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Forest Certifiction Committee FAQ WHAT IS FSC CERTIFICATION? The FSC is a not-for-profit, standards-setting organization that operates internationally and accredits certifiers (auditors) whose programs incorporate and agree to adhere to the FSC's Principles and Criteria for forest management, thereby providing a framework for certification worldwide. The major FSC-accredited certifying agencies in North America are SmartWood and Scientific Certification Systems. FSC certifiers assess the on-the-ground forest practices of a given operation against FSC standards for the region where it is located (there are national as well as regional standards, all of which are supposed to harmonize with the broad, global framework of the Principles and Criteria). Certifiers also perform audits to track the "chain of custody" of certified wood through the manufacturing process and ensure that the rules for labeling final products with the FSC logo are followed. Forest management operations that are verified as meeting FSC standards receive an FSC certificate, and if their chain-of-custody is also certified they may identify their forest products in the marketplace as FSC-certified, including on a product label. FSC certification may apply to large corporate forest owners or individual landowners. The same Principles and Criteria apply to all types of ownership but are adapted in implementation to different sized holdings. Sierra Club was a founding member of the FSC, and the FSC's membership is comprised primarily of organizations, associations and companies, including a large number of environmental groups, such as World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, Rainforest Alliance, Friends of the Earth, U.S, The Wilderness Society, and World Resources Institute. WHAT DOES THE CLUB'S FOREST CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE DO? Club volunteers who serve on the Forest Certification Committee perform a number of important functions: With both Canadian and U.S. members, we track developments and coordinate the Club's participation in key policy debates related to forest certification. These include: voting in FSC board elections and influencing FSC policy through a variety of FSC committees, assemblies and other channels; voting and influencing policy as members of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), whose LEED green building rating system is one of the main drivers of the market for FSC products in North America. working with individual Club chapters and activists to address certification issues, including problematic certifications in specific areas; coordinating certification-related communications and activities with other Club committees and staff, and thus ensuring consistency in our positions and actions; working with other NGOs on forest certification-related initiatives; educating Club members and activists on key issues related to forest certification and how they can get involved and help. HOW DOES FOREST CERTIFICATION FIT INTO THE CLUB'S CONSERVATION GOALS? Credible forest certification contributes to all the Club's major conservation goals: WILDLANDS: Forests that are managed in an environmentally responsible way will contribute to our wildlands objectives. In conjunction with parks and protected areas, well-managed private and (in some cases) public forests can provide a perpetual yield of forest products and fit well into a landscape approach to conservation that preserves biodiversity, ecosystems, and habitat for native flora and fauna. HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: Well-managed forests provide sustainable livelihoods and ecosystem services that underpin healthy communities. GLOBAL WARMING: Forest certification is global in scope. Good forest management and reforestation absorbs atmospheric carbon and can be an important part of our collective response to global warming. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: Finally, we must become more responsible consumers. Forest certification can help individuals, businesses and governments make responsible choices in their consumption of forest products. Current Club policy already recognizes that credible forest certification can be an important conservation tool. See http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/globalforests.asp for the Club's policy on global forest issues. DOES FOREST CERTIFICATION APPLY TO NATIONAL FORESTS? The Club's forest policy opposes commercial logging on U.S. federal forests. (see policy at http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/forest.asp) Thus the Club does not support certification of commercial logging on federally owned public lands. In general, forest certification programs-even those the Club generally supports and deems credible--are designed to certify commercial logging regardless of forest ownership or jurisdiction. Thus, Club policy does not align with the policy and scope of forest certification in every instance. However, if credible certification programs are applied to state or other publicly-owned forests where commercial logging is practiced, Sierrans may support such certification provided that it meets our larger conservation goals. WHAT MAKES A FOREST CERTIFICATION PROGRAM CREDIBLE? As mentioned above, credible forest certification must embody stringent standards that represent true environmental, social, and economic responsibility and must be able to track certified forest products from their forest-of-origin all the way to the end-user (see FSC Principles and Criteria). Some examples of important elements the Club believes should be part of any credible forest certification program are: Not allowing conversion of natural forests to plantations, thereby damaging ecosystems and undermining biodiversity Controlling the use of chemicals as part of forest management while promoting non chemical pest management Prohibiting the logging of high-conservation-value forests Including effective rules for governing the control of non-certified components in certified products, thereby avoiding wood from illegal logging and other objectionable or untraceable sources The Club also believes that it is essential that the membership and governance of a forest certification system represent a transparent and democratic balance between environmental, economic, and social interests and stakeholders, and have a range of checks-and-balances that enable questions and problems to be effectively resolved. For more information on what makes forest certification credible, please see www.credibleforestcertification.org. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club