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PEFC International, the world's largest forest certification scheme, is calling on all stakeholders to nominate candidates for a working group dedicated to the revision of PEFC requirements for the sustainable management of tropical natural forests.

Over the past two years, the PEFC Revision Working Group has revised PEFC’s requirements sustainable forest management, standard setting, and group certification, which were approved in November 2010.

The remaining task of the Revision Working Group is to develop an interpretative Appendix for the application of the new PEFC standard for sustainable forest management in tropical natural forests. This includes issues such as the recognition of free, prior and informed consent, the respect for property and land tenure rights as well as customary and traditional rights, prohibition of forest conversions and genetically modified trees, and the protection of ecologically important forest areas.

In order to better address this remaining task, the current WG will be recomposed to include individuals and organisations with interest and expertise in tropical natural forests and trade with products of those forests.

PEFC members and external parties are eligible to nominate candidates for the working group for the following five stakeholder categories:

• Forest owners/managers
• Forest based industry
• Consumers and customers
• Civil society
• PEFC members

Participation is aimed to include representatives from the CSD Major Groups, which include Business & Industry, Children & Youth, Farmers, Indigenous Peoples, Local Authorities, NGOs, Scientific & Technological Community, Women, and Workers & Trade Unions.

The revision process will be complemented by open dialogues, expert workshops, and public consultations at various stages of the revision process and anticipated to result in the submission of a revised PEFC requirements for tropical natural forests to the PEFC General Assembly in November 2011 in Montreux, Switzerland.

Terms and References

The working group:

• is governed by PEFC GD 1003:2009,
• has 25 seats equally distributed amongst the stakeholder categories (see above), decisions of the working group are following principles of consensus,
• is anticipated to meet three times in 2011, in early February 2011, end of May 2011 and in Autumn (September-October 2011), in Geneva, Switzerland. Telephone conference facilities will be provided, though direct participation is strongly encouraged.
• participation is voluntary, the members are responsible for covering their own costs (reimbursement of the travel costs may be provided in exceptional circumstances)

Please submit nominations by 31 December 2010.

Further Information

Nominations Form (all fields are required)

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The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), whose standards govern the certification of two-thirds of the total global certified forest area, has today published revised standards for sustainable forest management, chain of custody, standard setting, group certification, and logo usage. The standards were approved at the 14th PEFC General Assembly on 12 November 2010.

“The revised standards represent a milestone for forest certification, especially in terms of social requirements, transparency, and stakeholder participation,” said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General.

The revised standard on sustainable forest management addresses important issues such as conversion, chemicals, GMOs, ecologically important forest areas, customary and traditional rights, and the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples Rights and ILO Convention 169. PEFC’s requirements for the development of national standards clarifies and further defines criteria related to transparency and public information, and recognizes the nine major groups defined by the Agenda 21 (CSD Major Groups) as the stakeholder groups involved in or concerned by sustainable forest management. The revision process is summarized in the development ( 235 kB) and global public consultation ( 1.3 MB) reports.

The revised chain of custody standard and logo usage rules incorporate the experiences of ten years of certification by thousands of companies globally. Major changes include the recognition of recycled material within PEFC claims, and the inclusion of social requirements.  These social requirements provide an additional layer of confidence to consumers and buyers that elementary rights of workers in companies along the supply chain have been respected,  thereby minimizing business risk for companies along the supply chain. The revision process is summarized in the development ( 142 kB) report.  The transition period for certified companies is twelve month.

Further Information

• Press release: Leading Sustainable Forest Management Standard Approved by PEFC
• Press release: “Historic Moment for Forest Certification”

Download

• Standard Setting – Requirements (PEFC ST 1001:2010) ( 165 kB)
• Group Forest Management Certification – Requirements (PEFC ST 1002:2010) ( 144 kB)
• Sustainable Forest Management – Requirements (PEFC ST 1003:2010) ( 201 kB)
• Chain of Custody of Forest Based Products – Requirements (PEFC ST 2002:2010) ( 353 kB)
• PEFC Logo Usage Rules – Requirements, 2^nd Edition (PEFC ST 2001:2008) ( 254 kB)
• Amendment No. 1 to PEFC ST 2001:2008, PEFC Logo Usage Rules – Requirements ( 153 kB)

OTHER ONGOING PUBLIC CONSULTATION

With the goal to support the harmonization of guidelines for public procurement of wood-based products within the EU, Finland has launched its public procurement policy for wood-based products earlier this year. The policy, which is now available in English, specifies that forest certification systems such as PEFC and FSC are accepted for the verification of sustainably produced wood.

