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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Certification
of Tough Ecological Standards Pays, Concept at Risk
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation
Portal
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
12/06/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
Recent
significant strides in achieving responsible, ecologically
minded
forest management standards, such as those enshrined in
environmentally
rigorous Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards,
are at
stake. The business as usual commercial
timber industry is
rushing
to hi-jack the term "certified forestry" - much as the term
"sustainable"
has been usurped and essentially made meaningless in
practice. Below is a story that highlights the
lucrative nature of
achieving
certification of forest management practices.
Another
provides
an example of established timber industry bad actors rushing
to
achieve meaningless certifications standards.
The Canadian and
other
industrial loggers are ramping up bogus certification schemes
to
legitimize their plunder of the World's forests. Any
"certification"
of forest management practices must meet or exceed
those
of the Forest Stewardship Council to yield any substantial
benefits
in terms of conserving forests. Those
in the forest
conservation
movement that have embraced market based mechanisms such
as
certification as the preferred means to conserve the World's
forests
must be vigilante to ensure that their efforts do not instead
legitimize
liquidation of remaining forest wildernesses.
Nothing
less
than FSC certification is acceptable; and indeed, strengthening
of
standards - particularly determining when no management and strict
preservation
is the preferred option - is required to ensure forest
certification
truly is a viable tool to contribute to global forest
sustainability.
g.b.
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ITEM #1
Title: Europeans open their wallets for
eco-certified rainforest
cedar
Source: Vancouver Sun, www.VancouverSun.com
Date: December 5, 2000
Byline: Gordon Hamilton Vancouver Sun
Complying
with the world's toughest ecological standards opens a
lucrative
lumber market
When
Shawood Lumber owner Andy Shaw was trying to sell British
Columbia
cedar in Europe earlier this fall he met stiff resistance
until
he told his clients he had eco-certified wood.
Shaw is
the first B.C. sawmiller to get a supply of rainforest logs
certified
to the most stringent world eco-standard -- the Forest
Stewardship
Council. He was shocked at the response from his client.
"They
wanted to buy everything I had," he said of the Netherlands
customer
he was dealing with.
And not
only did they buy his wood, they paid him a five-per-cent
premium.
It's a $1.5-million deal for 300,000 board feet of prime
B.C.
cedar and Monday the first truckloads with the FSC greentree
logo
stapled on the side began rolling out of Shawood's Langley
sawmill.
It is this province's first major shipment of rainforest
lumber
that even Greenpeace agrees is okay.
"In
terms of the kind of vision and commitment they are showing in
moving
quickly on this, clearly they should be supported," said
Tamara
Stark, forest campaigner for Greenpeace and a veteran of anti-
logging
campaigns from Clayoquot Sound to the central coast.
Shaw's
value-added mill is the final link in a chain of certification
that
stretches from the front gate of the Langley operation to a
Fraser
River primary sawmill where the logs are cut in large planks,
to the
towboats that haul the logs down the coast, and finally to a
small
logging camp on Knight Inlet, where the timber is harvested
selectively,
leaving behind a complete forest eco-system.
The
lumber is prime western red cedar, selling for $3,000 for 1,000
board
feet. It is the best lumber B.C. produces, clear-grained and
durable.
It sells for almost 10 times the value of construction
lumber.
Shaw
was not a strong believer in the certification movement until he
bought
the eco-logs from Timfor Contractors, an FSC-certified logging
operation
run by long-time forester Esmond Preus.
Shaw
quickly converted, however, when he saw the enthusiasm among
Europeans
for his new product. When he looked further, the size of
the
market and the determination of the Europeans to use eco-
certified
wood took him by surprise: He was contacted by one
consortium
in the United Kingdom representing companies with annual
sales
of $7.7 billion. They are committed to using eco-certified wood
by 2003
and they prefer the stringent FSC system over other industry-
initiated
systems.
"It's
a $7.7 billion market. That's billion -- not million," he said,
as if
he was still trying to convince himself as much as his listener
that
eco-certification is for real.
Shawood
has cracked the door open to that market but Shaw said his
customers
want assurances they can continue to buy FSC-certified
wood.
Promising a dependable supply, however, is still an open
question.
Timfor
is B.C.'s only major logging operation to have the FCS seal of
approval.
The company has a non-replaceable forest licence for
175,000
cubic metres of timber. They have already logged half of it
and
expect to log the remaining 80,000 cubic metres in 2001. Once
that is
gone, there are no guarantees the province will provide them
with
more timber. And there is no certainty other operators will
achieve
FSC-certification.
The
forests ministry has no policy recognizing FSC wood and it is
costly
to operators like Timfor to operate without the certainty of
supply.
Forests
Minister Gordon Wilson said Monday he recognizes the dilemma
B.C.
operators face when they are seeking new markets for eco-wood
and the
government does not want to be seen as an obstacle.
"Obviously
there is a challenge to government now," he said.
Wilson
said the forests ministry intends to make more timber
available
through open-market bidding to companies that become eco-
certified
but there are several hurdles to overcome first.
Specifically,
major licensees who control most of the province's
timber
must be willing to give up some of their tenure to make timber
available
to independents like Timfor, he said.
Also,
there is still a dispute among B.C. producers over which eco-
certification
system will ultimately win out in the global
marketplace.
Producers prefer to have a number of systems to offer
customers,
including the Canadian Standards Association and the
International
Standards Organization systems. FSC is generally
considered
to be more environmentally stringent. Shaw said he is
convinced
that is the system the European buyers want. The issue, he
said,
is clearcutting.
"It
seems highly unlikely they would buy from someone who clearcuts.
That is
the whole thing they are trying to stop," he said.
