In response to the letter from T Evans, FSC certification enables those who gain it to maintain high standards of silvicultural practice and deliver social, environmental and wider economic benefits. Though there may be other mechanisms and regulation in the UK, none currently is as inclusive and globally respected by industry, government, investors, social and environmental concerns.
Neither does the plethora of UK guidance and regulation cover quite as much as the FSC recognised standard for the UK: UKWAS. Even with the best guidance and legal framework in place it can easily be flouted if there are no regular audits. The FSC system provides audits on at least an annual basis.
Furthermore, as timber is processed and mixed with timber from other sources the market requires a system to show that all of these sources are well managed. FSC certification provides a means to do this.
If anyone has doubts that a forestry operation has achieved FSC certification then this seems an additional demonstration of the need for certification for home-grown timber. If those in the industry do not trust that responsible forestry is being practised in the UK, then how can we expect those outside the industry to trust that UK timber is from well-managed forests?
How did the Forestry Commission qualify for the FSC certificate? It was audited against the UKWAS standard by SGS Qualifor (an FSC-accredited certification body).
Did FC need to change in order to get FSC certification? Certainly. For example, it had to introduce a policy on thinning, stop over-cutting in a particular area and progress its ancient woodland restoration to name a few of the issues.
Public reports on all the FC audits and all other audits are available from the relevant certification body. These reports explain how an operation is certified and what it needs to achieve in order to retain its certificate.
The integrity of the FSC system is crucial to its success and can only be maintained by those who have an interest in forestry engaging with the process. If anyone has any specific concerns about the system or about any certified companies please let us know. Where appropriate we will direct you to the certifiers who can then take concerns about specific operations further.
R Robertson
Technical officer
FSC UK Working Group
