Below are press releases from SSNC and Protect the Forest.

Unfortunately, FSC Sweden does seem to have understood the seriousness of the situation. A strange statement on FSC Sweden's website (translation by google, posted below) is titled "FSC does not close the door for SSNC". As SSNC points out in its press release, this is not a problem that simply needs more discussion. SSNC resigned in protest at the failure of FSC Sweden to deal with the fact that "FSC-certified companies violate Swedish forestry law and the FSC standard." SSNC has made several formal complaints that FSC has failed to address.

As a recent report by SSNC documents, Sweden's old-growth forests are under serious threat. "Numerous forests with great importance for nature conservation are being logged at an alarming rate, even by companies certified by Forest Stewardship Council," states Mikael Karlsson SSNC's President in the foreword to the report. A report by Greenpeace released last year found that "Swedish timber with the certification label FSC might come from high conservation value forests that should have been left protected". FSC is not helping to protect Sweden's forests. Instead it is helping to greenwash the destructive logging of Sweden's remaining old-growth forests.

Press release from SSNC:

Swedish Society for Nature Conservation resigns from FSC Sweden

STOCKHOLM, June 16, 2010 (Press Release) - The General Assembly of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, the largest environmental organisation in Sweden, has decided to resign from Forest Stewardship Council Sweden. The decision was based on the fact that FSC-certified companies violate Swedish forestry law and the FSC standard. Several formal complaints have been left without effective action by the FSC.

"We are very disappointed. We initiated FSC in Sweden some 15 years ago but today the number of violations of laws and standards is too high for any environmental organisation to accept. We refuse further greenwashing under the FSC logotype", says Mikael Karlsson, President of the society.

The decision to leave FSC Sweden was preceded by extensive discussions within the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC). At the recent general assembly of FSC Sweden, SSCN forwarded motions with claims for improvements of the system. One of these proposals, to investigate the certified forest companies' violations of Swedish law, was partially adopted by the FSC assembly. However, the FSC assembly rejected the proposal that forest companies must be transparent with their violations of Swedish laws. The other motion, including concrete proposals for improving the forest management standards, was rejected.

"Over the years, we have put enormous effort in trying to improve FSC Sweden. Still though, the standard is too weak and the requirements are violated. And when we notify complaints on clear violations, the sanctions for companies are too marginal to have a practical impact", says Jonas Rudberg, forest expert SSNC.

The decision of the SSNC General Assembly came after a motion in which an exit from the FSC was proposed. The SSNC board decided recently to endorse resignation of FSC Sweden.

SSNC remains, until further notice, as a member of FSC International.

For questions, contact:

Mikael Karlsson, President, + 46 70-316 27 22 .se

Jonas Rudberg, Forest expert +46 70-214 16 32 .se

Anders Grönvall, presschef, +46 70-655 46 19 .se Also see SSNC’s recent report ”Cutting the Edge – the Loss of Natural Forest in Sweden”

http://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se/upload/press/rapport-cutting-the-edge.pdf

Press release from Protect the Forest:

FSC resignation is welcomed in Sweden Tuesday, 22 June 2010 07:29

This is what you are allowed to do as a FSC-certified forest company without noticeable consequences. By Stora Enso, logged forest and deep wheel tracks in the soil. Photo: Olli Manninen/Protect the Forest 2009.

Sweden's largest environmental organization Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) has resigned from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Sweden. FSC is an international eco-labelling of paper and wood products. The decision is welcomed by the Swedish conservation organization Protect the Forest. FSC is criticized as loggings conducted by forest companies do not adequately comply with its rules, at the same time as sanctions are lacking and basic requirements are too low. Now Protect the Forest urges consumers to put pressure on the Swedish forest companies.

”SSNC’s resignation indicates that the credibility of the FSC certification, as a warranty for products from sustainable forest management, is not valid any more,” said Viktor Säfve, Chairperson of Protect the Forest. “Year after year, we have seen forest companies violate the environmental criteria of the FSC standard by, for instance, logging old-growth forests, felling trees with high biodiversity values, creating deep wheel tracks in the soil and running over watercourses. Despite this, there are no sanctions for the companies involved.”

