FSC International suspended Swedwood Karelia’s forest management certificate after auditor the Rainforest Alliance flagged up six major corrective action requests and 11 minors requests. The suspension affects 295,348ha of forest in the Russian Karelia region.
FSC welcomed Swedwood and IKEA’s commitment to taking immediate action to solving the issues.
Swedwood, which manufactures IKEA products, said it was disappointed about the suspension but thought this would only be "highly temporary". It described the corrective action requests as related to facilities and equipment for workers as well as forestry management and training for forestry workers. It said a majority of the issues had already been corrected.
"We take our responsibility for the forests and the people who work there very seriously and we appreciate that correcting the deviations will improve the way we manage the forest in Karelia," it said.
"IKEA is committed to responsible forest management and to the principles of the FSC," it added.
