British Woodland Assurance Scheme Launched
6/7/99
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Title: British Woodland Assurance Scheme Launched
Source: Environmental News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: June 7, 1999
LONDON, UK, June 7, 1999 (ENS) - Producers and users of British
forest products have formally launched a forest management audit
scheme which they hope will lead to a massive increase in the
certification of sustainably produced timber. The UK Woodland
Assurance Scheme (UKWAS) is backed by stakeholders from all sides -
including public and private sector forest owners, a group of major
retailers and the environmental group World Wide Fund for Nature.
The state-owned Forestry Commission claimed the scheme was the first
time anywhere in the world that such a broad consensus had been
reached on forestry performance standards and that it could act as a
model for other countries to follow. The Commission is to certify its
800,000-hectare forest estate within a year.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the launch would help buyers and
retailers who are "increasingly looking for reassurance that by
purchasing a particular product they are not contributing to forest
destruction and degradation."
The voluntary scheme sets a list of criteria that prospective UKWAS-
compliant forest owners must follow. Their performance would then be
audited by a certification body which may or may not be registered
with the international timber ecolabel scheme the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC). If it is then wood products from the owners will gain
the right to be marked with the FSC logo.
But the UK scheme is not exclusively linked to the FSC, and UKWAS-
certified forests could seek to use other ecolabels, such as the Pan-
European Forest Certification Scheme currently being developed by
European forest owners, many of whom oppose the FSC.
Under the scheme, single species plantations will be restructured as
diverse multi-species forests. Forest managers must draw up action
plans to preserve the habitats of endangered species in forests to be
logged.
The scheme was welcomed by DIY store B&Q which is a member of the so-
called 95+ group of retailers which have promised to strive to source
100% of their timber products sold in the UK from FSC sources by
2000.
Alan Knight, B&Q's environment controller said that if different
ecolabels take off in other countries where its products are sold,
the UKWAS standard could be used to acquire that label. "This
standard gives us the flexibility we need. If there is demand for a
particular label from a particular market, we need to satisfy that."
WWF, which promotes the FSC, said it expected UKWAS to result in a
massive leap in the proportion of UK-produced timber carrying the
international label from 1 percent to 75 percent - the highest
percentage of FSC timber anywhere in the world.
Ed Matthew of WWF UK said the UK scheme had commanded "unprecedented
support from all stakeholders in the forestry industry." He said it
should serve as an example for other parts of the world. "WWF is
trying to set up buyers' groups around the world," he said. "We want
[the UK system] to be replicated around the world now we have a model
to work from."