Similar figures are confirmed by the Swedish Forest Agency, which, in its survey of the forestry, estimates that 28 percent of the fellings in Sweden do not live up to the minimum requirements of Swedish Forestry Act regarding environmental consideration. Protect the Forest also criticizes the FSC because it allows fertilization, large clear-cuts, soil scarification, cleaning of ditches, exotic tree species and pesticides. The system is also based on voluntary protection; too few percent of the forest land is protected. More is needed in order to safeguard the biodiversity, and there are no regulations regarding the quality and long-term safeguard of the voluntarily protected areas.

“Today, Stora Enso’s strongly criticized eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, IKEA’s old-growth forest loggings in Russia and SCA’s and Holmen´s old-growth forest loggings in Sweden are FSC-certified,” said Viktor Säfve, Chairperson of Protect the Forest. “We have actively chosen not to support the FSC since we mean that the system does not work.

“In order to change this situation, customers of Swedish FSC-certified paper and wood products need to urge the Swedish forest companies SCA, Bergvik, Stora Enso, Holmen Skog and Swedwood (IKEA) to immediately stop logging old-growth forests and to use truly sustainable forest management methods,” added Amanda Tas, Forest Coordinator, Protect the Forest. “If no improvements occur, we call for a boycott of Swedish FSC-certified forest products. No more old-growth forests should be felled in the name of FSC.”

Contact person:

Viktor Säfve, Chairperson, Protect the Forest, +46 (0)76 1148811, >.se Amanda Tas, Forest Coordinator, Protect the Forest, >.se

Statement from FSC Sweden:

FSC does not close the door for SSNC

2010-06-14

FSC Sweden is sorry that the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has relinquished its membership in the Swedish FSC. The decision was taken by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation General Assembly in June.

"From our side does not mean that we close the door for further dialogue," says Swedish FSC Chairman Tomas Ekström.

FSC is an open system. Criticism and review plays an important role. Both members and other stakeholders have the opportunity to make comments.

In the FSC there is a continual dialogue between the stakeholders involved: from environmental organizations, social organizations and enterprises. All participants should have an equal role as secured by the members are divided into three chambers: social chambers, environmental chambers and economic chambers. Each chamber is always a third of the voting rights when the FSC decides.

Another tragic death in another SGS-Qualifor FSC-certified plantation has now taken place. Below is a statement from the Sócio-Environmental Fórum of the Extreme South of Bahia and the Alert against the Green Desert Network, dated 23 March 2010, about the latest killing.

The company involved, Fibria, is the result of a merger between Aracruz Celulose and Votorantim Celulose e Papel. Back in 2006, when part of Aracruz's operations were FSC-certified, this gave the then-head of FSC, Heiko Leideker, something of a headache. That certificate was the result of Aracruz buying a certified company.

Another Aracruz FSC-certified disgrace is Veracel, which is a joint venture with Stora Enso.

What will it take before FSC realises that just maybe, if FSC is to retain any shred of credibility, the vast industrial tree plantations run by the company formally known as Aracruz cannot be certified under the FSC system? Fortunately, Fibria provides a map of its operations (above). FSC-Watch looks forward to receiving FSC's statement of dissociation from Fibria.

Armed security force of Fibria (Aracruz) kills local villager in Bahia

With this statement, we express our enormous outrage about the death of 24-years old Henrique Souza Pereira, who was killed on 16 March 2010. According to Fibria´s press release (Fibria is the former Aracruz Celulose and partner of Stora Enso in the Veracel Celulose company), a team of GARRA, the private ‘security’ company of Fibria, shot Henrique, alleging that he was stealing wood and ‘acting aggressively’ when he was requested to leave an area with eucalyptus trees. But the father of Henrique, Osvaldo Pereira Bezerra declared in an interview with a local newspaper, he was accompanying Henrique on a motorcycle going home when the conflict happened. During the incident, the security force broke the arm of Henrique’s father.

After having shot Henrique, the security force left the area and returned only after 40 minutes, accompanied by an ambulance. Henrique did die of his wounds.

We want to express our solidarity with the family of Henrique and with his community.

