Task Force on Forest Management Certification Programs

Chapter 4: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

Forests became an issue of global concern with the advent of satellite technology and the release of the first global forest assessment by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in 1987. This assessment showed that forests were being lost at about 27 million acres a year (11 million hectares per year), largely in the tropics, primarily due to conversion of land to agriculture, but including some loss from forest management practices. Subsequent assessments by FAO and others confirm that the scale and pace of forest loss continues to grow, estimated currently to be around 36 million acres a year (15 million hectares per year). Almost half of the world's original forest cover has been lost since the last great ice age, with most of this loss occurring since the 1960s (World Resources Institute 1997). Whether or not the loss of half of the world's forests represents a crisis continues to be sharply debated. The conversion of forestlands to other uses is a historical aspect of the development of the United States, but because of increases in agricultural productivity over the past 70 years, the major factor contributing to forest conversions has been eliminated.

The picture of the global forest situation is complex. There are large differences in causes of deforestation between the developing and developed countries, and the environmental impacts of forest management practices are highly variable among countries. The amount of forestland conversion or loss is influenced by many factors, such as land tenure situations, energy and agricultural policies, and international financial situations, most of which are outside the sole capacity of the forest sector to solve.

The historical loss of forest cover is in sharp contrast with the growing global demand for wood fiber. According to FAO, the production of sawnwood has doubled, fuelwood production has increased 2.5 times, and paper production has more than tripled since 1960. During this same period, the world's population almost doubled, and the world economy expanded by a factor of 3.5. Looking ahead, most experts agree that global fiber supplies will be adequate, assuming the ability to intensively manage some forests, and with perhaps some notable regional gaps, even though world population is expected to double yet again and economic activity to quadruple by 2020 (FAO 1997; World Resources Institute et al. 1997). The ability of countries to meet increasing demand has made wood fiber one of the world's truly global commodities. Increasingly, the condition and management of forests in any major producing nation has far- reaching impacts on market conditions, affecting producers worldwide.

On the international forest policy front, forests were thrust to the forefront of international concern during the "Rio Earth Summit," the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. While an attempt to negotiate a global forest convention was made, it proved too contentious and was taken off the table. In its place, countries agreed to a set of voluntary "Forest Principles" (with no legal basis for mandatory compliance by nations) (Upton and Bass, 1996). Following the Earth Summit, numerous efforts flourished to identify criteria and indicators, as well as policy frameworks, to promote the sustainable management of the world's forests. This debate was central to the renegotiation of the International Tropical Timber Agreement, and attempts failed to extend the 1990 ITTO guidelines for sustainable forest management to all timber producing nations worldwide. At this point, sustainable forest management truly became a global issue and encouraged efforts to establish environmental standards and systems, such as the forest certification, verification, and product labeling efforts.

INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL CRITERIA AND INDICATOR PROCESSES

The Society of American Foresters' report, "Forest Management Certification," published in March 1995, gives a detailed account of the intergovernmental processes that provide context for the standard-setting and evaluation and certification issues.

There is a great deal of interest at the international level in the development of national-level "criteria and indicators" for sustainable forest management to assess trends in resource conditions and uses and policy formulation at the country level. However, increasing numbers of both public and private entities are concerned about the ability to link national-level criteria and indicators with on-the-ground management, and these concerns have given rise to efforts to define appropriate measures at the level of individual forest management units.

International Tropical Timber Organization

The ITTO is the implementing body for the International Tropical Timber Agreement, an international commodity agreement governing the trade in tropical woods (Upton and Bass, 1996). In 1990, the ITTO adopted five criteria and 27 indicators for use at the national level to guide member governments in the establishment of permanent forest estates — the area of forests within a given country dedicated to the long-term production of wood products. These criteria and indicators were updated in 1998, include indicators at both the national level and the forest management unit- level, and apply to forest management in the member tropical countries (ITTO, 1999).

The Helsinki Process

In 1990, the First Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe was convened in Strasbourg, France. It set the stage for the 1993 meeting, the Second Ministerial Conference in Helsinki, Finland, which produced four resolutions specifically addressing sustainable forest management. Subsequent "Expert Meetings" developed six criteria and 27 quantitative indicators, plus 101 qualitative indicators (Upton and Bass, 1996). The Third Ministerial Conference met in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 1998 and formally adopted the six Pan-European Criteria. The conference agreed to "endorsing, implementing, while continually improving the Pan-European indicators." These criteria and indicators are for use at the national level in the member countries. The Third Ministerial Conference is also working on "Guidelines for Forest Management," similar to many states' best management practice guidelines.

The Montreal Process

In 1993 the governments of twelve non-European countries met in Montreal, Canada, and began a process to develop criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. In 1995 the signatory countries agreed to a non-legally binding "Statement on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests," the Santiago Declaration. The agreement establishes seven criteria and 67 indicators that are intended to be used at the national level to assess the trends in resource conditions and uses (Montreal Process, 1999). These criteria and indicators have been endorsed by the US government and are supported by a diverse group of organizations, including the National Association of State Foresters, the Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, Sierra Club, the Society of American Foresters, and the American Forest & Paper Association.

