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- Evaluation of the impacts of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of natural forest management in the tropics: a rigorous approach to assessment of a complex conservation intervention (2017) Type Journal ArticleAfter more than 20 years and substantial investments of time and money, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of tropical forest management is due for a stringent impact evaluation. For any social, ecological, and economic outcomes to be attributed to FSC certification, rival explanations need to be ruled out. We recognize that different types of knowledge about FSC impacts derived from information gathered through a range of methods can satisfy the evidence-needs of different stakeholders. But this paper describes a roadmap based on rigorous methods to assess whether FSC certification delivers on its expected outcomes and the underlying mechanisms through which changes can be attributable to FSC. To this end, background studies that provide contextual knowledge related to implementation of FSC certification are proposed to account for any positive self-selection biases and to capture the temporal dynamics of certification including changes in the sociopolitical and economic contexts that influence certification decisions.
- The Impact of Transnational Private Regulation: A Case Study of Forest Certification in Russia (Universitaet zu Koeln, 2009) Type Thesis
- Certification of sustainable forest management practices: a global perspective on why countries certify (2005) Type Journal Article
- Is FSC certification worth the paper it's printed on? (Reuters, 2020-03-07) Type News ItemAngeli Mehta reports on pressures to reform the forests certification scheme amid declining take-up and concerns about credibility in countries like Russia What difference do certifications make in the forest sector? The short answer is that it's hard to tell. And that should be cause for concern.
- The contemporary forest concessions in West and Central Africa: chronicle of a foretold decline? (FAO, 2016) Type ReportDeforestation is still occurring at an alarming rate worldwide, in spite of a recent slowdown attributable essentially to the improvement of the situation in the Brazilian Amazon over the last 8- 10 years and the fact that accessible lowland forests in Sumatra and Borneo have almost all been converted. Losses of natural forests not only degrade the livelihoods of forest-dependent people, but also entail irreversible destruction of biodiversity and contribute to the aggravation of global warming, since land-use changes represent between 10 to 15% of anthropogenic carbon emissions worldwide. Given this context, industrial forest concessions are seen by some as an indirect driver of deforestation (and a direct driver of degradation), but other analysts emphasize the absence of association between selective logging and deforestation, and consider that well-managed concessions may represent an asset against pressures for forest land conversion, either by agribusiness companies or by smallholders. The forest concession concept gained traction in the last decade, being introduced in highly forested countries such as Brazil and Russia, where governments intend to use this regime to avoid leaving large tracts of forests under uncertain tenure situation which favours appropriation through illegal (but often tolerated) deforestation.
- Quantifying the use of forest ecosystem services by local populations in southeastern Cameroon (2020) Type Journal ArticleIn order to improve sustainability and design adequate management strategies in threatened tropical forests, integrated assessments of the use of ecosystem services are needed, combining biophysical, social, and economic approaches. In particular, no integrated ecosystem services (ES) assessment has been conducted in Central Africa, where rural communities deeply depend on forests in a high-poverty context. Here, we aimed to quantify the use of ES provided by tropical forests to local populations in the Dja area (Cameroon), identify its determinants and evaluate its sustainability. We conducted various interviews and field surveys with 133 households in three villages, focusing on three provisioning services (bushmeat, firewood, and timber), and five cultural services (cultural heritage, inspiration, spiritual experience, recreation, and education). Local populations consumed a mean of 56 kg of bushmeat/person/year (hunting zones covering on average 213 km2), 1.17 m3 of firewood/person/year (collection zones covering on average 4 km2), and 0.03 m3 of timber/person/year. Between 25% and 86% of respondents considered cultural services as important. The use of ES was mainly influenced by population size, deforestation rate, and forest allocations, whereas the influence of socio-demographic characteristics of households remained limited to slight differences between Baka and Bantu people. We conclude that the consumption of firewood and timber is sustainable, whereas high hunting pressure has resulted in severe defaunation in the area due to the large decline in the abundance and biomass of forest mammals hunted for bushmeat by local populations.
- Status of forest certification in eastern and southern Africa sub-regionrica (2019) Type Journal ArticleThere is a limited awareness and capacity, and hence slow update of forest certification in Africa. The study assessed the status of Forest Certification (FC) in the Eastern and Southern Africa sub-regions. Data on the types of certificates, number and forest areas certified, and past and on-going efforts on FC in the sub-regions of Eastern and Southern Africa were gathered through literature review and stakeholders' consultation. Data were analysed using qualitative methods and A'WOT quantitative analysis, which is a combination of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analyses. Results showed that the initiatives for promotion of FC in the sub- regions are empirically apparent but low. The forest covers in the sub-regions were around 225 and 222 million ha for the eastern and southern Africa sub-regions, respectively. For Eastern and Southern Africa, the total area certified was 242,000 ha and 1.563 million ha, respectively. Generally, the FC has not yet taken strong root in the sub-regions due to inadequate financial, physical and human capacities.
- Remote assessment of extracted volumes and greenhouse gases from tropical timber harvest (2018) Type Journal Article
- 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.
- Social impacts of the Forest Stewardship Council certification - An assessment in the Congo basin (Center for International Forestry Research, 2014) Type ReportThis 2014 occasional paper assesses whether FSC certification in three Congo basin countries (Cameroon, Congo and Gabon) has had positive impacts on working and living conditions of workers and their families, effectiveness and legitimacy of the institutions set up to regulate relationships between logging companies and neighbouring communities, and local populations' rights to and customary uses of forests.
- Decision Support Tools for Forest Landscape Restoration (Center for International Forestry Research, 2018) Type Report
- Loss of Intact Forest Landscapes in Russia and Effective Forest Management in Secondary Forests as Its Alternative for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Rural Development (XIV World Forestry Congress, 2015) Type Conference Paper