FSC's role in climate change
Overview
During the past two years FSC has explored its potential engagement in climate change mitigation frameworks. A Forest Carbon Working Group (FCWG) had been established in 2009 in order to analyze the opportunities, necessities and risks for FSC to develop a clearer ‘climate profile’. Input has been sought from consultants, carbon schemes representatives, experts serving on an advisory group and the FSC membership.
Over the course of five meetings the FCWG has developed a strategic framework for an FSC climate change engagement. The framework is meant to guide FSC as a standard-setting organisation for forest stewardship on how to position and evolve itself over the coming years in order to maintain its leadership role.
The FCWG has submitted its final report to the FSC Board of Directors which had been approved at their 56th meeting held March 30 to April 1, 2011. The report has now been reedited by the FSC Secretariat to make it available to the FSC membership and the public.
The report includes recommendations on the following subjects:
- Areas for an FSC climate change engagement
- Strategic objectives and goals framework
- Review of the FSC Principles & Criteria
- Motions for the 2011 General Assembly
- Research and actions by the FSC Secretariat
Please download the FCWG public report here:
Public Report by the FSC Forest Carbon Working Group:
And the summary version here:
Short version of the public report by the Forest Carbon Working Group
The report and related motions were presented at the 2011 FSC General Assembly side event "FSC Climate Change Engagement - strategic recommendations from the FSC Forest Carbon Working Group" on Monday, June 27.
Resulting from this stepwise process, a new strategy paper was developped and presented at an FSC Side Event of the UNFCCC COP17 in Durban. The strategy will guide FSC, the leading standard-setting organisation for forest stewardship on how to position and evolve itself in mitigation efforts against climate change over the coming years.
The strategy report can be downloaded here:
Strategic framework for an FSC Climate Change engagement
Background
Activities by FSC related to forest-based carbon accounting go back to 1999 when a Carbon Certification Workshop was held at the FSC General Assembly. However, due to membership concerns about carbon trading in general and the reliability of forest carbon accounting in particular, no further activities resulted from that assembly.
In 2007, in the emerging debate before the UNFCCC COP-13 in Bali to include provisions for ‘Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation’ (REDD) in a Kyoto successor protocol, FSC took carbon verification back into consideration as a potential modular extension to its current certification program. The FSC Global Strategy called for several activities and system adjustments in the context of forest carbon verification.
FSC Global Strategy (pdf)
The broad consensus at COP-13 to include REDD in a post-2012 agreement fuelled discussions on the role of FSC in that field. In August 2008, the FSC Board of Directors released a statement that formulated a general FSC position and summarized the current deliberations for FSC engagement.
FSC Statement on Forests and climate change
At the 2008 FSC General Assembly a motion was passed with overwhelming majority that requests the exploration of FSC’s engagement in forest-based carbon initiatives and frameworks to mitigate climate change by a chamber-balanced working group.
Based on this mandate, the Forest Carbon Working Group (FCWG) has been established in order to research and advise on relevant issues, and facilitate decision-making processes.
FSC Forest Carbon Working Group
News and Updates
News and updates on FSC’s engagement in climate change events, initiatives and frameworks will be provided through the FSC News Service. Please use our online subscrption form if you would like to subscribe.
