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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Notorious
Malaysian Loggers Interested in Forest Certification
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest
Conservation Archives
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
09/10/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
To the
credit of the notoriously environmentally unsustainable and
socially
unjust Malaysian timber industry, they see the writing on
the
wall, and are now investigating Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
certification
of their timber harvesting practices.
Certifying
practices
in Malaysia's remaining largely fragmented and diminished
forests
is relatively less important at this point than reigning in
excesses
of Malaysian logging companies that are ramping upon
operations
in essentially all remaining large rainforest expanses.
The
Malaysian industry has been known for trampling upon the rule of
law,
wantonly destroying ecosystems and mistreating local peoples
worldwide.
It is
critical that FSC not reduce standards to the lowest common
denominator
in order to accommodate logging operations known for such
atrocious
and wanton abuses. One standard must
apply to all. It is
far
from clear that the Malaysian logging industry has a real
interest
in responsible, sustainable business practices. By engaging
with
known industry bad actors, FSC must be certain that they are not
being manipulated. This said, if the Malaysian loggers and
other
known
industrial over-exploiters of ancient forests are willing to
change
their business model all along the chain of custody, and get
serious
about ecological sustainability in ancient forests they
manage,
then this is truly a watershed event.
But I have my doubts
that
this mafia like timber industry has anything but continuation of
their
windfall profits in mind, and are engaging as a delaying
tactic. I hope they prove me wrong.
g.b.
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RELAYED
TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Green Light In the Forest
Source: Copyright c2000 Review Publishing Company
Limited, Hong
Kong
Status: Copyright 2000, contact source for
permission to reprint
Date: September 7, 2000
By: Bruce Gilley/KUALA LUMPUR
JUST A
FEW years ago, Malaysia's timber industry was thundering
against
Western-based environmental groups.
Environmentalists,
to the industry's displeasure, were trying to
deter
consumers from buying Malaysian timber products on the grounds
that
the products weren't eco-friendly.
Today,
the industry is seeking the blessing of those same
environmental
groups. Later this year, with good business and good
politics
in mind, Malaysia will launch a timber "certification"
scheme
to show that its products meet international guidelines on
protecting
forests. It hopes to have the scheme endorsed by the
biggest
non-governmental group that accredits such schemes--the
Mexico-based
Forest Stewardship Council.
The
council wields a lot of power in the European market and growing
influence
in the United States and Japan. Malaysia's timber industry,
its
fourth-largest export earner, sees the council's backing as
critical
for long-term access to these key markets. That access is
increasingly
important because Malaysia is being undercut in less
green-sensitive
markets--China, Taiwan and South Korea--by low-cost
producers
in countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia.
The
switch is also a political ploy. Malaysian officials hope to buy
time
for their timber exports while lobbying for a government-
controlled
body, such as the United Nations-run International
Tropical
Timber Organization, to take over monitoring of
certification
schemes from the council. In that sense, Malaysia is
merely
switching from one strategy--outright hostility--to another to
defeat
the council.
"We
want an inter-governmental body to have this role," says Chew Lye
Teng,
head of Malaysia's new government-run National Timber
Certification
Council. "How can you ask governments to be answerable
to a
non-governmental organization?"
For
now, prospects of replacing the FSC are dim. Founded in 1993, the
council
has grown stronger as green-sensitive consumers in Western
markets
lost faith in the ability of timber-producing countries to
police
their industries. The council now accredits forestry projects
on 18
million hectares in 33 countries.
The
idea behind certification is to use consumer power to save
forests
from destruction. Research by the government-run European
Forestry
Institute shows that European consumers are willing to spend
10%
more for certified timber products, while certification adds less
than 1%
to a producer's costs, and usually improves company
management.
CERTIFICATION
HAS CACHET
Even
without this so-called "green premium," institute researchers
say
certified sellers usually boost their market share because of the
cachet
of certified timber in eco-sensitive markets. The FSC signs
off on
certification schemes and accredits monitors to ensure that
its
standards are met. If they are, timber companies can stamp the
council's
logo on their products to signal their green credentials to
consumers.
