Difficulties with Timber Trade Certification

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

June 1, 1995

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

Here is another excellent article which relates the difficulties

of establishing timber certification to insure timber comes

from well-managed and sustainable forests. The article states

"the battle to save the world's forests depends in part on

development of an internationally recognised symbol to identify

timber from properly managed resources." As with all IPS

features, this may _Not_ but reprinted without their approval.

Note other redistribution restrictions at end. This was posted in

econet's ips.english conference.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

/* Written 3:40 PM May 29, 1995 by newsdesk@igc.org in

ips.english */

/* ---------- "ENVIRONMENT-TRADE: Timber Trade Cer" ---------- */

Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.

*** 26-May-95 ***

Title: ENVIRONMENT-TRADE: Timber Trade Certificates No Easy Answer

- FAO

by Judith Perera and David Dahmen

LONDON, May 26 (IPS) - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is

urging governments and industry to support a scheme run by the

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to certify timber which comes

from well-managed and sustainable forests.

But experts at the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO),

while welcoming the initiative, warn that certification is no

simple answer to a complex problem. Its has seen much dispute over

choices of 'sustainable' forestry techniques and a historic divide

between consumers in the north and producers in the south.

The FSC, a non-profit-making independent body set up in 1993, is

soon to issue an accreditation label with the aim of ending

consumer confusion caused by a proliferation of ''green'' labels

in recent years.

According to Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Head of Forest Conservation at

WWF, the battle to save the world's forests depends in part on

development of an internationally recognised symbol to identify

timber from properly managed resources.

''That label must derive from an independent certification scheme

with high standards of forest management,'' he told an audience of

over 350 government and industry representatives from all over

Europe meeting in Stockholm this week. ''WWF believes the FSC

offers such a scheme and urges governments and industry to support

it.

But certification is not the simple solution it at first appears

to be, points out Steve Dembner of the Forestry Department at the

FAO in Rome.

First of all there is the problem of defining what is meant by

sustainability. In some cases, for instance trees are replaced but

with little consideration for biological diversity.

Even more important, however, are the different perceptions of

importers and consumers on the one hand and producers on the

other, in particular producers of tropical hardwoods which have

been the focus of most attention by environmental groups in the

industrialised countries.

Introducing sustainable forestry practices costs money and

developing countries can only afford to do this if they can

continue to sell their products. Dembner warns that too much

pressure from environmentalists for certification could have a

boomerang effect.

He acknowledges the importance and value of the FSC scheme but

notes, ''It takes account of only two out of three perspectives --

those of the environmentalists and of the consumers. It does not

really involve the producers or recognise their problems.''

The problem is exacerbated by the way international attention has

focused on tropical rather than temperate forests. For example,

detailed guidelines on sustainable management of forest such as

those produced by the ITTO (International Tropical Timber

Organisation) are not applicable to temperate and boreal forests.

Without equivalent principles and guidelines applicable to all

forests there is a danger that measures to implement timber

certification on only one type of timber will be seen as a form of

trade barrier and will not be acceptable to the affected

producers.

Nevertheless, certification of some tropical forests is under

way. Indonesia has reached an advanced stage of discussion

following an international conference ''Forest Product

Certification System'' held there in September 1994.

Indonesia will probably be in the position in the near future to

develop a practical certification system for its timber products.

Another major tropical timber producer, Malaysia, has also shown

interest in timber certification, but continues to insist on the

participation of temperate and boreal timber countries before

taking any action.

The Brazilian government is currently discussing national

guidelines and criteria whilst the private sector, for example,

ABPM (Brazilian Timber Producers Association) has made some moves

to develop a certification scheme of the native forest products.

It is estimated that about 1.5 million cubic metres of timber and

timber products came from certified forests worldwide in 1993 but

not all this entered the international market.

The total volume represents less than 0.5 percent of the world

trade. In total some four million hectares of forest have so far

been independently certified world wide in 17 countries.

Developing countries note that the call for certification of

tropical timber is loudest in Europe because importers are finding

growing consumer resistance to uncertified products. , the

European Union is however, different.

The Netherlands, Germany and Britain are supporting the effort to

introduce certification of tropical timber but at the same time

there is no immediate interest in certification of their own

timber.

Both Germany and Britain produce timber but neither seem to

consider the need for certification of these products. There have

been some voluntary efforts; 46 British companies have pledged to

phase out wood products which do not come from well managed

sources by the end of 1995.

The Scandinavian countries are also working hard to develop a

system that would ensure a continued market for their products and

Sweden has gone some way towards certification of timber.

''We know the wood dealers are willing to make substantial

sacrifices to promote an environmentally sound production,'' said

Ingemar Ohrn of WWF Sweden. ''They really don't have any choice if

they want to stay in the market.''

While timber certification is clearly an important policy

instrument for the development of sustainably managed forests,

many problems remain to be solved and inconsistencies addressed.

As yet there is no consensus on the criteria for sustainability

nor is there consensus on the conditions that need to be met for a

product to be certified.

The issue remains essentially political and many differences will

have to be resolved before an internationally acceptable system

can be put in place. (END/IPS/JMP/RJ/95)

Origin: Amsterdam/ENVIRONMENT-TRADE/

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[c] 1994, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)

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