The policy emphasizes that there are varying approaches to public procurement in EU Member States, which "present a number of challenges, and the need for harmonization is increasing as more and more countries implement their own steering mechanisms." Finland's goal is therefore to "support the harmonization of guidelines for the public procurement of wood-based products within the EU", and the Finnish public procurement recommendations have been drawn up to be compatible with the EU Public Procurement Directive.

"PEFC Finland welcomes the arrival of the Finnish public procurement policy as an important tool to encourage public authorities to take sustainability considerations into account in their tenders," said Auvo Kaivola, PEFC Finland Secretary General. "With Finnish public procurement estimated to be worth approximately 23 billion Euros, it has the potential to have a significant impact on the well-being of society."

Mr. Kaivola emphasized that "we especially appreciate the call for harmonization of public procurement policies across the EU. Private companies are already moving towards a more harmonized and inclusive approach concerning sustainable procurement, supporting the further uptake of forest certification and assisting organizations such as PEFC in promoting sustainable forest management in Finland and abroad."

The Finnish public procurement policy was drafted by a multi-stakeholder steering group consisting of Different Ministries (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Finance), expert organizations (Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, Motiva, Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, Finnish Forest Industries Federation), public procurement representatives (Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, Hansel Ltd, City of Espoo) and the WWF.

Whilst forest certification in the 1990s originally set out to improve forest management in tropical countries, twenty years later only one percent of the global supply of wood from certified forests originates from the tropics.

The PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue (10 November 2010, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) will elaborate on the challenges and opportunities of expanding forest certification in the tropics, especially for locally controlled forests. REGISTER NOW!

“Certification in the tropics is largely utilized by large scale commercial operations, often run by international, foreign-owned companies, with few forests under local control - managed or owned directly by families, communities or indigenous peoples - having achieved certification”, explains Caroline Stein, Acting Head of Development at PEFC International.

“Yet certification is not only an important tool to verify sustainable forest management practices, but also a pre-requisite of doing business with a wide range of private and public sector organizations requiring certification as evidence of sustainability within their respective timber procurement policies. Local forest owners that are unable to obtain certification are essentially excluded from markets requiring such evidence which in many cases has direct economic and social impacts on the people that depend on these forests for their livelihoods.”

Promoting certification of locally controlled forests especially in the tropics is one of the key activities of PEFC internationally. “Tropical forests are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet. They are considered to be critical in tackling climate change, while at the same time contributing to the livelihoods of millions of forest dependent people”, emphasizes Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International General Secretary.

“With 25% of tropical forests under local control, there is a clear need for forest certification systems to increase their relevance to small scale forest operations to ensure that all responsible forest managers and operators, large and small, can benefit from certification.”

The PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue will look into the complex challenges facing certification in the tropics, including issues such as

• socio-political factors limiting the desirability of long-term investment
• unresolved land tenure issues
• lack of consistent market incentives to compensate for additional costs
• lack of relevant national certification standards, and
• the cost barrier of certification itself, especially for small forest owners and communities.

Participants will discuss in how far changing framework conditions can assist in overcoming these challenges and serve as important drivers to advancing certification. Such framework conditions include:

• Public and private procurement policies demanding legal and sustainable timber
• Governments developing timber assurance systems
• REDD, Carbon trading and Payments for Ecosystem Services offering increased opportunities to value and market forest products from well managed forests
• Strategic partnerships between different actors show first successes.

PEFC Workshops (Thursday, 11th November 2010)

Participants are also invited to attend the PEFC Workshops on Thursday morning.

GMOs
The revised PEFC forest management standard, to be presented for approval by the PEFC General Assembly on 12th November 2010, bans the use of GMOs in forest management.

Research suggest that GMOs offer economic and technical benefits especially in plantation forestry, while there are at the same time concerns about potential negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. With various stakeholders suggesting a more flexible approach towards GMOs, PEFC continues to monitor ongoing research, scientific findings and societal expectations. Like all PEFC criteria, the current PEFC position on GMOs may be changed by due process and will be re-considered during the next revision cycle in 2015.

New Approaches to Certification
The Stakeholder Dialogue on the previous day tackles challenges and opportunities that forest certification faces in the tropics.

