FSC's role in climate change
Overview
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, adopted late in that year, 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 – 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
Process
The Forest Carbon Working Group has held its first constituent meeting in Bonn, from 9 -11 September 2009. Representatives from economic, social and environmental organizations in the North and South participated in the meeting to identify and prioritize the issues and topics that will determine the FCWG’s strategy and activities. Please follow the link below to download a summary of the meeting. For a copy of the full report, please email the FCWG.
FSC FCWG Summary Report First Meeting (pdf)
020909 Forest Carbon Working Group issues report of first meeting
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 registration form, if you would like to subscribe.
A collection of articles published on this subject can be viewed here:
