Tapping into the system of participatory forest management enshrined in Tanzanian law, the Kikole community has taken ownership and control over their local forests from the government. This allows them to retain 100 percent of the royalties from their timber sales, providing they manage the forests sustainably. With illegal logging widespread, there is a need to differentiate timber if communities are to receive a fair price – the new FSC certificate does that.

Located in Kilwa District in south-eastern Tanzania, Kikole village achieved FSC certification as part of an FSC Group certificate managed by the Mpingo Conservation Project (MCP). Liaising with the Tanzanian NGO, the UK based Sound and Fair campaign is working to engage UK importers and manufacturers to embrace FSC certification.

Neil Bridgland, Sound and Fair Campaign Manager says: "This harvest represents a sea change for forest communities in Southern Tanzania.  The challenge now is to persuade UK classical music instrument manufacturers and users to accept FSC certified timber as standard so creating the necessary demand for African blackwood that will enable the roll-out of Kikole's success across Southern Tanzania."

Mpingo Conservation Project website
Sound and Fair website

Source: Sound and Fair press release 19/01/2010 and 30/04/2009

FSC certification of these sites continues the chain of custody, in accordance with the FSC rules, right up to the manufacture of the carton pack. The cartons consist up to 75% of wood pulp which is certified, permitting the cartons to carry the FSC Mixed Sources label.

Rolf Stangl, CEO of SIG Combibloc: “The end-to-end compliance with the demanding standards of the FSC gives a clear signal that the long-term safeguarding of resources and the judicious selection of the natural resources we use according to the highest environmental standards, are important aspects of our corporate philosophy”.

SIG Combibloc requires all of its suppliers of unprocessed cardboard to operate production facilities that are FSC certified to cover the value-added chain from the forest to the carton. This enables wood fiber to be traced to sources that meet FSC’s strict standards for forest management, recycled content and controlled wood and ensure that only wood from FSC certified forests and controlled sources are used.

Rodrigo Steinvorth, Head of Production and Supply Chain at SIG Combibloc in China: “We are proud to support the expansion of exemplary forest management through the FSC chain of custody certification of our global production sites, thereby actively helping to ensure that wood as a renewable resource can continue to be used not only in an environmentally friendly way, but also well into the future”.

Source: SIG Combibloc press release 14/01/2010

The chamber-balanced Working Group further agreed that there is a fundamental need for FSC to control carbon claims in relation to FSC certified operations. Recommendations were made to explore the potential implications, opportunities and risks for FSC in the development of carbon accounting systems.

Finally, the Working Group discussed outcomes of the UNFCCC COP-15 in Copenhagen but didn’t highlight any immediate implications for their forthcoming work. Various issues and questions will be put forward to the Advisory Panel for further analysis. The next meeting of the Working Group is scheduled for early May.

You may find up-to-date information on developments regarding FSC, forests and climate change at www.fsc.org/climatechange.html

To read more about FSC at COP-15, please go to www.fsc.org/cop15.html

Related News:

Forest Carbon Working Group issues report of first meeting

The sub-regional standard forms a harmonizing framework for national standards in each of the four countries: Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon.

Each of the FSC National Initiatives involved are further refining these indicators to produce national versions of the standard, accompanied by annexes of relevant national laws, lists of endangered species and other relevant information.

The consultation process focuses on identifying significant differences at the national level so that any indicators can be adapted accordingly. Once approved, the regional standard will replace the five Generic Standards from FSC accredited certification bodies' currently in use across the region.

The Congo Basin Sub-Regional Standards Development Group that developed the draft is a chamber balanced Working Group with representatives from each country, along with four regional representatives.

Interested stakeholders may submit their comments on the draft to Richard Robertson, FSC Policy Manager. For enquiries on the draft standard, please contact Mr. Robertson or the FSC endorsed National Initiatives.

Congo Basin Sub-Regional Standard Draft
Proposal and workplan to meet process requirements

Despite lower levels of production in 2008 and 2009 due to the economic difficulties in the UK, panel production has been one of the successes of the UK timber industry in the last decade where FSC holds a large share of the market. In 2008, 3.2 million tons of panel mill consumption was FSC certified, representing 82%, compared to 72% in 2005.

The construction and furniture industries are important consumers of the UK produced panel products, and panel producers have taken the necessary steps to ensure that products consumed are certified.

FSC certified timber and panel products imported into the UK increased to just over 30% in 2008 from 27% in 2005, against a 20% drop in the total of imported volume. FSC’s market share in the hardwood, hardwood plywood, particleboard, OSB and MDF sectors has further strengthened from the years 2005 to 2008.

The Timber Trade Federation commissioned the study in 2009 to measure the development of certification in the UK over the year 2008. The study determined how certification progressed since 2005 and how it was likely to change in 2009.

TTF’s UK Timber Industry Certification (pdf)

Consumer awareness of the FSC logo is growing in Brazil. Mr. D’Angelo recalls that Metro’s editorial office received numerous letters and emails from readers congratulating the newspaper for using FSC certified paper. Friends of the Earth – Brazilian Amazonia recently conducted a poll to assess the knowledge of the population on environmental issues. Results showed that recognition of FSC among the Brazilian public has increased to 22% in 2009 from 1% in 2006. They also showed that 81% of the population would prefer certified forest products, and are willing to pay a little more than for non-certified products.

