Temperate Forests in Crisis!

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.15 - No.06, 1996

Eco-labelling: Global Market Demands Sustainability

Single tree selection logging in Canada's first eco-forestry operation

Single tree selection logging in Canada's first eco-forestry operation certified under Forest Stewardship Council Principles, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada, 1995. Photo: Garth Lenz.

Local landowner using samll mill to produce high value wood products, Valdivia, south Chile, 1994. The small mill is part of a larger project coordinated by CODEFF and involving about 60 local landowners in the development of new practices to sustainably manage their forests, including rehabilitation of lands with native tree species. Photo: Adriane Carr.

CODEFF/Friends of Earth Chile and Western Canada Wilderness Committee (WCWC) support the development of an international eco-labelling process for wood products as long as certification is based on principles of eco-forestry.

They believe that concerned consumers are more likely to trust an eco- labelling proccess that:

  • is not funded by the forest industry.
  • is developed with environmentalists, First Nations and local communities.
  • has as its main goal the establishment of ecologically sustainable, ecosystem-based forestry.
  • is guaranteed by independent certifiers.

    • A Canadian eco-labelling initive under the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) exemplifies how not to proceed. The process is led and funded by the Canadian forest industry and is expected to give a "green stamp of approval" to forestry practices such as large-scale clearcutting that are widely condemned by environmentalists as ecologically destructive. The CSA process, due to be wrapped up in 1996, is being condemned as public relations "window dressing" by most Canadian environment groups, many First Nations and even some unions, including the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada.

    On a global scale, many environment groups, including CODEFF, World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace International, are cooperating in an eco- labelling initiative called the Forest Stewardship Council(FSC). The FSC, headquartered in Mexico, has developed ten broad principles upon which forest product certification ("eco-labelling") must be based. These principles are endorsed by FSC's 111 member groups, and are intended to prompt dramatic improvements to forest practices world- wide:

    1. Forest management shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which they occur, and international treaties and agreements (such as the Biodiversity Convention and CITES) to which the country is a signatory, and comply with all FSC Principles and Criteria.
    2. Long-term tenure and use rights of indigenous peoples to own, use and manage their lands territories, and resources shall be recognized and respected.
    3. The legal and customary rights of indigenous peoples to own, use and manage their lands, territories, and resources shall be recognized and respected.
    4. Forest management operations shall maintain or enhance the long-term social and economic well-being of forest workers and local communities.
    5. Forest management operations shall encourage the efficient use of the forest's multiple products and services to ensure economic viability and a wilde range of environmental and social benefits.
    6. Forest management shall conserve biological diversity and its associated values, water resources, soils, and unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes, and, by so doing, maintain the ecological functions and the integrity of the forest.
    7. A management plan -- appropriate to the scale and intensity of the operations -- shall be written, implemented, and kept up to date. The long term objectives of management, and the means of achieving them, shall be clearly stated.
    8. Monitoring shall be conducted -- appropriate to the scale and intensity of forest management -- to assess the condition of the forest, yields of forest products, chain of custody, management activities and their social and environmental impacts.
    9. Primary forests, well-developed secondary forests, and sites of major environmental, social or cultural significance shall be conserved. Such areas shall not be replaced by tree plantations or other land uses.
    10. Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with these principles and the more detailed criteria published by the Forest Stewardship Council. While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benfits, and can contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forests products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests. They should not increase pressures on natural forests.

    Wood products eco-certified by FSC are expected to be in high demand. Already Home Depot Inc. of America, IKEA of Sweden and a group of 54 British companies have backed the FSC process.

    In 1995, Silva Forest Foundation, a member group of the Forest Stewardship Council, applied FSC Principles to two logging operations in Vernon, British Columbia and declared them Canada's first eco- certified forestry sites. The sites are being logged by single tree selection, use no pesticides and maintain the natural structure of the forest. They generate about three times as many jobs as would have been generated by industrial clearcut logging.

    No logging operation in Chile has been eco-certified to date.

    For more information contact:
    Forest Stewardship Council. Avenida Hidalgo 502,68000 Oaxaca. Mexico. Phone 52-951-62110. E-mail FSC@laneta.apc.org. In Canada contact Ecoforestry Institute, PO Box 5783 Stn,B,Victoria, BC V8R6S8, Phone 604-388-5459, Fax 604-388-5123.