The Tarapoto Declaration

The Parties to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty, comprising six countries in the Amazon region of South America, convened the Regional Workshop on the Definition of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainability of Amazonian Forests in 1995. The workshop resulted in proposed criteria and indicators for the region, which are still under consideration by several governments. These efforts included criteria and indicators for use at global, national, and forest management unit-levels.

Other Criteria and Indicators Processes

Several other intergovernmental processes are in various stages of developing criteria and indicators for specific regions of the world. These include the African Timber Organization principles, criteria, and indicators for the sustainable management of African tropical forests (13 countries in Central Africa); the Dry Zone Africa Initiative (Sub-Saharan Africa); the North African/Near East Initiative, and the Central American Initiative of Lepaterique (seven Central American countries).

NONGOVERNMENTAL PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

International Standards Organization—14001 Environmental Management System

The International Standards Organization, comprising more than 110 national standards bodies, is a worldwide, nongovernmental organization founded in 1946. It develops international standards to promote the smooth and equitable growth in international trade. In 1996, the ISO adopted the 14001 Environmental Management System Standard as an international standard and the American National Standards Institute adopted it as a US standard. This standard sets out the requirements for organizations that wish to implement environmental management systems to better manage significant environmental aspects and impacts of their operations. It requires the establishment and maintenance of environmental objectives and targets that are consistent with a stated environmental policy. ISO added a technical report (TR 14061) in 1998 to assist forestry organizations in the use of ISO 14001 and 14004 (Shirley, 1996). This report outlines how forestry organizations can implement ISO 14001 while seeking consistency with intergovernmental and nongovernmental principles, criteria, and indicators.

Pan-European Forest Certification

The Pan-European Forest Certification process was started in July 1998 by forest owners and forest industry organizations in Europe to establish an internationally credible framework for voluntary forest certification and a mechanism for mutual recognition. The PEFC is made up of private sector representatives from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. The framework contains a number of elements, including:

1. A common set of criteria and indicators that will define the scope and objectives of sustainable forest management;
2. A common set of rules concerning certification procedures and the development of certification criteria;
3. A regional approach that meets the needs of small-scale forest owners;
4. A common logo and trademark that can be used by all participating organizations as a communication tool;
5. A mechanism for the mutual recognition of comparable sustainable forest management programs.

The objective of the Pan-European Forest Certification process is to assure customers and the general public that forests certified under the program are sustainably managed. Guiding principles for the framework include credibility, transparency, cost-effectiveness, and nondiscrimination. National certification programs are to be consistent with the intergovernmental criteria and indicators for sustainable forestry (Helsinki, Montreal, and other Intergovernmental Processes). The process is intended to strengthen and improve the positive image of forestry and wood as a renewable raw material in a cooperative and nondiscriminatory way.

This European framework for sustainable forest management certification is supported by about 12 million small-scale forest owners, who hold about 65 percent of the forestland in the European Union. The European Commission, General Directorate for Agriculture, has endorsed the initiative as a way to provide the necessary framework for comparable national and regional certification programs in Europe.

The World Wide Fund for Nature/World Bank Alliance

In 1997 the World Bank and WWF announced an unprecedented alliance that called increased international attention to the concept of independent certification. As part of their alliance, they established ambitious targets to be achieved by 2005: the creation of 125 million acres of protected forest areas and the independent certification of 500 million acres of production forest as sustainably managed. While the alliance did not endorse any single certification system, it did establish parameters for third-party auditing, public reporting, stakeholder participation in developing standards, and the need for certification standards to include performance-based measures to address the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of sustainable forest management. The World Bank is the world's largest financier of forest conservation projects, with an investment portfolio of more than US$4 billion. WWF is the world's largest conservation organization, with national offices in some 50 countries and field-based projects in more than 100 countries.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, WBCSD is an international organization of businesses interested in promoting sustainable development. The council funded an independent study, Towards a Sustainable Paper Cycle, on the sustainability of the pulp and paper industry, prepared by the International Institute for Environment and Development. As a followup to the study, its Sustainable Forest Industry Working Group is currently addressing the report's recommendations. In addition, a subgroup from the WBCSD is engaged in discussions with several international environmental groups, with the World Bank acting as convener. These discussions are addressing many of the issues surrounding sustainable forest management certification and verification in an exchange of ideas that is taking place at the highest organizational levels. WBCSD advocates that sustainable forest management can be recognized through an array of reciprocal programs that certify or verify the forest management organization at a standard that meets requirements that are locally developed at the national and subnational levels.

The Center for International Forestry Research

CIFOR is part of the worldwide network of agricultural research centers organized under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research Centers, focusing on research needs related to conservation and use of the world's forest resources. Based in Bogor, Indonesia, CIFOR initiated work in 1994 to develop and test a set of forest management unit-level criteria and indicators that would be useful to managers who wanted to measure progress towards sustainability in the field. In collaboration with federal, state, and local entities, CIFOR is testing whether a specific set of criteria and indicators can provide useful and cost-effective information for managers concerned with an individual management unit. If so, can this set be generalized to cover a wide array of forest types and management objectives? Tests have been conducted in Indonesia, Canada, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Germany, and Austria, and field trials are currently under way in Idaho, covering lands managed by the Boise and Payette National Forests, the Idaho Department of Lands, and the Boise-Cascade Corporation.

PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES IN COUNTRIES BESIDES THE US

BRAZIL—Brazil is in the final stages of developing CERFLOR, a Portuguese acronym for forest certification. Initiated by the forest industry, CERFLOR is being developed by the Brazilian National Standards Organization, but has not yet been adopted as a national standard. Like many other national efforts, CERFLOR is a combination of system and performance-based standards that owes much to both the Forest Stewardship Council and ISO processes. Brazilian companies supporting development hope to use it to communicate their forest management practices to customers in the export market (Upton and Bass, 1996). In a parallel effort, representatives from environmental and social sectors and some pulp producers have organized a working group that is developing a standard based upon the FSC framework.

CANADA—In concert with 28 other forest products associations, the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association sponsored development of a national standard for sustainable forest management by the Canadian Standards Association, through a process of multi-stakeholder participation. According to the CPPA, seven organizations are working to be certified according to the CSA Sustainable Forestry Standard (Upton and Bass, 1996). In addition, CPPA reports that as of late 1998, nine organizations were preparing for ISO 14001 certification. In a parallel initiative, a subset of participants in the CSA process left that effort before completion and sought to develop a standard based upon the FSC framework. A forest products company in New Brunswick has been certified under the FSC, and four are undergoing preparation for FSC certification. One company, MacMillan Blodel, has indicated its intention to use all three certifications. Discussions have taken place between CSA and FSC proponents to explore possible mutual recognition.

FINLAND—A national effort was launched jointly by the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners, the Finnish Forest Industry Federation, Worldwide Fund for Nature-Finland, and the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation in June 1996. The working group relied heavily on the European Union Environmental Management System, FSC Principles and Criteria, and the ISO Environmental Management System, and considered the Pan-European Criteria and Indicators in the development of their proposed national standard. In addition, the group considered the stringent forest and nature conservation legislation adopted in January 1997. Like others, the certification program is a combination of system and performance-based processes. It was developed with wide stakeholder input and fits the Finnish ecological and socioeconomic systems. However, WWF-Finland and several other environmental groups left this process and started a parallel standard-setting process using the FSC framework. Together with its sister organizations across Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, and France, the national landowner federation has launched a pan-European "family forestry" certification initiative that is still in the formative stages.

INDONESIA—The Indonesian Ecolabeling Institute has developed criteria and indicators for the auditing of forest management on logging concessions in Indonesia, as well as the ecolabeling of products from concessions that earn LEI certification. By law, all forests are property of the state in Indonesia. LEI was recently endorsed by the national standards body but has yet to seek approval of its certification and ecolabeling program as a national standard. If approval is sought and granted, this will constitute a national certification program sanctioned by the federal government. The LEI system draws heavily from the ITTO guidelines and has had its draft standards field-tested by the Center for International Forestry Research within two concessions. The criteria and indicators have been developed with extensive stakeholder interaction from the private and government sectors. Although Indonesia exports primarily to Asian countries, about 25 percent of its output is sold to Europe and accounts for a significant monetary value. It is a key driver for the development of the LEI program. LEI and the FSC signed a formal memorandum of understanding in late 1997 to seek mutual recognition by 2000, at which time they will collaborate on joint exercises to train auditors and to field test draft standards.

MALAYSIA—The Malaysia Timber Council is in the advanced stages of establishing a national set of criteria and indicators based on the ITTO framework for the purposes of certifying forestry operations and labeling their forest products. MTC is a quasi-governmental entity established in the mid-1990s to promote the export of Malaysian timber products, particularly to Western Europe (which accounts for about 40 percent of the country's trade). The Malaysian criteria and indicators have been tested within national forests on peninsular Malaysia through an agreement with the international auditing firm SGS Inc., but have not yet been formally adopted by the principal timber producing and offshore states of Sarawak and Sabah. Although stakeholder input from outside the industry and scientific community has been limited to date, the MTC is proposing a national council to oversee implementation of the criteria and indicators that would include the national consumer advocacy organization and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia. Negotiations are currently under way between the MTC and the Dutch government for recognition by the Dutch under their national certification program for timber imports.

SWEDEN—Sweden has carried out perhaps the most extensive national consultative process, with broad participation from various stakeholder groups to establish a national standard for certification. It is the first country to achieve recognition by the FSC for its efforts. Roughly half of the industrial forestland base has either been certified or is undergoing assessment based on the FSC standard. This has been met with favorable market response from several of Sweden's key western European customers. However, the national landowner federation—which represents about half of the country's nonindustrial forest owners—left the process in the final stages of negotiation. The seven regional associations that comprise the national federation of landowners have since embarked on developing their own respective certification programs, two of which are now operational. The Swedish landowner federation is playing a leadership role across Europe to rally nonindustrial landowners around the concept of "family forestry" certification.