Printing on FSC certified paper is set to become a trend for newspapers worldwide. Recently, Dutch newspaper “Het Financieele Dagblad” started to print on FSC certified paper. Considering the amount of paper used daily for publication, a newspaper’s decision to use FSC certified paper has a strong and positive impact on the world’s forests.

Find all FSC national news at www.fsc.org/national-news.html    

Read more about recognition of the FSC logo in Brazil  

Source: www.compradores.org.br

The first FSC certified book in China is an important milestone for FSC. Following the introduction of books printed on recycled paper, it signals an increasing demand among the Chinese public for environmental-friendly products.

Over 1.3 million hectares of forest area in China are certified to FSC standards. Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates are booming with over 1,200 certificates held in Greater China compared to less than 500 in 2007.

For more information on FSC in China, please go to www.fscchina.org. Find all FSC national news at www.fsc.org/national-news.html 

The trademark standards have been restructured into one document. “Requirements for use of the FSC trademarks by certificate holders” (FSC-STD-50-001) covers requirements for on-product labeling, promotional use of the trademarks and graphic rules.

The standard introduces new label designs that will begin to appear on products when the standard comes into effect on 1 March 2010. The three variations of the Mixed Sources labels are reduced to one along with more meaningful text for consumers. FSC is also introducing a design for mini-labels that will ensure greater consistency in using the labels on small certified products.

Among the changes, the standard introduces a new promotional panel design that will incorporate all the requirements in a format which mirrors the labels and which will be available to download from the same labeling website.  FSC is introducing a trademark license code to accompany all trademark use with a format which links the code number to FSC.

The standard comes into effect on 1 March 2010 for new applicants. Operations certified before this date will need to implement the new requirements by 1 January 2011.

Following the release of the standard for FSC certificate holders, FSC will develop a standard for “non-certificate holders” which is anticipated in the course of 2010.

FSC-STD-50-001 “Requirements for use of the FSC trademarks by certificate holders” (pdf)

One of the main focuses of FSC's work in 2009 has been the integrity of FSC certification. The strong push in this area has resulted in a revision of FSC's accreditation standards, the development of a more user-friendly and timely dispute resolution system, the approval of the core elements of FSC's Policy on Association, initial support systems for FSC Controlled Wood and the negotiation of an improved contract with FSC accredited certification bodies, which will become effective in 2010. In addition, much energy was devoted to the review process of the FSC Principles and Criteria, including a targeted outreach to Indigenous Peoples around the world.

We have also renewed the leadership in ASI and for the first time made the director of ASI fully empowered to deal with it as a legal entity. During the year ASI has revised its accreditation procedures, set up an independent accreditation committee to support its decision making on accreditation matters and also an advisory committee to provide guidance on its development.
The initial results of this focus could already be seen during the year and we expect that more will start to show in 2010 and beyond. However, we are aware that there is still much room for improvement and ensuring the integrity of FSC certification will remain a high priority for 2010.

Another key area for FSC this year has been working to improve market benefits to FSC certificate holders. FSC will end the year with close to 120 million hectares of forests certified around the world and approximately 16,000 chain of custody certificate holders in almost 100 countries. 2009 has seen the continuation of the strong growth in chain of custody certification, especially led by the demand for paper products, however we expect that the growth in area certified according to FSC standards will have slowed slightly in 2009, to around 10% per year.

FSC has also worked to strengthen FSC Global Development, our subsidiary in charge of marketing, branding and the FSC trademarks. We have hired a new director for FSC Global Development, who is also now fully empowered to deal with the company. A new certificate database has been launched, which will allow us to extract better information from the system and support market development efforts. We have also started to provide a more structured support to specifiers of FSC certification in the corporate sector, recognizing that corporate demand is currently the most important driver of FSC certification on the ground. FSC GD is in the final stages of revising our trademark standards to allow for improved protection of the FSC trademarks and allow for an increased ease of use in the market.

The third focal area of work this year has been the FSC network. This work stems from the FSC governance review, approved by the FSC membership at the 2008 General Assembly. During the year we have discussed and agreed with FSC National Initiatives on a new framework of roles, rights and responsibilities, including a revenue sharing mechanism. This framework is now being translated into new contractual agreements and recognizes that a significant share of FSC's work will shift to the national level in the future, with National Initiatives gradually assuming a stronger role as local representatives of the system. We expect that this will be increasingly important for the promotion of the FSC system as well as for servicing stakeholders at the local level.

2009 has also seen significant changes in how FSC communicates as an organization, with an improvement in how information is shared, presence in major international forest related events, new publication series and a stronger effort into looking at FSC's impact on the ground and communicating it. On the last issue, I would like to highlight the literature review conducted on external research and analysis done regarding FSC certification. This report was the result of more than one year of work and I believe it constitutes a landmark in looking at how FSC is generating change around the world.

The work above was possible because 2009 was also characterized as a year in which FSC was able to improve its level of resources. We expect that this will continue in the future and will ultimately result in a stronger and increasingly professional FSC, better able to deliver on its mission.

Lastly, I would like to thank the FSC staff, the FSC Board of Directors and FSC members for their support and commitment during 2009. I believe FSC is going through a very interesting period of its institutional development and that 2009 was a year in which we put in place many of the structures necessary to deal with the challenges FSC faces. A great body of work was done in 2009, but I am also aware that there is still much to do in strengthening our organization.

I look forward to working with all of you in 2010.

Yours Sincerely,

Andre

Andre de Freitas
FSC Director General