history of investments in improved logging practices. To clarify the relationship between RIL and emissions reductions, we propose the more explicit term 'RIL‐C' to refer to the subset of RIL practices that can be defined by quantified thresholds and that result in measurable emissions reductions. If tropical forest certification is to be linked with CO2 emissions reductions, certification standards need to explicitly require RIL‐C practices. Abstract obtained with permission, to access full article click here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gcb.12386
- Climate change and tree harvest interact to affect future tree species distribution changes (2019) Type Journal Article
- Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Sustainable Forest Management in the Congo Basin. A Feasibility Study conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Gabon regarding the Operationalisation of FSC Principles 2 and 3 in the Congo (SECO a.o., 2008) Type ReportFPIC is increasingly seen as an appropriate tool for managing the relationship between indigenous peoples and companies wishing to exploit natural resources on the land where they live. This report is the first to consider the applicability of FPIC within the context of industrial forestry exploitation in the Congo Basin. It presents FPIC as a process to guide forestry management so as to ensure open, ongoing and equitable relationships between forest peoples and forestry companies. Such relationships are the basis for making long-term socio-economic development a consequence of forestry operations. The FPIC approach requires, above all, that forest people are aware of the issues surrounding industrial forest exploitation so that they can make informed decisions about their role in forest management. This reduces negative impacts, enhances positive ones and ensures equitable sharing of benefits. The report shows how this approach is advantageous to both forest populations and forestry companies implementing it.
- Halting Deforestation and Forest Certification. What is the Macro-impact of the Forest Stewardship Council? (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, 2011-02-17) Type Working PaperDeforestation is threatening biodiversity and contributing to climate change. Halting deforestation is one of the key challenges for local and global governance. In recent years one can observe the emergence and proliferation of new governance mechanisms which aim to manage forests sustainably. One of these new mechanisms, which has received increasing attention in the literature, is certification by non-state actors. Certification implies, in this context, that forest management or timber products meet specified standards. In the context of timber and forest certification several certification initiatives have emerged of which the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the most widely distributed and most credible initiative. This type of non-state market regulation of forests is by some authors regarded as one of the key mechanisms for global forest governance. Little empirical research has been conducted on the macro-impact of certification. The paper aims to make a contribution to this effort and focuses on the FSC as a specific case study. The paper analyzes two types of impact. On the one hand, the paper assesses the degree to which certification contributes to halting deforestation as a key component of sustainable forest management. On the other hand, the paper assesses the macro-impact of certification on governance since this is relevant in the context of Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) and emerging global forest carbon schemes to halt deforestation and forest degradation (i.e. REDD), and refers to key principles outlined by the Forest Stewardship Council. The paper uses a dataset which contains originally collected data on FSC-certified forest surface area from nearly 1.000 forests worldwide and combines this with data from the FAO (forest coverage data), human development index and governance indicators in order to assess the potential and limits of forest certification as a governance tool to halt deforestation and develop sound (forest) governance. The paper shows that there is little impact on halting deforestation and that only a small proportion of forests worldwide is FSC certified. However, the paper does find significant variation in forest area certified between countries (especially in developed countries) pointing to the potential of forest certification. The paper further explores this finding by linking it to socio-economic development, ownership of forests and uses of forests. The paper finds a 'stuck at the bottom' problem which is related to the development levels of countries. Secondly the paper finds no direct impact on governance, as measured by the Worldbank Governance Indicators. The implication, both in term of opportunities and limitations are further discussed.
- FSC's complaints procedure crucial for credibility - A case study in Sweden with proposals for change (FSC Sweden, 2015) Type Report