It is worth while to remember that Henrique de Souza Pereira was one of the innumerous neighbors of the extensive eucalyptus areas who are trying to survive, fenced inside small properties. Another murder, happened in 2007 when Antônio Joaquim dos Santos, geraizeiro[1], was killed by the Security force of V&M Florestal when he was collecting firewood in an area with eucalyptus from V&M Florestal. It is noteworthy that both V&M Florestal[2] as well Fibria had at the moment that these incidents happened the international FSC certificate that affirms to the consumer that the production comes from a “socially just forest management”.

What attracts our attention and causes our indignation is that one more time a local inhabitant has to die while the authorities, with public funds from the BNDES[3] continue promoting the expansion of the eucalyptus monoculture, transferring impudently public money to transnational mega-companies such as Fibria and Stora Enso. At the same time, the same authorities do not implement agrarian land reform and the demarcation of quilombola[4], indigenous, peasant and geraizeira lands. Acting so, the authorities are contributing with the unlimited ‘hunger’ of these corporations for more lands and profits. Fibria alone occupies an area of more than 1 million hectares in the country!

In its press release about the death of Henrique, Fibria does not reflect at all why families, in order to survive, collect firewood and wood from its lands. On the contrary, it is incredible that the company affirms: “At the same time, Fibria would like to express its concern to the state authorities about the increase of stealing of wood in the south of Bahia. This creates the risk of conflicts and loss of lives as the fact that happened. This not only affects Fibria´s activities, but also the activities of other companies operating in the region. Measures to restrain these illegal practices are urgently needed, so that security conditions can be established to the population and an environment can be assured that makes activities of the companies and the social and economic development of the region possible”.

In the face of what happened, one may ask: what is this social and economic development that destroys the life of local inhabitants?? That ignores the rights of communities and destroys the hope of the people? It is unacceptable that a company with these practices can obtain supposed ‘sustainability’ seals such as FSC and Cerflor, besides the many ‘sustainability ratings’.

At this very moment, we recall that in the Extreme South of Bahia and in the north of Espirito Santo, tens of local people, landless workers and especially quilombolas are being criminalized and persecuted, supposedly because of ‘stealing’ wood of the company from lands that have always belonged collectively to these communities and that always guaranteed their subsistence. On November 11, 2009, the state government of Espirito Santo carried out in the quilombola community of São Domingos a big police action with 130 armed police men with rifles and sub-machine guns, dogs and horses, arresting 39 quilombolas.

But the authorities are not capable to guarantee agrarian land reform and the effective and immediate demarcation of the quilombola, geraizeiro, indigenous and peasants lands.

Only giving back the lands to the legal owners and to those who really needs to work on it, it is possible to make an end to the conflicts.

And finally, we demand a rigorous investigation and punishment of the guilty for the facts and that not only GARRA but also Fibria be held responsible for the regrettable death of Henrique de Souza Pereira.

Sócio-Environmental Fórum of the Extreme South of Bahia and the Alert against the Green Desert Network March 23, 2010

[1] Geraizeiro is a traditional inhabitant of the cerrado region in the North of Minas Gerais [2] V&M Florestal decided not to maintain its FSC-certificate after this fact [3] BNDES – National Social and Economic Development Bank [4] Quilombolas are a traditional population of black Brazilians who run away from slavery and set up free communities. They have constitutional rights to their lands.

However, the certificate started running into serious trouble already in July 2008, when the FSC's 'certifier watchdog', Accreditation Services International (ASI), carried out a field inspection of the certified company. ASI found, according to their report (pdf file, 340kb) that ICILA had "issued a certificate to the company despite the fact that there was evidence that the company was not in compliance with many FSC requirements...FSC standard FSC-STD-20-001, section 19.1, requires a certification body not to issue a certificate if there are outstanding major non-compliances with the FSC Principles and Criteria".

As a result of ASI's inspection of the SEFAC certificate, ICILA was issued with five 'Corrective Action Requests'. One of these related to the finding that the certification standard against which ICILA had assessed SEFAC was not consistent with the FSC's Principles and Criteria.

By the end of January 2009, ICILA had failed to convince FSC-ASI that they had addressed all the problems in their certification system. FSC thus 'suspended' their accreditation for certifying forest management activities in Cameroon, finding that "the instances of major non conformities outline a breakdown in the implementation of ICILA's accredited procedures and create a risk for the credibility of the FSC in Cameroon". This should have meant that SEFAC's certificate was no longer valid.

