environment magazine

Why Forest Certification Must Embrace The Bigger Picture

By Karen Brandt, Vice President, Market Affairs, Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc.

Timber Expo was a fantastic display of the depth of the forest sector – with more than 100 exhibitors and thousands of delegates.

For me, it brought home the fact we work in a highly complex business, one that is squarely in the public spotlight, and one where the only constant is change regardless of whether you manage forestlands, import timber products or buy paper-based materials.

It also reinforced the fact that third-party forest certification programs like the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) are an important piece of this complex puzzle.

The choice of building materials can have a huge impact on the environment. And wood’s inherent properties – as a sustainable and renewable resource – make it an excellent environmental choice for any new construction or renovation. Over time, forest certification has made an important contribution to green building, delivering a proof point that timber products are from well-managed forests backed by a rigorous, independent certification audit.

Tracking Progress Forest certification is a direct outcome of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, which led to the vision of sustainable development. The conference encouraged many nations to begin considering how they would measure and track their progress toward the goal of sustainability.

In 1993, countries representing 60 per cent of the world’s forests made national commitments to work toward sustainable management, and accepted the Montréal Process criteria and indicators to track their progress at a national level. Across Europe and North America, multi-stakeholder processes built on these criteria and indicators to develop third-party certification programs. Today there are more than 100 certification standards around the world – supporting sustainable forest management and many including chain-of-custody certification to link certified forests to the marketplace.

The most recent UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review notes that while preventing deforestation in the tropics was among the key drivers for introducing forest certification, this is the area where the least progress has been made. Just 10 per cent of the world’s forests are certified – and about 90 per cent of these certified lands are in the northern hemisphere. In fact, roughly only two per cent of tropical forest has been certified.  

Considering the Bigger Picture Most organizations – large or small – build corporate social responsibility into their business plans because they value the role they can play in the communities where they do business and where they source their products. They know they are part of the bigger picture.

The same holds true for forest certification. It is a tool that forest managers can use to strengthen their forest practices; one that customers and consumers can use to support and reward responsible forest practices. Effective forest certification programs embrace the bigger picture by cultivating a variety of partnerships to build on strong standards and develop increased understanding of the changing landscape in which we all operate.

Having a rigorous standard and making sure the requirements are being met is just the starting point to addressing sustainable forest management. At SFI, we are always looking for ways to draw on the enthusiasm, skills and knowledge of the many people who make up our bigger picture – forest professionals, conservation and community experts, government agencies, Aboriginal groups, and so many others.

After all, the goal of forest certification is sustainable forest management, not market access. Marketplace benefits are earned by managing forests well.

SFI Inc. manages the largest single forest certification standard in the world – more than 75 million hectares of forests in Canada and the United States are certified to the SFI 2010-2014 Standard. Our standard is endorsed by PEFC, and we build on the comprehensive laws that apply in North America. At SFI, the bigger picture has meant building on our standard through diverse partnerships, through requirements for forest research, through landowner outreach and much more. Forests contribute to the environmental, social and economic fabric of our communities. Research, community involvement and logger training are all part of sustainable forest management.

Building Knowledge and Skills SFI requires in-kind support or funding for forest research as a condition of forest certification – and since 1995 that has led to an investment of $1.2 billion for research activities. We are helping to build strong communities through partnerships with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity – we donate SFI-certified products to help Habitat affiliates across the United States and Canada promote homeownership as a means to breaking the cycle of poverty. More than 130,000 logging professionals have been trained in responsible forestry through the SFI program or its recognition of other programs since 1995.

We also look for ways to make forest certification accessible to all forest managers and landowners, including those with small or medium-sized operations. An earlier UN market review found the most accessible and easily certifiable state-owned and industrial forestlands are now certified. However, the pace of growth in forest certification has slowed since 2006, and there are challenges ahead to certify non-industrial forestlands in Europe and North America, and forests in tropical developing countries.

SFI is part of a pilot project to make certification more accessible to small- and medium-sized landowners in North America. We also require that our program participants provide professional support and advice to millions of family forest owners who are not certified because timber harvesting is not often the primary management activity. In North America, there are close to 1,000 members in 37 community-based SFI Implementation Committees who expand the reach of responsible forest management by arranging training for loggers and foresters, and outreach to family forest owners.

Power of Partnerships Partnerships help all of us to strengthen knowledge and understand ways to address the bigger picture – and evolving – matters such as climate change and illegal logging. Through our SFI Conservation and Community Partnerships Grant program, we encourage collaboration among organizations interested in improving forest management in North America and responsible procurement globally. To date, SFI Inc. has committed $1.1 million to 24 projects, and contributions by partners have raised the value to $4.2 million. This year, in recognition of International Year of Forests 2011, we introduced community-based grants to support forestry education activities and green building for low-income families.

Voluntary tools such as certification are one element of a multi-faceted approach to help markets avoid products from illegal or uncertain sources – along with government policies and responsible procurement strategies. Laws like the Lacey Act in the United States and the EU Illegal Timber Regulation broaden awareness of the damage caused by illegal logging, and limit markets for illegal timber products. We work with international partnerships that address illegal logging – like the Forest Legality Alliance, a joint effort of the World Resources Institute, Environmental Investigation Agency and USAID aimed at reducing illegal logging by encouraging the supply of legal forest products. The SFI conservation grants help organizations like the World Resources Institute provide the tools needed so participants in the forest product supply chain can keep illegally harvested forest products out of the market.

A Role for Everyone At a time when less than 10 per cent of the world’s forests are certified, experts like the UN and Dovetail Partners report there is a growing convergence across forest certification programs. That’s good news for customers. It means they can meet stated commitments to corporate social responsibility by giving preference to all third-party certified timber and paper products.

Supporting healthy competition offers more choice, and makes all certification programs better. It addresses the reality that one program alone cannot meet the variety of forests and tenures in the world today; one program alone cannot deal with all the changes before us – a changing climate, changing markets, changing products.

While forest certification has evolved significantly over the years, it’s important that we work together to expand its reach. By supporting all credible certification standards, buyers and policymakers in both the public and private sectors not only increase the likelihood they will find the products they need – they will be making a choice that yields immense environmental and social benefits for forests and communities around the world.

When the goal is improving the welfare of the world’s forests and communities, no one organization can claim to have all the answers or resources to achieve optimal results. By sharing ideas, resources and enthusiasm, we all accomplish more in the forest, in communities and in the marketplace.