Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI)
- Memorandum of Understanding between FSC and LEI (pdf)
In June 2010, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI) announced the launch of an 18‐month collaboration to explore potential areas of cooperation regarding responsible forest management and forest certification in Indonesia. The agreement marks an important measure in the global efforts to facilitate responsible forest management in the tropics, and builds upon previous collaborative initiatives to advance forest certification in Indonesia.
Click here for Frequently Asked Questions (pdf) >>
The 18‐month collaboration to explore a full cooperation in the future regarding the acceleration of forest certification in Indonesia. Six specific areas for collaboration have been identified and will be explored through the collaboration:
- A gap analysis of the standard setting, accreditation and certification procedures of both systems, conducted by an independent party and with feedback both from LEI and FSC.
- An analysis of the compatibility of the LEI standards as national FSC Forest Management standards, conducted by a team jointly appointed by LEI and FSC.
- An analysis of the compatibility of the LEI and FSC chain of custody standards, conducted by a team jointly appointed by LEI and FSC.
- An assessment on challenges and opportunities for co‐labeling of LEI and FSC certified products for domestic and export markets.
- A thorough assessment of the challenges and opportunities for LEI and FSC certification of plantations in Indonesia, reviewed by an expert panel jointly established by both parties.
- LEI and FSC will exchange information and lessons learnt on certification of community based forests.
Both parties recognize the important position Indonesian forests hold with regards to the world's Tropical Forests and take with this collaboration their responsibility to contribute to the increase of responsible forestry in the tropics.
As biodiversity hotspots of the world, tropical forests are vital to the existence of millions of indigenous people, and possess a unique set of social and environmental attributes. The rainforests of Indonesia rank among the most extensive and biologically significant in the world. However, these forests are under tremendous pressure. Deforestation from illegal logging and forest conversion continues to threaten vital habitat and critically endangered species such as the Sumatran orang‐utan.
Forest management certification can offer financially competitive alternatives to poor forest management practices, illegal logging and land conversion. FSC and LEI use certification to address crucial social and environmental forestry issues ‐ FSC internationally and LEI specific to Indonesia. The cooperation between the two certification schemes has the potential to benefit from the locally relevant standards and processes led by LEI in Indonesia with the internationally recognized FSC standards.