PEFC as the world’s largest forest certification system is committed to increase access to PEFC certification in tropical forests, especially for its core constituency, small-, family- ,and community forest owners.Given the outcome of the discussions of the previous day, this workshop discusses the way forward for PEFC to overcome existing barriers and take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Further Information

• REGISTER NOW!
• Previous PEFC Stakeholder Dialogues

Download:

Agenda.pdf (464.78 kB)

PEFC Latvia has applied for re-endorsement of its national forest certification system. Stakeholders globally are invited to provide comments and feedback during the consultation period, which is open until 12 December 2010.

"Forest owners in Latvia are keen to gain recognition by PEFC at global level. They take great pride in the new forest management standard. The standard is designed to comply with PEFC International’s Sustainability Benchmarks, while at the same time incorporating the unique tradition and culture of forest management in Lativa,” said Mr. Arnis Muižnieks, Chairman of PEFC Latvia Council.

Latvia is one of the most forested countries in Europe, with forest covering more than 55% of the Latvian territory.

With about half of the Latvian forests owned by the state, there are about 150.000 private forest owners in Latvia, who, together with their families, form a remarkable part of society in country with a population of just over 2 million people. These forest owners, whose holdings average less than ten hectares, are instrumental in maintaining the cultural, historical and environmental heritage of the Latvian countryside.

The forest sector is also of strategic importance to Latvia’s national economy. Of all the companies registered in Latvia, 8% are linked to the forest sector, which employs around 5% of the labour force. The forest sector’s share of Latvia’s gross domestic product is about 5%; in 2009, the value of products turned out by the sector reached 1.2 billion Euros, including an export value of 0.9 billion Euros.

The global public consultation is a required element in the assessment process by PEFC International, complementing the Latvian national public consultation, which was part of the standards development process and held at the beginning of this year.

The Latvian national forest certification system was previously endorsed by PEFC between 2001 and 2008.

Please submit your comments by 12 December 2010 using PEFC's Online Consultation Tool.

UPM has started testing the new Finnish FSC standard in company forests. With this testing the company wants to fully assess the costs and functionality of the indicators of the new Finnish FSC standard approved by the Finnish FSC association on 8 October, 2010. The testing covers the financial, ecological and social impacts of the indicators. FSC forest certification will be in the future also one of the forest service products offered by UPM to private forest owners.

Even if FSC is commonly in use in many countries, where forestry has an important role, in Finland there has been no such national standard which would have been widely used by forest owners. Forest industry, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders in Finland have been long in dialogue to find common understanding regarding the national FSC standard. These discussions have been focussed on consolidating financially viable forestry, the environmental aspects and the rights of Sámi people. UPM has participated in these discussions actively as one of the forest industry representatives. All key environmental organisations have participated in this process.

The new national FSC standard to be applied in Finland will become effective only after it has been approved by the Board of Directors of international FSC, probably from the beginning of year 2011.

The results of UPM's own testing are expected to be ready by the end of this year. Based on the results UPM will decide whether it will apply for FSC certification in its own forests in Finland.

UPM has for years offered different nature services to forest owners, who want to emphasise the different values of their forest i.e. promote game stock landscape or nature values. FSC forest certification will be in the future also one of the forest service products offered by UPM to private forest owners.

UPM regards forest certification as an excellent tool to promote sustainable forestry in these circumstances that only 10% of world's forests are certified. UPM seeks to promote all credible forest certification schemes including international PEFC and FSC. All UPM forests are certified. In Finland this comes under PEFC certification and in the UK PEFC and FSC certification (UK Woodland Assurance Standard). In Uruguay UPM plantations are FSC certified. In the UK UPM has experience as the leader of the biggest FSC and PEFC certification group.

For more information please contact:
Mr Timo Lehesvirta, Environmental Director, Energy and Pulp Business Group, telephone +358 400 752 212

PEFC Canada is seeking endorsement by PEFC International for its CSA Sustainable Forest Management(SFM) Programme and has submitted its two standards for independent assessment. Stakeholders globally are encouraged to participate in the public consultation, which is open until 1 Decemeber 2010.

The CSA SFM Programme consists of revised CAN/CSA-Z809-02 Sustainable Forest Management: Requirements, which embodies the most broadly accepted Canadian forest management values generated to date. Originally published in 1996, work on the third edition started in 2004 and includes requirements for public participation, performance, management systems, review of actions, monitoring of effectiveness, and continual improvement.

