FSC-Watch

FSC-Watch re-launchTags:

FSC-Watch has moved to FSC-Watch.com.

Please visit the new website, and let us know what you think about the new look. The first new post is already up: The worst 10 things about the Forest Stewardship Council. More new posts will follow soon.

If you want to receive an email whenever new posts appear on FSC-Watch.com, please leave your email address in the box at the top of the sidebar on the right of FSC-Watch.com...[Continue]

A chance to ask FSC's Director of Strategic Development some questionsTags: Certifier conflict of interest, FSC strategy, All certifiers

On Wednesday, 26 February 2014, Ian Hanna, FSC International's Director of Strategic Development, will be interviewed by triplepundit.com.

On its website, triplepundit.com explains that Hanna will be talking about FSC's goals:

Goal 1: Advance globally responsible forest management
Goal 2: Ensure equitable access to the benefits of FSC systems
Goal 3: Ensure integrity, credibility and transparency of the FSC system
Goal 4: Create business value for products from FSC certified forests
Goal 5: Strengthen the global network to deliver on goals 1 through 4

Triplepundit.com adds that,

Hanna will address these goals and concepts, and much more, in his interview...[Continue]

FSC trademarks and censorshipTags: Australia, Trademarks

Believe it or not, according to FSC Australia, if you use the letters 'FSC' or 'Forest Stewardship Council', you need to seek approval, in order to allow FSC to "check the accuracy of the text". At least that's what Timber + Design International was told when they contacted FSC Australia last year.

FSC's website explains that FSC owns three registered trademarks:

*the initials "FSC®"; *the name "Forest Stewardship Council®"; *the "checkmark-and-tree" logo

And FSC takes protecting its trademarks "very seriously":

FSC trademarks may only be used by organizations or individuals that have obtained authorization, and use must be in compliance with FSC’s trademark standards and guidelines...[Continue]

FSC commits "major blunder" by certifying clearcutting in California's redwoodsTags: USA, High Conservation Value Forests, Pesticides, SCS

On 11 February 2013, Green Diamond Resource Company announced that it had received FSC certification. Dr. Robert J. Hrubes, Executive Vice President of SCS announced that,

"Green Diamond Resource Company has undergone a lengthy and rigorous assessment of its forest management practices, broadly defined, and have demonstrated a level of conformance to the FSC Standard that merits award of certification."

EPIC (Environmental Protection Information Center) disagrees with SCS's assessment...[Continue]

Veracel: "Sustainable on Paper" thanks to FSCTags: Brazil, Complaints procedures, Plantations, SGS Qualifor, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

On 13 March 2008, SGS Qualifor awarded an FSC certificate for Veracel's monoculture eucalyptus plantations in Bahia, Brazil. WRM announced that this was FSC's "Death Certificate".

In 2010, two Belgian journalists, Leopold Broers and An-Katrien Lecluyse, spent three months investigating the impact of Veracel's monoculture eucalyptus plantations on local communities. They made a documentary, titled, "Sustainable on Paper", based on interviews carried out in Bahia and Belgium:

Broers and Lecluyse listened not only to the company's point of view, but spent time finding out what local communities think about the project...[Continue]

FSC's new plan to launder wood from deforestationTags: Worldwide, Controlled wood, Plantations

It's official: the FSC is now setting out to use its grotesque Controlled (sic) Wood Policy in order to 'launder' wood from areas experiencing recent deforestation into the FSC certified wood supply chain.

Under the FSC's current rules, areas of natural forest that have been cut down and converted into industrial tree plantations later than 1994 cannot be FSC certified. This important 'safeguard' has been a source of annoyance to the plantation industry (which has been strongly represented on the Board of FSC), as well as large scale pulp and paper companies, which would like to see the restriction removed - in such a way that, in effect, wood from almost any plantation anywhere in the world could be FSC certified, regardless of whether it had been the cause of large-scale or recent deforestation...[Continue]

FSC Complaints Panel says organisation 'needs to control certifiers better': SmartWood "undermines" the FSCTags: Democratic Republic of Congo, Controlled wood, Complaints procedures, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood

The outcome of Greenpeace's complaint against Congolese logging company SODEFOR, announced by the FSC on March 23rd, will probably not please the complainants very much, but it once again has served to highlight some of the glaring weaknesses in the FSC system.

As we have previously reported, the complaint against SODEFOR's certificate dates back to April 2011, but by the time Greenpeace had lodged their appeal, the certificate had already been withdrawn by the certifier, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood...[Continue]