Summary
¦ CPET’s 2010 assessment of forest certification schemes has just been published.
¦ Six new criteria were added, including social requirements.
¦ Social requirements are now an integral part of revised PEFC chain of custody requirements.
¦ About 25% of all PEFC national standards have now been formally assessed by public procurement policies.
It’s official: the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) continues to deliver evidence of sustainability in compliance with the UK government’s timber procurement policy, according to the Central Point for Expertise on Timber (CPET). The results of the 2010 assessment, published in early 2011, are in line with previous assessments and confirm PEFC’s role in the implementation of the policy.
While the initial two assessments used essentially the same set of criteria, the 2010 assessment added six new criteria against which forest certification systems were assessed. Most important among them were the social requirements, referring to tenure and use rights, means of resolving grievances and disputes, safeguarding basic labour and health and safety rights of forest workers as an integral part of the sustainability definition.
Social issues have been a cornerstone of PEFC since its beginnings. As the certification system of choice for small and family forest owners, PEFC has always recognised the importance of social aspects in sustainable forest management, and became the first global forest certification system to require compliance with all fundamental International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions back in 2001.
Full marks for compliance
It therefore does not come as a surprise that CPET found PEFC complied with its new requirements, awarding it full marks for the vast majority of the CPET criteria. It’s perhaps worth noting, however, that the latest CPET assessment was conducted prior to the approval of the revised standards by PEFC members, so the major modifications in PEFC standards, which include additional social requirements, weren’t taken into account.
With its revised forest management standard PEFC has become the first global standard to reference the UN Declaration of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights (in addition to ILO convention 169), and specifically acknowledges the concept of “free, prior and informed consent”. In another first in the world of forest certification, social requirements have now become an integral part of revised PEFC chain of custody requirements.
Other modifications include the explicitly stated prohibition of most hazardous chemicals, conversions, and genetically modified trees; and the exclusion of plantations established through conversions from certification. Legal requirements were also clarified, with the inclusion of new requirements for consultation with stakeholders and local people, and aspects related to occupational health and safety were added.
Stakeholder involvement
Changes to PEFC’s standard-setting requirements included specific provisions for the identification and involvement of key and disadvantaged stakeholders in the development of national standards, and reference to nine major groups recognised by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development as an example of stakeholders involved in or concerned by sustainable forest management.
In its 2010 assessment for the first time CPET did not separately review national standards already endorsed by PEFC. This decision recognises that PEFC is the most thoroughly assessed forest certification system globally and it has been clearly demonstrated that endorsed national schemes meet CPET requirements.
In addition to the CPET assessments of PEFC-endorsed schemes in the US (SFI), Canada (CSA) and Malaysia (MTCS), similar assessments in the Netherlands have looked at countries such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden.
In total, about one quarter of all PEFC national standards have now been formally assessed by public procurement policies. It remains the only global forest certification system that has undergone such thorough examination and demonstrates the robustness of its own endorsement process, which involves an independent assessment, global public consultation, and a review by a panel of experts.
Mainstreaming certification
With CPET finding that the two global certification systems, PEFC and FSC, both provide assurances of sustainability, and confirming the robust implementation of PEFC?international requirements at national level, it is now important for forest stakeholders worldwide to support the mainstreaming of certification.
In the past, the focus was on which of the two systems was delivering “more” sustainability. With assessments like CPET’s confirming the credibility of the approaches employed by both, it is becoming ever more urgent to take full advantage of the potential contribution that sustainably-managed forests can make to tackling challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty alleviation. It is time to stop discussing whether a Toyota hybrid is better than a Honda hybrid, and start supporting alternative fuel technologies to get all the old gas-guzzlers off the streets.
For public and private procurement policies, this primarily means developing inclusive procurement policies specifying both PEFC and FSC. With less than 10% of the world’s forests certified, society needs forest certification systems to focus on their core business – expanding the area of forests certified as sustainably managed. Exclusive procurement policies have had the opposite effect, leading to a “re-labelling” of forests, from PEFC to FSC or FSC to PEFC (or dual certifications) depending on market demand, without a net gain in certified area.
In order for forest certification systems to live up to their full potential and to capitalise fully on the unique advantages that each of the two systems offer, industry needs to support both approaches. Only then will we as society be able to take full advantage of the potential contribution that sustainably-managed forests can make to tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, and poverty alleviation.
