Forest Certification

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Forest Certification Communitiesin the U.S.

• For ENVS 295 FOR/NR 285 Community-based
  Forestry
• Cecilia Danks, Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor, Environmental Policy
• The Rubenstein School
• of Environment and Natural Resources
• University of Vermont

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Roles for Communitiesin certification process

• As a Certificate holder
• As a Stakeholder
• Varies by System!
• Varies by Type of Operation!

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Certification Systems in the US

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Since 1993, 26 million acres in US
• Globally 113 million acres
• 10 Principles 56 Criteria
• 3 chamber governance with strong environmental
  support
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)
• Since 1994, 3rd party 38 million acres in US
• US Canada 93 million acres
• 6 Principles, 11 Objectives
• Initiated by industry (American Forest Paper
  Assn) now separate SF Board

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Other forestry standards systems

• Other International
• E.g. PEFC European CSA- Canadian
• ISO 14001 for Environmental Management Systems
• American Tree Farm System
• Since 1941, 26 million acres in US
• Recognized by SFI as a wood source
• Independent standards labels
• Often 1st party
• Often localized, e.g. Vermont Family Forest

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• So a number of systems, a few major ones.
• But, not as systematic as one might hope.

Will focus on FSC SFI in US
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Types of Operations Certified

• Forest Management Operations (the land!)
• Private, for-profit
• Corporate, Large Small Private landowners
• Public
• Local, State, Federal (not Forest Service/BLM)
• Other
• E.g. University, Tribal, Communal, Non profits
  professional Resource Managers
• Chain-of-custody operations (sawmills,
  manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers)

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Chain of Authority and Information in Forest
Certification

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How FSC SFI Address Socioeconomic Issues

• Standards
• Forest Management Operations
• CoC / Procurement
• Monitoring Required
• Assessment
• Public Information

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How FSC SFI Address Socioeconomic Issues

• One key difference between FSC and SFI is the
  extent to which social and economic issues are
  emphasized.
• --- Yale U. Program on Forest Certification 2002
• Due in large part to Governance
• Mission
• Geographic scope

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• FSC examines
• Social impacts, esp. relationships and rights
• Economic viability
• SFI assumes
• fundamental premise that social issues
  addressed by US laws regulations
• Market is most appropriate mechanism to address
  economic viability

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FSC Socioeconomic Standards

• About half of Ps are social standards
• Principles 1-4, much of 5 and some of 7-10
• P 1 Legal compliance
• P 2 Tenure Rights of owners, community
• P 3 Indigenous Peoples Rights
• P 4 Community Relations and Workers Rights
• P 5 Benefits, incl. local processing
  reinvestment
• P 7 Management Plan, incl. describe SE
  conditions
• P 8 Monitoring, incl SE impacts

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FSC Principle 4 Community Workers

• P.4 FMOs shall maintain or enhance the
  long-term social well-being of forest workers and
  local communities.
• 4.1 Employment training for local communities
• Indicators
• Compensation meets or exceeds local norms
• Procure goods and services locally
• Give preference to qualified local workers
• Participate in civic activities education
• Provide training opportunities to workers

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More of P. 4 Criteria

• 4.4 Management planning and operations shall
  incorporate the results of evaluations of social
  impact.
• Consultations shall be maintained with people
  and groups directly affected
• 4.5 Employ mechanism for resolving grievances

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FSC SE Monitoring requirements

• Principle 8 Monitoring and Assessment
• Monitoring shall be conducted -- appropriate to
  
• the scale and intensity of forest management
  to
• assess the condition of the forest, yields of
  forest
• products, chain of custody, management
  activities
• and their social and environmental impacts.

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• Applicability Note for Principle 8
• On small and medium sized forests, an informal,
  qualitative assessment could be appropriate. On
  large forests and intensively managed forests,
  formal, quantitative monitoring is probably
  required.
• my italics

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Principle 8 Monitoring

• US Indicators 2.5 pages specifying biophysical
  management data
• SE Data to be collected
• 8.2.d. Environmental and social impacts of
  harvesting and other operations.
• 8.2.d.3. Employment generation, creation or
  maintenance of local jobs, and public responses
  to management activities are monitored.
• 8.2.e. Cost, productivity, and efficiency of
  forest management.