FSC-ASI seems to have acted properly in this case, and it is encouraging to see that it was relatively swift in removing ICILA's accreditation. However, some worrying aspects remain. The linked Cameroonian timber company, SEBAC continues to retain its ICILA-issued Chain of Custody certificate, though it is unclear where the company could be obtaining FSC-certified timber from, if not from the now de-certified SEFAC.

More importantly, however, ASI seems to have failed to address the question of SEFAC's underlying legality. As previously noted by FSC-Watch, the company's logging operations appear to greatly exceed the legal size limit for concessions held by any one company. ASI claims to have found that the complicated shareholding structure of the company somehow circumvented this concession size restriction. However, in its report on ICILA, ASI noted that ICILA had "issued a certificate to the group SEFAC and ICILA's report refers to the group SEFAC-Cameroun. The FSC certificate database also refers to "Groupe SEFAC". However, the "groupe SEFAC" is not a legal entity. ICILA's certificate should have been issued to SEFAC AC and ICILA's report should refer to SEFAC AC as the group entity".

This was an important observation, because any such legal entity as 'Groupe SEFAC' would have fallen foul of the Cameroonian law, for holding too large a concession. However, investigations have failed to turn up any legal entity entitled 'SEFAC AC'. Furthermore, the also-linked Vasto Legno SpA, the Italian company which, according to ASI, "defines the commercial and marketing strategy of SEFAC's certified products" itself states on its website that "VASTO LEGNO is an exclusive world distributor for SEFAC GROUP [...] composed by three society [sic] SEBAC S.A., SEFAC S.A. and FILIÈRE BOIS S.A.". FSC-ASI has so far failed to answer questions to it concerning where the company 'SEFAC AC' is legally registered.

Despite these 'anomalies', SEFAC is now undergoing a process of re-certification by Bureau Veritas - which hopefully will do a better job of getting to the bottom of the legal status of 'Groupe SEFAC/SEFAC AC/SEBAF/Vasto Legno'....

The Massachusetts DCR certificate 'disappeared' in April 2009, without any explanation from the FSC or the certifier. DCR Commissioner Richard Sullivan has claimed that there was simply a 'gap', in reissuing the certificate and that "because of the timing for the application for re-certification, it was known from the outset that the certification would lapse."

However, a new report by local TV company The Boston Channel has raised further questions about why the Department of Conservation and Recreation (formerly the equally euphemistically-named Department of Environmental Management) was ever certified in the first place, and whether it would be re-certifiable.

The Boston Channel's Team 5 investigative journalists focused on a plot of forest that had been granted to the state by the Zimmer family in memory of some of their relatives, on condition that it was permanently protected. Instead, the DCR felled it, and continued doing so even when requested by the Zimmer family to stop.

Disrespecting the dead: memorial forest trashed by ex-certified DCR

In the report below, it is also pointed out that Massachusetts taxpayers paid up to $2 million for the certification. Because of FSC's commercial confidentiality arrangements, it is not possible to know how much of this ended up in the pockets of FSC-accredited certifier SCS.

(Full report, with video clips, here)

State Betrays Family's Trust, Cuts Down Trees: Massachusetts Admits Errors In Timber Harvests

One family's trust has been betrayed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the state agency in charge of protecting forests and parks, Team 5 Investigates reported Friday.

NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported that DCR is finally admitting that it should not have harvested land for timber when it was given to the state for the sole purpose of public enjoyment.

Fifteen years ago, Raymond Zimmer donated a 30-acre lot in Chesterfield to the state of Massachusetts in memory of his late wife and three of their nine children who died earlier.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation began harvesting timber on the property earlier this year after a cutting plan was approved by town officials in Chesterfield.

Zimmer's children told Team 5 their father never intended the property to be harvested for timber and point to language in the property deed that prohibits the removal or destruction of trees.

"I can state without reservation that the specific wish and intent of the trust donating the land was that the property was for public enjoyment in its natural condition," said William Zimmer, Raymond Zimmer's son.

But that's not what Team 5 Investigates found happening. According to DCR, the state has already been paid $7,210 for the wood that has been cut down. "It shouldn't have happened, it has happened and it's a result of a complete lack of oversight and accountability in the Bureau of Forestry," said Chris Matera of Massachusetts Forest Watch.

