Politicians sometimes go for a twist on the “you can’t please all the people all the time” philosophy. It’s that if you displease more or less all the parties arguing over an issue, you’ve probably got something right.
The Department of the Environment (DEFRA) seems to have taken this line in releasing the conclusions of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET).
The latter has been evaluating five leading forestry certification schemes against government procurement criteria. It concluded that those of the Canadian CSA and the FSC provide evidence that timber is “sustainable”, while those of the PEFC, the American SFI and Malaysian MTCC are only proof of “legality”. These three bodies now have six months to achieve the “proof of sustainability” pass mark before CPET’s guidelines are adopted by government procurement personnel. If they don’t, government projects can still use PEFC-, SFI- and MTCC-certified products, but will favour those sanctioned by CSA and FSC.
Broadly, backers of the schemes which didn’t get the top accolade have queried the criteria the organisation used to measure their performance. They also argue that certain FSC-certified products should only get “proof of legality” status, while some feel the government should have waited until the six-month “grace period” was up before revealing the CPET’s conclusions.
But the greens aren’t entirely happy either. Greenpeace praises CPET for its approval of the FSC, but slates it for sanctioning the CSA scheme.
The view from environment minister Elliot Morley is that the CPET initiative risked losing momentum and credibility if there was any delay revealing its long-awaited findings. He also says that the other certification schemes are not far off achieving “proof of sustainability” status.
Hopefully, once the dust is settled on the CPET’s pronouncements all parties will reach an accommodation. The prize would be less scope for damaging certification wars and influential government procurement officers happier buying timber. That would surely please everyone, more or less.
