Overview

Much of the remaining natural forests still suffer from illegal exploitation, poor management and conversion to other land uses, commonly resulting in severe degradation or complete destruction. While the uptake of FSC has been strong in boreal and temperate forests, progress in tropical forests has been slower. To be effective at combating deforestation on a global scale, it is essential to optimize FSC’s influence in key geographical areas.

This four year project aims to optimize FSC’s influence on policy decision-making and regulatory institutions for responsible forest management, focusing on the Amazon, the Congo Basin and China. It will build and strengthen the capacity of FSC National Initiatives in these strategic regions to deliver services and enhance their ability to generate revenues.

Project objectives

1. National Initiatives (NIs) adopt a new model concerning funding, tasks and organizational structure;
2. Build NI capacity that results in more efficient work, offering broader services including revenue-generating training;
3. NIs and their key partners improve public relations work and consumer sensitization; and
4. NIs efficiently integrate their collective efforts and consequently reach better effects on policy levels, regulatory institutions and forest law for responsible supply chains.

Project partners:

GTZ, IKEA, FSC Global Fund, Accreditation Services International (ASI), FSC International Center

Background

In many developing countries, policy reforms, good governance, respect of local peoples’ rights and other requirements for sustainable development are still too weak to overcome unsustainable forestry practices. A key factor for forest loss is their lack of economic value seen by society at large. The extraordinary social and ecological value of forests in comparison to other land uses is often not considered. As a result, the destruction of tropical forests continues at some 13 million hectares annually worldwide and the extent of poverty in forest areas remains overwhelming.

FSC has proved to be an effective political instrument to improve social and environmental standards in forest management practices, both nationally and international. Numerous examples demonstrate the positive impact of forest certification on communities’ livelihoods, working conditions in forest enterprises, the management of forest resources and environmental protection. Another important impact is the potential to stimulate reforms on policy, legal and institutional framework conditions, as well as strengthening the role of civil society through participatory processes.

National Initiatives (NIs) promote FSC in their countries. They are key to supporting standard development by engaging stakeholders from the environmental, social and economic interests in active dialogue to find consensus on national definitions of responsible forest management. However, confronted by many complex responsibilities, NIs often suffer from a lack of financial and human resources. Consequently, they are hindered from generating optimal political influence and large-scale implementation of responsible forest management standards.

The project focuses on three regions, chosen for their geographical location or influence in the global forest products trade: the Amazon Region, the Congo Basin and China. The Amazon and Congo basin hold the largest areas of tropical rainforests in the world. As the ‘manufacturer of the world’, China imports vast quantities of timber from some of the world’s most endangered forest, and is having an increasing influence on Africa.

In its first phase when the project began in 2006, it complimented the implementation of Motion 51 on FSC Governance, passed by the FSC membership at the 2005 General Assembly. Today, the project remains key to FSC. It directly addresses Objective 5(b) of the FSC Global Strategy launched in 2007: Support a strong network of National Initiatives and FSC offices in all regions of strategic value to the FSC global network. By supporting the implementation of Goal 5, in turn it will support FSC to reach goals 1- 4.

How can you get involved?

The most direct way is to engage with the FSC National Initiative in your country to influence forestry practices.

An FSC approved National Initiatives can be either a Working Group or Contact Person. You can become a member of the Working Group where you have a voice and a say on the direction of forest stewardship in your country. You can also participate in this standard development process. As with all FSC standard development processed, each and every person interested in or affected by forest management activities, has a voice and opportunity to participate.

If your National Initiative is a Contact Person, you can support them to establish a Working Group and begin the standard development process.

There are FSC approved National Initiatives in over 50 countries around the world. There are five National Initiatives in the Amazon (Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru), four in the Congo Basin (Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Republic of Congo) and one in China.

Contact your FSC National Initiative here