The second standard, CAN/CSA-Z804, is intended for use by private woodlot of up to 4,000 hectares and can be used for small forests that are owned by individuals, municipalities, foundations, religious or social organizations, Aboriginal communities or governments.

CSA requires extensive public participation in the development of its Standards. Both standards were developed in a consensus-based, multi-stakeholder process by the same CSA Technical Committee on Sustainable Forest Management and were approved as National Standards of Canada by the Standards Council of Canada.

The need for public participation is also strongly emphasized in this Standard, which requires organizations to seek comprehensive, continuing public participation and to work with Aboriginal Peoples at the community level.

"With the majority of Canada's forests being publicly owned, it is of vital importance that Canadian forest certification standards involve the public extensively in the forest management planning process," explained Paul Wooding, PEFC Canada National Secretary. "In response, the public participation requirements of these standards are among the most rigorous in certification standards in the world today."

Equally meticulous is the process that national forest certification systems must undertake to gain global recognition by PEFC International. Any system seeking to obtain PEFC endorsement or re-endorsement must submit to a comprehensive and thorough assessment process, including independent evaluation and public consultation. A full final report of this process is then made publicly available.

"This process designed to ensure that national standards comply with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmark and that all requirements are rigorously and consistently applied across all national certification systems," emphasized Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International General Secretary.

Further Information

Please submit your comments by 1 December, 2010, using PEFC's Online Consultation Tool.

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is continuing its outreach programme to the publishing community by exhibiting at this year’s MediaPro 10 (Stand 42b) in order to promote the PEFC programme more widely to the creative community and the corporate print buying sector. Experts will be on hand to provide information on PEFC-certified and papers and the assurances that they can provide to discerning consumers and businesses who are demanding greener products.

With the majority of the UK’s leading paper merchants now able to offer a range of PEFC certified papers, it is no wonder that now almost 500 printers have been awarded PEFC chain of custody certification. PEFC recently re-launched its UK website and it now includes a database of certified printers and the range of service they offer – www.pefc.co.uk. This has proved to be very popular with visitors to the site demonstrating increasing print buyer interest in providing assurances to their customers of sustainable sourcing.

As a result, more and more publishers and brand owners are now opting to use the PEFC logo on their publications as an assurance of responsible paper sourcing.
Demand for the PEFC logo continues to grow, and this year alone has seen the PEFC becoming ever more visible, as trusted household names such as Argos, Boden, British Airways, First Choice, Matalan, National Westminster, John Lewis, Debenhams, Tesco, Asda, Nectar, Airmiles, Lakeland and most recently The Economist and The Big Issue have both used the PEFC logo on their customer-facing publications.

PEFC is a framework for the mutual recognition of credible national or regional forest certification schemes that have been developed based on internationally recognised requirements for sustainable forest management. Since its launch in 1999, PEFC has become the largest forest certification umbrella organisation covering national schemes from all over the world, delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of certified material onto the global marketplace to meet the ever increasing demand for certified wood-based products.

PEFC now endorses twenty eight national certification schemes across the globe. The 220 million certified hectares managed by these member schemes are now delivering millions of tonnes of certified material into the global marketplace to meet the ever increasing demand for certified wood-based products.

What promised to be a confrontational debate about forest certification between two global leaders of different schemes failed to materialise during an otherwise lively session at the forest industry development conference.

Described as something of a coup, the conference brought together William V. Street jnr, the global president of the PEFC and Corey Brinkeman, US president of FSC.

But it seems a long-held desire by many delegates for a single global certification scheme ain't going to happen any time soon. The key issue expanded by both leaders about certification was: how does industry best address intervention by those who are neither stakeholders nor shareholders in the process?

"We are one of the few industries that have to deal with the concepts of the social licence to operate," Mr Street said. We have the fortune, or misfortune, to be engaged in a rural-based extractive economic activity at a particular point of time when the majority of the world resides in urban population. And the political process and democratic society are dominated by those populations.

"As a result, we have an urban myth that is routinely accepted as truth while rural reality is dismissed as primitive, backward and self-serving. And industry has not responded to that very well. It has tended to accept this as the reality, lament on the adverse consequences it has on us and, for the most part, not engage in it."

Mr Street believes that domestically, the Australian industry is better situated that many would think. "You have a complex array of tenure arrangements, most of which appear to be viewed as legitimate by the national political process and across political parties – even the greens," he said.

He said disagreements surfaced over how the wealth was derived and who should share it and how much of it should be distributed. "But these disagreements seem manageable within the context of normal political discourse, which means you have the conflict resolution processes and they are moving forward. They may be moving forward at glacial speed but they are moving forward and this is something you should not take for granted."