ITEM #2
Title: TimberWest First Canadian Company to Achieve
Third Party
Sustainable
Forest
Source: TimberWest Forest Corp. via Copyright 2000
PR Newswire
Date: December 5, 2000
Byline: Gordon Hamilton Vancouver Sun
BC's
largest private forest land owner says certification is critical
to meeting
customers needs
VANCOUVER,
Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ - TimberWest has achieved sustainable
forest
management certification for its forestry operations on
private
land under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative SFI(SM)
program,
which is critical for meeting the needs of customers.
``Customers
are seeking third party assurance that TimberWest is
actively
pursuing sustainable forestry through a credible
certification
system that evaluates our performance against
internationally
accepted standards,'' says John Phillips, TimberWest
management
forester.
``SFI(SM)
certification is widely recognized in the American
marketplace
by major purchasers of forest products. TimberWest's
certification
will help us to attract and keep customers, thereby
providing
work for our employees and our contractors.'' This new
certification
builds on the international ISO 14001 environmental
management
system certification TimberWest received in 1999.
TimberWest
is the first Canadian Company to complete third party
verification
under the American Forest & Paper Association's
Sustainable
Forestry Initiative(SM) licensing program. The SFI
program
is a rigorous system of environmental and conservation
practices
that includes requirements for wildlife protection,
biodiversity
conservation, harvesting practices and a wide range of
other
forest management goals.
``The
decision by TimberWest to pursue an independent audit under the
SFI
program is a testament to the company's commitment to sustainable
forestry,''
said W. Henson Moore, President & CEO of the American
Forest
& Paper Association. ``I commend TimberWest and proudly
recognize
the company as the first SFI program Licensee outside the
United
States to successfully achieve third-party certification.''
The
Sustainable Forestry Initiative program is one of the world's
largest
sustainable forestry certification systems and is the fastest
growing
system in North America. The SFI program has already
certified
10.5 million hectares of private forest land in North
America
and expects that to increase to 21.5 million hectares by the
end of
2001.
KPMG
Quality Registrar Inc. conducted an independent third party
verification
audit of TimberWest's 334,000 hectares of private forest
land.
Key components of the audit are the verification of the
company's
planning processes, including treatment of non-timber
values
such as wildlife and biodiversity; the company's practices on
the
ground; and continuous improvement processes. The KPMG audit
team,
which included experts in silviculture, forest ecology and
forest
management systems, assessed performance against the 11
sustainable
forest management objectives and 35 performance measures
of the
SFI Program.
``We
actually instructed the auditors to develop performance measures
incremental
to SFI program requirements,'' says Phillips. ``This
provides
us with a clearer picture of our overall performance,
indicating
where we significantly exceed industry norms and areas for
continual
improvement initiatives.'' For example, TimberWest's
watershed
management program exceeds the requirements of SFI water
quality
objectives.
``I'm
proud of this achievement,'' says TimberWest Board member Paul
McElligott,
who becomes the company's president and CEO in January.
``As
the largest private forest land owner in BC, we need to be the
leader
when it comes to certification. It's vital that we demonstrate
to all
of our stakeholders that we take our environmental
responsibilities
seriously and this will ultimately benefit our
employees,
contractors and communities.''
``Sustaining
these benefits depends upon the commitment of every
employee
and contractor,'' Phillips says. ``We will be subject to
periodic
audits and to keep our certification, we must demonstrate
both
performance and continual improvement in our land management
systems
and practices.''
SUSTAINABLE
FORESTRY INITIATIVE (SFI)
CERTIFICATION
BACKGROUNDER
The
Sustainable Forestry Initiative program is one of the world's
largest
sustainable forestry certification systems and is the fastest
growing
sustainable forest management program in North America. By
the end
of 2000, over 12 million hectares will be third party
certified
and by the end of 2001 this figure will have risen to over
20
million hectares. The SFI program is rapidly gaining acceptance in
the
marketplace. For example, Centex Homes, one of the largest
homebuilder
in the U.S., and 84 Lumber, one of the largest wood
retailers
in the U.S. have both recently announced environmental
purchasing
policies giving preference to SFI along with other
credible
forestry certification systems.
Highlights
of the SFI program:
-
Program is controlled by a multi-interest independent, neutral,
Sustainable
Forestry Board (SFB). It is composed of 15 members, 60
percent
of whom are from diverse interest groups including
environmental/conservation
organizations, agency representatives,
professional/academic
groups, landowners and logging
professionals.
-
Independent audits are conducted to assess applicants performance
against
11 forest management objectives and 35 mandatory performance
measures.
Included is a requirement that harvest levels be
sustainable.
- The
program currently involves U.S. companies and licensees
representing
90% of the industrial timberland, 84% of paper
production
and 50% of solid wood production. The program was extended
to
Canada this year.
- The
program is very disciplined and since inception, 16 companies
have
been expelled for non-compliance and 22 have been suspended.
-
Program participants have spent $317 million US on research
related
to wildlife, biodiversity, ecosystem management, and the
environment.
-
Training in sustainable forestry practices is a requirement of the
program
and in 1999, 44,000 independent loggers and foresters have
been
trained and an additional 33,000 have partially completed
training
programs.
- Local
implementation committees have spent $14 million US on
landowner
outreach and logger training.
- The
program has received several prestigious national awards, the
latest
being from the U.S. Renew America/President's Council on
Sustainable
Development.
- Continual
improvement is a requirement, and periodic independent
audits
assess progress and achievements.
-
Extensive consumer perception research has been completed to test
various
on-product labels and claims to ensure that labelling
under
the SFI program is effective and credible.
- The
program is supported by 10 important U.S. organized labour
unions
who are actively promoting the SFI program within the U.S.,
and are
working with organized labour around the world to ensure that
there
is mutual recognition of sustainable forest management
certification
programs.
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