Overview

Until now the claims made for well-managed ecosystem services in the formal and voluntary "green" markets have largely been unsubstantiated in the absence of certification systems of the quality of FSC's.

While FSC has made great progress in terms of adoption and market recognition since its creation in 1993, it remains a system largely limited to certifying “wood” products entering into the international timber market.

The 4 years project develops a reliable market-related tool for verifying claims related to ecosystem benefits such as carbon sequestration, watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, disaster risk prevention, and recreational services. Awareness raising, training and promotion will follow at the national and global level.

Project objective

The project aims at pilot testing expanded and enhanced global and national social and environmental standards applied to emerging markets for ecosystem services as an initial step for upgrading of successful models of FSC certification.  

Expected outcomes

1. Up to 10 areas pilot tested in the 4 target countries – Chile, Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam
2. Standards developed for ecosystem services certification
3. Expanded global forest certification, specifically incorporating Biodiversity Conservation & key Ecosystem Services
4. Business case made for responsible forest ecosystem management through enhanced FSC cer-tification schemes
5. Increased knowledge base for potential international market opportunities for FSC certifica-tion in ecosystem services, especially carbon sequestration
6. Greater sensitization of the potential of ecosystem-based forest certification with outreach through the global FSC Network

The project budget:  

Phase I Project preparation: GEF: USD 125,000; Co-funding: USD 125,000 (cash and in-kind)
Phase II Project implementation: GEF:  USD 2,880,000; Co-funding: USD 3,893,900 (cash and in-kind)

Project duration

Phase I: April, 2010 to December, 2010 
Phase II: October, 2011 to October, 2015

Project Partners

Funded by the Global Environmental Facility through the United Nations Environmental Program. There are a range of institutional partners involved in the preparatory phase and others joined in the implementation phase. The project preparation and implementation are coordinated by the Forest Stewardship Council.

International Executing Agencies:

- Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

- Center for People and Forest (RECOFTC)

National Executing Agencies:

- Chile: Consejo de Manejo Forestal.

- Indonesia: WWF Indonesia.

- Nepal: The Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB)

- In Vietnam: SNV Netherlands Development Organization.

Background

New single issue standards are being developed, especially for carbon sequestration, but do not give the breadth of coverage as FSC. For example, these new standards do not normally cover ILO core conventions and indigenous peoples’ rights on the social side and CITES convention on endangered species on the environmental side.
Moreover FSC has pioneered in certification the concept of protecting high conservation value forests which is highly relevant to REDD programs. It is therefore increasingly pressing to expand and adapt the FSC system as a proven tool for well managed forests in contexts other than timber pro-duction.

How can you get involved?

While GEF funding covers 50% of the total project budget, additional support is needed to carry out the entire planned project activities. If you would like to know more or support the project, please contact Stefan Salvador, FSC Ecosystem Services Programme manager – s.salvador @fsc.org