Mr Street said there were many places around the world that were less fortunate. "Those who know your national system know it for a number of reasons – you have a proper separation between standards setting, accreditation of auditors and the certification system. Australia also places a prominent role on the use of professional foresters and although I agree that science alone rarely wins, it's difficult to win without any science, so having foresters in your certification scheme provides additional legitimacy."

Mr Street referred to Australia's second round of standards revision as a process that demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement. "Slowly, but surely, there is growing recognition within the certification system that the triple bottom line of social justice, economic viability and ecological soundness needs to be continuously integrated into your standard-setting process. We need to put far more resources into educating consumers and customers about who we are and what we have to offer."

Mr Street said the Australian standard was recognised and respected. "The problem is your brand is not widely known, and it needs to be," he said. "That is a problem that PEFC shares with you. And it is a problem for all of the 30 or so systems in the PEFC family. Our focus in the past has not been on branding, it has been on promoting sustainable forest management. Nationally, your system continues to mature and the industry too is growing in terms of chain of custody – and it has the ability to deliver a large volume of certified material to the international marketplace. I believe that in the not-too distant future we will see certification as mainstream, certainly here and in the European Union."

Mr Street added: "How we deal with our growth, in terms of new cultures, new national governing bodies, the rapid increase in global chain of custodies, the issues of climate change, indigenous peoples, and tropical forests will determine in large part how we will be judged 10 years from today.

"Lately, it seems as if too many of our conversations focus on what divides us, rather than what unites us. What divides us is real. As in any confederation, the pushes and pulls among NGOs and between NGOs and the PEFC secretariat are constant. Ignoring them, denying them, or attempting to hide them will only cause our problems to grow. We must confront our differences and learn from them, because as different and as divisive as some of the newer challenges that we face may be they still pale in comparison to what unites us."

The Australian Forestry Standard Limited  (AFSL) announces the commencement of the 5-yearly revision process of the Australian Standards for Sustainable Forest Management (AS 4708) and Chain of Custody of wood and wood products (AS 4707).

The revision will be a concentrated and collaborative process spanning 2 years. The intensive public participation plan for the project will fully engage all stakeholders groups and interested parties within and connected to sustainable forestry and the supply chain of wood and wood products. Couple this with rigorous adherence to international processes and guidelines, as well as an emphasis on science and evidence, this review project will ensure that these internationally recognised Australian Standards continue to be regarded as the most credible and robust forest certification tools.

Responsibility of the reviews and ultimate decision making powers will reside with Standards Reference Committees (SRC), one for each Australian Standard. SRCs members will consist of representatives who cover scientific, environmental, social, economic and cultural aspects of sustainable forest management and wood production in Australia. Call for nominations from representative national organisations, industries bodies and stakeholders to participate on the SRCs are being mailed out and will be advertised in leading publications. There are many places that need to be filled and AFSL is ensuring that all interested parties are aware of their ability to be involved either on the committee or through public consultation.

Mr Geoff Gorrie, Chairperson AFSL stated "we are very pleased with the plan to conduct this revision as it will ensure a wide coverage of topics and criteria, and that engagement with stakeholders and interested parties is a priority. We are also very happy that Dr Paul Biggs has accepted the role as Chair to the SRC for Sustainable Forest Management. Paul has been a leader in Australian forest management for over 25 years, in that time developing a strong technical and scientific background, and greatly suited to this SRC Chair appointment."

Kayt Watts, CEO of AFSL said "the revision process involves a public call for comment on both Australian Standards. It will be interesting to see the types of issues and aspects of the criteria of the Australian Standards that will be raised in this process, especially in this ever changing forestry and wood production environment."

"AFSL is committed to the revision process which enables a fully transparent and inclusive consultation. We have engaged Fitzpatrick Woods Consulting (FWC) to provide an independent management service to the revision project, especially relating to collaborative stakeholder management and standards revision support to the SRCs," Ms Watts said.

FWC is a specialist consulting firm with particular expertise in the Australian and regional forestry and forest products industries and in stakeholder identification and management.

Revision of the Australian Standards for Forest Management and wood products Chain of Custody will require significant support from industry, government and all stakeholders. AFSL will soon be commencing engagement with industry partners and the Australian Government to discuss assistance options. Needless to say, the revision process cannot be completed without considerable support.