Boreal News Update October 2001
TAIGA RESCUE NETWORK
International Coordination Center
Box 116, Ajtte, S-962 23 Jokkmokk, Sweden
Tel. +46-971-17039
Fax. +46-971-12057
info@taigarescue.org
www.taigarescue.org
October 23, 2001
CROSS-SECTORAL DISCUSSIONS ON CERTIFICATION IN SWEDEN
An informal group consisting of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), WWF Sweden, the Swedish Forest Industry Federation and representatives of the forest owner associations have since the beginning of the year explored the possibilities of breaking the dead lock that currently exists on forest certification in Sweden with major forest industry companies being FSC-certified and regional forest owner associations working with the PEFC scheme. In contrary to many other European countries the similarities between the two concepts are bigger in Sweden as major elements are similar (performance based certification, voluntary commitment through group certification etc) and the standards in southern Sweden shows clear similarities. There is also a strong wish from at least some of the forest owner associations like the biggest one SÖDRA to get FSC-recognition of their work. The informal group has put at lot of work into technical analysis of the current differences between the forest management standards of FSC and PEFC in Sweden. A proposal "bridging document" showing how these technical requirements could be filled is currently produced. The aim is to present a proposal for such a document within one month. This document will then be submitted to the Swedish FSC Working Group for analysis and official consideration. The discussions in Sweden should not be seen as any mutual recognition process or even NGO-endorsement of PEFC. It is instead a try to overcome at least some of the problems and misunderstandings that exist in the national debate on forest certification through focusing on technical aspects of differences in the national certification standards. We hope that this process will help and guide many forest owners who currently are working with PEFC in Sweden to also achieve FSC-certification. The official communication of the informal group can be found under: http://www.snf.se/verksamhet/skog/skog-mission-standard.htm Per Larsson, WWF Sweden, per.larsson@wwf.se
KEURHOUT SYSTEM CRITICISED BY DUTCH GOVERNMENT
In 1997 the Dutch government developed minimum requirements for timber certification. The Kerhout Foundation is responsible for the assessments of timber certificates and evaluating whether the certificates fulfil their claims. Keurhout sees as its role to assess each timber certificate that enters the Dutch market and if approved grant it with its Keurhout logo. Keurhout claims that it brings light in the dark of the ever-increasing number of timber certificates. In reality mainly FSC certificates have been screened and more recently all Finnish FFCS-certificates have gotten Kerhout approval (see Bulletin 8-01). In a report, produced by independent consultant KPMG and commissioned by the Dutch government, it is concluded that the minimum requirements have not lead to any significant increase in the amount of certified timber. The report is critical about Keurhout's role and condemns it as not fulfilling state-of-the art international accreditation requirements. On top of that, the screening system of Keurhout is found to be insufficiently transparent. The Dutch government has adopted the main findings of the report and recommended that a new structure is established to take over Keurhout's current gate-watcher's task. Dutch NGOs are invited to participate in setting up the structure of this gate-watcher. So far NGOs are reluctant to take part.
NO LARGE PRODUCTIVE OLD-GROWTH AREAS LEFT
The Russian Forest Watch has released maps of Europe's last remaining wilderness forests. The main conclusion of the report is that hardly any large productive forest landscapes remain undisturbed. The remaining forest landscapes of European Russia mostly consits of non- or lowproductive forest lands in the far North of the region. Only 14 percent or 32 million hectares of the boreal or northern forests of European Russia remain in relatively undisturbed large blocks of at least 50,000 hectares each. Most of these forests aren't suitable for forestry as they are poorly stocked and tree growth is too slow. Less than five percent of the volume logged in the Karelia, Komi, Arkhangelsk, and Perm regions come from the remaining intact boreal forests of European Russia. Most of this wood goes to countries in Western Europe. Several companies have now pledged to avoid buying wood from the remaining intact forests of the world. (Source: Russian Forest Watch)
LOGGING MORATORIUM IN THE FAR EAST
Previous old-growth logger Terneiles has announced a two-year moratorium on logging of forests in the Ussuri taiga, Samarga River basin in the Russian Far East. In the end of the 80s the Samarga people succeeded in defending a logging threat from Cuban loggers and got the Samarga area included in a planned system of protected areas. The protection of the area was incorporated in the Program of Conservation of Biodiversity of the Sikhote-Alin Mountain Range, but Russian authorities changed their plans and sold a logging license for the whole area to the forestry enterprise Terneiles. The local indigenous people, the Udege, weren't informed about a forest lease that was going to seriously affect their resource base and no environmental impact assessment was provided. The Samarga area covers some 650 000 ha of old-growth forests and was sold for as little as 300 000 USD. However, environmental demands seem to give results even in the Far Eastern part of Russia and Terneiles has announced its will to work towards the FSC-certification of some of its forest holdings and has recently announced its commitment to a 2-year logging moratorium for the Samarga area. Terneiles takes part in the WWF Russia Producers Group. (Source: Russian Forest Update)