There
is already one FSC-certified forest project in Malaysia
covering
55,000 hectares in Sabah state. Innoprise Corp., the state
company
in charge of logging that forest, says it has seen better
efficiency
and booming sales of its garden furniture to Germany since
the
project started in 1994 with German aid.
This
has prompted forest concession-holders in the states of Perak
and
Terengganu to seek direct FSC certification too. But the rest of
Malaysia's
timber business is counting on the new national
certification
scheme receiving the FSC's blessing.
In
Europe, consumers who buy only FSC-certified products account for
25% to
50% of major markets like Germany, Britain and the
Netherlands.
This trend is hurting Malaysia's sales, its officials
complain.
Malaysia's exports of timber products worldwide grew 20% in
1999,
but exports to the European Union grew only 8%, to 2.2 billion
ringgit
($580 million). Exports to the United States are roughly the
same as
to Europe. FSC-certified timber accounts for only about 5% of
all
timber products in the U.S. market. But that is expected to grow
fast
since home-products giant Home Depot has promised to buy only
FSC-certified
timber by 2002.
Malaysian
timber officials say exports to Japan are also slowing.
"The
Japanese don't tell you directly, but environmental concerns are
driving
their decisions more and more," says Aimi Lee Abdullah, a
spokesperson
for the Malaysian Timber Council.
Enter
Malaysia's own certification scheme. Set up last year, the
National
Timber Certification Council sets standards and picks
monitors
to see they are met. The national programme, concerned with
14
million hectares of natural forest, covers everything from where
and how
to cut timber, to how to make sure timber products reach the
consumer
without being tampered with.
Malaysia
approached the FSC in early 1999, says the council's
executive
director Timothy Synnott, and since then both sides have
worked
together quietly on the certification scheme. Cooperation with
the
council is a big step for Malaysia. "The Malaysians have become
more
pragmatic and are comfortable with a low-profile relationship
with
the FSC," says Mok Sian Tuan, a former Malaysian forestry
department
manager who is now the council's representative in
Malaysia.
But
getting the FSC to sign off on the Malaysian certification scheme
has
been elusive. Synnott says collaboration is happening "quite
slowly."
One major sticking point is better forest management.
Malaysian
officials see no problems with their current practices;
certification
"is just a way to inform the market of this," says the
NTTC's
Chew.
But the
FSC wants changes in areas such as removing felled logs from
forests
(the council prefers overhead winching to on-the-ground
dragging)
and ecological diversity (the council favours efforts to
increase
it). The FSC will approve Malaysia's scheme, Synnott says,
only if
its forest managers make the necessary improvements.
RIGHTS
FOR WORKERS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
The
second sticking point is more contentious: the rights of workers
and
indigenous peoples. This is a foundation of the environmental
groups
that make up the FSC--many of which started by protecting
people
dispossessed by the forestry industry in Central and South
America.
The FSC wants Malaysia to entrench more legal rights for
workers
and indigenous peoples on issues such as compensation and
consultation.
Malaysia says its own system is adequate and, like
other
timber-producing countries, sees such demands as an
encroachment
on its national sovereignty.
Still,
officials on both sides are optimistic that Malaysia's scheme
will
eventually receive FSC approval. It is, after all, a simple
matter
of doing what the market demands. "We're talking about keeping
up with
change," says the FSC's Mok.
Once
approval is secured, Malaysian officials can turn to their next
aim:
replacing the FSC with another body. Publicly, officials say
that a
proliferation of government-run certification schemes globally
means
an intergovernmental body is needed to set common standards.
But
they admit privately that their top concern is loss of
sovereignty.
Canada,
Australia and Brazil are also lobbying for a government
solution
to the accreditation problem. But so far, the only possible
group
to accredit tropical timber--the International Tropical Timber
Organization--is
reluctant to move in the face of opposition by
environmental
groups which see it as an appendage of the tropical
timber
industry.
Malaysian
officials have convinced the ITTO to consider the
accreditation
issue at a November meeting in Japan. But even if it
agreed,
building a credible rival to the FSC would take years.
Until
then the Forestry Stewardship Council will be the only
independent
assessor of certification schemes. "The Malaysians must
have
some way of demonstrating to the cynic that their scheme is
credible,"
says Mok. "That means being accepted by the FSC."
###RELAYED
TEXT ENDS###
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