Future Forests 2002 35 November 2002, Melbourne

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(No Transcript)
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Future Forests 2002 3-5 November 2002, Melbourne

• Chain of Custody Systemsfor Wood Products
• Which way for Australia?
• Blair Freeman
• Melbourne, Australia

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Presentation outline

• Framing chain of custody for wood products
• Status of leading CoC systems
• Comparing the leading systems
• Commonalities and differences
• Selecting a model framework
• Moving forward in Australia

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Certification and markets

• Primary strategy for driving certificationcreate
  market pull, through retailers
• Market demand created in North America and Europe
• Market demand in Asia Pacific created by supply
  chains to North America and Europe
• All virgin wood bought come from forests of
  known location where the supplier has given us
  sufficient reassurance that the forest is well
  managed and independently certified as such.
  Certification must include the ability to trace
  the wood from the forest to the final processor
  with certified Chain of Custody ...
• Retailer interest in Australia emerging

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Chain of custody systems
Forest certification
Forest certification criteria
Group certification
Forest holding certification
Forest certification
Chain of custody certification
Chain of custody verification standards
Chain of custody certificate
FFCS system limit
Product labelling
Source FFCS (2000)
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Status of leading systems

• Other FM/CoC systems noted
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)
• Keurhout Foundation (The Netherlands)
• Australian Forestry Standard (AFS)

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Comparing the leading systems

• Generally, there is broad agreement on key themes
• Mechanistic process of auditing and verification
• Some potentially significant differences
• Percentage-based claims
• Linkage between CoC and EMS
• Nature of accreditation agency
• Possibly some legal implications re product
  labelling

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Critical elements

• Certification body
• Documented control system
• Verification of origin
• Inventory control
• Verification approaches
• Physical separation
• Inventory control and accounting for wood flows

• Record keeping
• Period for monitoringtimber flows
• Certificates
• Management systems
• Continuous improvement

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Moving forward in Australia

• FSC
• first steps towards a national initiative
• FM and CoC scoping and assessments underway
• brings established and globally recognised COC
  system to Australia
• AFS
• focussed initially on forest management to forest
  gate
• major efforts towards mutual recognition for FM /
  CoC
• developing provisional CoC guidelines
• considering approach to product labelling
• Individual companies
• some CoC assessments undertaken in Australia
• preparation for linking supply chain to products
  andproduct attributes that add value

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Conclusions

• Link between forest certification andtimber
  markets has been and remains critical to growth
  of certification
• Credible CoC certification provides this linkage
• Mechanistic process of auditing and verification
• Issues to watchpercentage-based claims and
  market demand
• Australian timber industry progressing with both
  national and international standards
• reflecting a dynamic marketplace, presenting
  challenges and opportunities