As Humpty Dumpty said to Alice, “when I use a word, it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less”. He would, no doubt, have approved of the fact that, within the context of forestry management and timber procurement, the words “sustainable” and “sustainability” have come to mean whatever the user chooses. One person’s sensitively replanted “sustainable forest ” is another’s blasted environmental wasteland devoid of biodiversity.
And this contrariness has, naturally, extended to forest and timber certification schemes. While one side presents a particular certification scheme as incontrovertible proof of ecological soundness, the other claims it’s a smokescreen to allow brutal loggers to clear-fell whole continents.
The consequence of this has been serious specifier and consumer confusion over the merits of different certification schemes. That’s why it is hopefully good news that the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is going ahead with a new body to give guidance on certification and sustainability issues.
The “Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement” (CPET) is being set up for central government procurement officers and their suppliers. When they’re uncertain about the validity of certification for timber they’re buying, they can go to the new body which will assess it against procurement criteria laid down by the government.
Further good news is that, to avoid penalising poor producer countries which may lag behind developed nations on forest management and certification, these criteria cover several gradations. The preference is timber that is certified to the government definition of “sustainable”, but procurement officers can also opt for material which is documented as “legal” or, a step up, from sources which are legal and progressing to sustainable.
The government stresses that these criteria are designed to meet its procurement requirements and may not suit everyone. But, as they will be openly available via a CPET website and since the new operation will be guided by a governing board including industry and NGO stakeholders, it may help bring much needed clarity and objectivity in this key area to the wider market place.