The family asked the state to stop all logging on the property, but it refused. DCR Commissioner Rick Sullivan now concedes the state should not have logged the property. "We didn't do it intentionally to not follow the wishes of the family. We'll make sure going forward that that type of thing doesn't happen on that property, or any other property," Sullivan said.

This isn't the first time DCR destroyed state parks and forests it was supposed to protect. Earlier this year, Team 5 Investigates found signs threatening prosecution for tree cutting were being ignored. Tombstones in a historical cemetery near Savoy State Forest were knocked over by the weight of falling timber, and healthy trees were slashed into thousands of debris covered acres.

All of the damage occurred while DCR claimed its forestry management practices were among the best in the nation.

The logging occurred under the watch of the Forest Stewardship Council, an international organization that claims to promote the responsible management of forests.

Team 5 Investigates obtained an audit by auditors for FSC that shows the state has finally lost its FSC certification. "I'm not surprised the state lost its certification. Their logging was so bad, so egregious, I don't see how they could have possibly kept it," said Matera.

Taxpayers paid more than $2 million to qualify for that certification. Commissioner Richard Sullivan said the department will now do everything it can to get that certification back and make sure taxpayer money wasn't wasted.

"Are you willing to admit now that mistakes were made?" asked Kelly. "Mistakes were made. I am interested in correcting the mistakes and moving forward and making sure they don't happen again," answered Sullivan.

The Commissioner's response doesn't satisfy critics who insist there's no need to pay an international body to protect state forests because state laws are more than adequate.

FSC 'Frosty' Friday also World Eco-debt Day

The FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) has declared today "FSC FRIDAY" as part of a campaign to boost its reputation in the face of growing criticism of its 'greenwashing' of unsustainable logging of the world's rapidly diminishing forests, as well as its efforts to certify vast new areas of socially and ecologically destructive tree plantations as "responsibly managed forests"! (see www.fsc-watch.org)

It is abundantly clear that the driving force behind the environmental plagues troubling humanity - in particular Climate Change - is little more than old fashioned greed, manifesting itself in the form of the gross overconsumption of energy and material goods by the wealthy of the world. 'Certification' as practised by the FSC, amongst other organisations, serves merely to absolve the guilt that should otherwise bring people to change their wasteful ways.

It should also be obvious that excessive consumption by some will inevitably cause others to have access to less, and this inequity is being encouraged and endorsed through marketing campaigns of organisations like the FSC and others, that are pushing greater consumption (and production) of 'responsible' soy, palm oil and ethanol derived from sugarcane!

The Ecological Debt owed by industrialised countries to former colonies in the South continues to grow as Northern use of global resources expands. More and more developing country land is being appropriated by multinational corporations either for food or fuel crop production, or to plant vast exotic tree plantations in the name of mitigating climate change.

These so called 'carbon sink forests' that destroy natural habitat, displace communities, and steal local water resources from their rightful owners - people, biodiversity and ecosystems - are also being certified as a way to justify greater energy consumption and therefore increased CO2 emissions by those that have historically taken far more than their rightful share.

See Recession barely dents 'eco-debt'.

The FSC started life as a do-gooder organisation back in 1993, but has since seemingly been steadily transformed into just another business corporation, with a few deluded 'corporate-type' NGOs blindly clinging to the sinking ship. One of these is WWF which has become known as a partner of large business organisations that are also major climate change culprits, such as plantation and paper company Mondi, and the diamond mining monster, De Beer's. The WWF (SA) membership list includes the likes of Monsanto, BHP Billiton, and Shell Energy, and tells a grim tale of how deeply indebted WWF is to its corporate sponsors.

In the final analysis, unashamedly accepting money derived from resource exploitation means that BINGOs (Big International NGOs) like the WWF are in the same corner as the governments and corporations that are so deeply indebted to our Earth.

Using organisations such as FSC to present fake assurances of sustainability to the teeming masses of gullible consumers living in countries that go into ecological debt long before September 25th every year, is a false solution!

So on this Frosty FSC Ecodebt Friday (Frosty = unpleasant, miserable, unwanted) FSC really has nothing to celebrate.