FSC-Watch

"Latvia's pulp fiction": AlJazeera programme on FSC and destructive logging in LatviaTags: Latvia, Corrective Action Requests, High Conservation Value Forests, Hoped-for improvements, Suspended certificates, Controlled wood, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

A programme this week on AlJazeera's People and Power reports on destructive logging in Latvia - including the fact that FSC-certified Latvian timber is still on sale in the UK, despite the fact that the FSC certified was suspended on 16 July 2010.

During 2009 and 2010, the FSC-certified Latvian state logging company, Latvijas Valsts Mezi, doubled the area of forest logged from 15,000 hectares to 30,000 hectares each year. Rainforest Alliance, the FSC certifying body, carried out an audit in June 2010, and found that "the harvesting level in 2009/2010 far exceed the long term sustainable level." As AlJazeera's film reveals, this is something of a euphemism...[Continue]

Accreditation Services International: A watchdog with neither bark nor biteTags: Uganda, Accreditation controls, Corrective Action Requests, SGS Qualifor

Last year, Accreditation Services International (ASI) discovered that SGS's certification of Mount Elgon National Park in Uganda was based on hoped for future improvements, rather than what was actually happening in the National Park. ASI, however, failed to take any meaningful action against SGS.

FSC certification requires that the company certified complies with FSC's Principles and Criteria, at the time the certificate is issued. This is fundamental to the credibility of the FSC system.

In April 2007, ASI carried out an annual audit of SGS at Mount Elgon in Uganda...[Continue]

SmartWood's certification of TemRex criticisedTags: Canada, Corrective Action Requests, Hoped-for improvements, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

Last month, SmartWood awarded an FSC certificate to TemRex's industrial logging operations in Quebec, Canada. The certificate came with 26 outstanding "corrective action requests" (with which the company has to comply at some point in the future), 20 "observations" (which are voluntary) and 10 "notes for future auditors".

FSC-watch received this from Bob Eichenberger with the subject line "bullshit in Gaspésie":

To all good foresters

The Forest Stewardship Council was a great idea and carried a lot of hope to anyone who read through the ten principles concerning the integrity of the forest ecosystems, the rights of rural and native peoples, biodiversity and so on...[Continue]

FSC Certified operations fast losing credibility in AustraliaTags: Australia, Plantations, Certifier conflict of interest, Corrective Action Requests, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

This posting has been submitted by Anthony Amis, Friends of the Earth Melbourne, Australia.

In February 2004, Hancock Victorian Plantations received Australia's first FSC certification [certifier: SmartWood]. Many interested parties initially hoped that FSC would deliver on what it promised and we would see a marked improvement in Hancock's forest management practices. Those promises have not eventuated and in many ways Hancock's forest management is getting worse not better...[Continue]

On the road to nowhere? The dangers of certifying ‘hoped-for’ improvements in the Czech RepublicTags: Czech Republic, Hoped-for improvements, Corrective Action Requests, Soil Association Woodmark

When Soil Association WoodMark re-certified the 10,000 hectares of Masarykův les Křtiny (ŠLP), a State-owned forest in the Czech Republic in 2004 (which had first been certified in 1997), one of the notable features of the Public Summary report was the number of times in which the phrase “to be implemented immediately on certification” was used in relation to the numerous Corrective Action Requests issued. In other words, SLP had not actually achieved whatever standards WoodMark used to assess them (there was no national FSC Standard in the Czech Republic at the time of the assessment), but would hopefully achieve them afterwards...[Continue]

A Critique of the Tembec Certifications, FSC's largest certified companyTags: Canada, Corrective Action Requests, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

This article was supplied by Mary Bull, of the Greenwood Earth Alliance

The Forest Stewardship Council certifications of Tembec Industries Inc on vast areas of Canadian forest land have involved many of the typical flaws and failures of FSC certification documented throughout this web site. These certifications cover large industrial-scale operations involving massive clearcutting and even-aged management, with the certification awarded on the basis of future reforms, and in some cases, future standards...[Continue]

Cameroon: Wijma still certified, as official observer finds new illegalitiesTags: Cameroon, Corrective Action Requests, Wijma, Legality, Eurocertifor

The following article by Philippe Chibani-Jacquot first appeared on novethic.fr, in October, 2006 (*)

The decision to maintain the FSC label awarded to the first certified concession in Central Africa continues to make waves among environmentalists. The certification gained by the Wijma-Douala company is encouraging other companies to commence the same process.

Since December 2005, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a sustainable forest management label, has been facing criticism from the Cameroon NGO, the Centre pour l’Environnement et le Développement (CED/Centre for the Environment and Development), Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth-France...[Continue]