|
July 27, 2005
New Study Shows Benefits of Sustainable Forestry Certification
by GreenBiz.com
Third-party verification leads to measurable improvements in the protection of forests, wildlife,
and stakeholder rights.
SocialFunds.com --
A new study has found that independent, third-party certification for environmentally and socially
sustainable management of timberlands has led to vital, measurable improvements in the protection
of forests, wildlife, and stakeholder rights worldwide as well as to the long-term economic
viability of forestry operations.
 The report, titled T
he Global Impact of SmartWood Certification was compiled by SmartWood, a forestry
certification program of the nonprofit Rainforest Alliance. SmartWood is accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a nonprofit
organization that supports environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable
management of the world's forests through independent forest management certification.
There are many competing forestry certifications today, but many environmental groups,
including the World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, regard FSC certification as the
most rigorous and independent and the only reliable assurance that wood is sustainably sourced.
It is also the most rapidly growing with FSC certified acreage more than quadrupling
around the world over the last five years to some 133 million acres of forest. About a third of
that total, or 44 million acres, has been certified as meeting FSC standards by the Rainforest
Alliance's SmartWood program with much more in the pipeline. The global market for FSC certified
wood is currently worth over $5 billion and certified wood and paper products are now carried by
major retailers including Home Depot (ticker: HD), IKEA, FedEx Kinko's (FDX), and many others.
Rapid growth of FSC and Rainforest Alliance certification has brought demonstrably good
results for the environment and for people, the new study finds. It analyzes the changes that
SmartWood required of 129 forestry operations in 21 countries in order to comply with FSC and
SmartWood standards and receive the Rainforest Alliance's certification seal. The report identified
clear and quantifiable improvements over a wide range of forest management issues for all 129
forests studied.
Impacts included better protection of aquatic and riparian areas,
sensitive and high conservation value areas, and threatened and endangered species as well as
improvements in worker safety, training, communication and conflict resolution with stakeholders.
The report also found that certification promoted economic sustainability, including improved
understanding of profitability and efficiency, greater accountability, transparency and compliance
with laws, and better management planning, monitoring, and chain-of-custody practices.
"This report by the Rainforest Alliance represents a comprehensive approach to demonstrating
the actual impact of FSC-certification on the ground," said Richard Donovan, chief of forestry and
SmartWood director at the Rainforest Alliance. "There is a real demand for FSC-certified wood in
the U.S. marketplace, and this report is clear evidence of the positive effects that demand is
having on working forests in the U.S."
"These results illustrate why SmartWood and FSC
certification have caught on and are growing so fast," said the report's co-author, Deanna Newsom
of the Rainforest Alliance. "The rapid growth of forest certification reflects how the tangible
positive environmental and social results of achieving compliance with these high standards also
make good business sense, partly because consumers are increasingly demanding them and partly
because they make forestry operations more efficient, sustainable and ultimately more competitive."
Sustainability and competitiveness of the U.S. forestry were at issue in the publication
last month of another study by the North East State Foresters Association on the 26 million-acre
Northern Forest of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, 80% of which is privately owned.
The NESF report reveals that the forest products industry in the northeastern U.S. is struggling
with global competition, as are the local communities that depend on it. Among the report's
recommendations are to support landowners so that they can adopt sustainable forestry and good
environmental stewardship and to find ways to improve the certified forest products market.
"FSC certified wood already accounts for around 10% of the market in Europe and counting, with
considerable support from producers, retailers, governments and consumers who increasingly demand
that the products they buy demonstrate these high sustainability standards," said Rainforest
Alliance executive director Tensie Whelan. "Meeting these standards through certification is a
great way for forestry companies to compete globally. As Rainforest Alliance certification
continues to grow among U.S. forest operations, their global competitiveness will improve along
with their environmental and social practices."
Over 15 million acres of U.S. forest are
currently FSC certified. Among those U.S. forests most recently certified by the Rainforest
Alliance are nearly a half-million acres of Arkansas forestlands managed by the Potlatch
Corporation. Some of these forests, including 55,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods that Potlatch
added to the White River and Cache River National Wildlife Refuges through a land exchange, are
located in the very same region that an ivory billed woodpecker -- long thought extinct -- was
recently sighted.
Copyright The National Environmental Education & Training
Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
©
SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Top
| 