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FSC Chain of Custody
Allows CoC to sell FSC products with FSC label

• Certifies ability to keep sources separate,
  analyzes risk of contamination, little about
  conditions of production
• Informally, egregious issues, e.g. child or slave
  labor

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SFI Socioeconomic Standards

• For land ownerships
• 4.1.1.1.3 Provide recreation and educational
  opportunities
• Core 1. A written policy describing public
  recreation and education efforts, consistent with
  forest management objectives
• Other expertise on staff, make presentations
  to local groups, develop recreational areas,

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SFI Manufacturing Participants

• Allows companies to advertise themselves as a
  Participant and use SFI label on all products,
  regardless of certified SFI content.
• Certifies procurement system, not conditions of
  production

This does not imply that any or all of the
material originates from SFI-certified forests.
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SFI Socioeconomic Standards

• For Manufacturing /Procurement Participants
• 4.2.1.1.2 Foster professionalism of wood
  producers
• Core 1 Written policy promoting professional
  training of wood producers
• Core 2 Support of SFI Implementation Committees
  which offer wood producer training courses in
• e. logging safety
• f. OSHA wage and hour rules
• Changing 2005 standards may be quite different

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Draft SFI 2005 standards

• Principles for Sustainable Forestry
• Managed forests make a vital contribution to
  the world by providing economic, consumer,
  environmental and aesthetic social benefits
  indispensable to quality of life.

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Socioeconomic Issues in Assessment

• FSC
• Typically 3 team members forester, ecologist,
  and often a social scientist
• Mandatory stakeholder consultation
• -- Smartwood Assessor Training
• SFI
• At a minimumexpertise in wildlife ecology,
  silviculture, forest hydrology and operations
• -- 2002-2004 SFI Verification / Certification
  Principles and Procedures

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SE issues that FSC assessors look at

• Through self-reporting stakeholder
  consultation
• Relationships
• with employees
• with neighbors
• with community --A good corporate citizen
• Dispute Resolution Process
• Contribution to local economy
• Economic viability of operation

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SE Issues that SFI verifiers look at

• Ask for documented policies about
• Public access for recreation
• Support of training programs for workers
• Compliance with labor laws
• Good corporate citizen
• Volunteer efforts, donations, scholarships
• Access for education and research
• Addressing impacts of operations on neighbors

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What data are made public?Public Summaries

• FSC
• Specifies much of content varies by certifier
• About 18-36 page documents
• Made public by certifier (on website)
• SFI
• Content varies considerable company discretion
• Made public by company
• To date no central or easy access

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SE info in FSC Public Summaries

• Includes
• In general description include brief section
  Environmental and Socioeconomic Conditions
• Strengths and Weaknesses by FSC Principle
• Stakeholders
• Varies by date, certifier and case

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SE info in FSC Public Summaries

• Weakness
• XXX does not conduct any formal social impact
  assessments or social impact monitoring, e.g.
  changes in the of jobs from changes in forest
  management activities.
• Strength
• Although there is not formal social impact
  monitoring, XXX gains valuable feedback ,
  informally through their involvement in the
  community.

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SE info in FSC Public Summaries

• In Description or Findings
• XXX is a major employer in the area.
• XXXs employees play an important role in the
  economic health and social fabric of the region.
• XXXs mill employs approximately 200 people from
  the area.

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SE info in Public Summaries General statements,
little data

• XXX purchases a majority of goods, equipment and
  services from local businesses.
• XXX is improving salaries to be commensurate
  with local standards.
• Employee compensation meet or exceed
  prevailing local norms.

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Chain of Authority and Information in Forest
Certification

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• Research social requirements of FSC
  certification have positive social benefits
• Stakeholder consultations
• Concern for relationships, esp. with community
• See Molnar et al for others

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Thanks!Questions?