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Sgs Qualifor Forest Management Certification Report SGS QUALIFOR Doc. Number: AD 36A-12 (Associated Documents) Doc. Version date: 21 Sept. 2010 Page: 1 of 50 Approved by: Gerrit Marais FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION REPORT SECTION A: PUBLIC SUMMARY Project Nr: 7599-ZA Client: HM Timber Limited – Berg and East Griqualand Forests Web Page: www.hansmerensky.co.za Address: PO Box 20, Weza, KwaZulu-Natal, 4685 Country: South Africa Certificate Nr. SGS-FM/COC-000780 Certificate Type: Forest Management / CoC Date of Issue 29 July 2008 Date of expiry: 28 July 2013 SGS Forest Management Standard (AD33) adapted for South Africa, version 04, of 29 March Evaluation Standard 2010 Forest Zone: Temperate Total Certified Area 56,044.64ha Scope: The forest management of Singisi’s hardwood and softwood plantations in the KZN & E Cape provinces of South Africa for the production of FSC Pure timber for sale to clients or supply to Singisi and Weza sawmills for the production of Sawn Timber and sawmill by-products for sale on the Chain of Custody Transfer system Location of the FMUs The FMU’s are located in the Southern Kwa-Zulu/Natal province of South Africa near the included in the scope towns of Harding and Howick. Company Contact Hamish Whyle Person: Address: PO Box 20 Weza 4685 Tel: 039 553 0401 Fax 039 553 0425 Email: [email protected] Evaluation dates: SGS South Africa (Qualifor Programme) 58 Melville Road, BooysensBooysens--PO PO Box 82582, Southdale 21852185-- South Africa Systems and Services Certification Division Contact Programme Director at t. +27 11 681-2500- [email protected] www.agriculture-food.sgs.com/en/Forestry / AD 36A-12 Page 2 of 50 Main Evaluation 27 – 30 / 5/ 2008 Surveillance 1 4 – 6 May 2009 Surveillance 2 19 – 21 April 2010 Surveillance 3 24 – 26 May 2011 & COF 11 August 2011 Surveillance 4 Copyright: © 2011 SGS South Africa (Pty) Ltd All rights reserved AD 36A-12 Page 3 of 50 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SCOPE OF CERTIFICATE .................................................................................................................... 5 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Ownership .................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Company Key Objectives ............................................................................................................ 9 2.3 Company History ......................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Organisational Structure ............................................................................................................. 9 2.5 Ownership and Use Rights ......................................................................................................... 9 2.6 Other Land Uses .......................................................................................................................... 9 2.7 Non-certified Forests ................................................................................................................... 9 3. FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM .................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Bio-physical setting ....................................................................................................................10 3.2 History of use ..............................................................................................................................10 3.3 Planning process ........................................................................................................................10 3.4 Harvesting and regeneration......................................................................................................11 3.5 Monitoring processes.................................................................................................................11 4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT ................................................................... 11 4.1 Social aspects .............................................................................................................................11 4.2 Environmental aspects ...............................................................................................................12 4.3 Administration, Legislation and Guidelines .............................................................................15 5. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT, HARVESTING, SILVICULTURE AND MONITORING ....................... 17 6. PREPARATION FOR THE EVALUATION ........................................................................................... 19 6.1 Schedule .....................................................................................................................................19 6.2 Team ............................................................................................................................................19 6.3 Checklist Preparation .................................................................................................................19 6.4 Stakeholder notification .............................................................................................................19 7. THE EVALUATION .............................................................................................................................. 19 7.1 Opening meeting ........................................................................................................................19 7.2 Document review ........................................................................................................................20 7.3 Sampling and Evaluation Approach ..........................................................................................20 7.4 Field assessments ......................................................................................................................20 7.5 Stakeholder interviews ...............................................................................................................20 7.6 Summing up and closing meeting .............................................................................................21 8. EVALUATION RESULTS .................................................................................................................... 21 8.1 Findings related to the general QUALIFOR Programme ..........................................................21 9. CERTIFICATION DECISION ............................................................................................................... 30 AD 36A-12 Page 4 of 50 10. MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................. 30 11. RECORD OF CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUESTS (CARs) ................................................................ 33 12. RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS .......................................................................................................... 43 13. RECORD OF STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS AND INTERVIEWS ....................................................... 45 14. RECORD OF COMPLAINTS ............................................................................................................... 48 ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS (not part of the Public Summary) AD 20: Evaluation Itinerary AD 21: Attendance Record AD 36-B: Evaluation - Observations and Information on Logistics AD 40: Stakeholder Reports Evaluation team CV’s List of stakeholders contacted Complaints and Disputes Procedures for submitting complaints, appeals and disputes, and the SGS processing of such are published on www.agriculture-food.sgs.com/en/Forestry . This information is also available on request – refer contact details on the first page. AD 36A-12 Page 5 of 50 INTRODUCTION The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the operations of HM Timber Limited – Berg and East Griqualand Forests against the requirements of the QUALIFOR Programme, the SGS Group’s forest certification programme accredited by Forest Stewardship Council. 1. SCOPE OF CERTIFICATE The scope of the certificate falls within the Temperate Forest Zone and includes two Forest Management Units (FMUs) as described below. Description of FMUs: Description Ownership Area (ha) Longitude E/W Latitude N/S Berg Forests: Government 9,520.88 30 0 03’ 00 E 29 0 33’ 00 S owned – Leased (Dargle, Sarnia, Cedara & Nkwezela plantations) East Griqualand Forests: Government 46,523.76 29 0 44’ 30 E 30 0 35’ 30 S owned – Leased (Weza, Straalhoek, Adam, Sihleza, Insikeni, Dulini, Sneezewood, Mpur, Ben Cairne, Langgewacht, Ndindindi, Bulembu & Insizwa plantations) Size of FMUs: Nr of FMUs Area (ha) Less than 100ha 100 to 1000 ha in area 1001 to 10000 ha in area 1 9,520.88 More than 10000 ha in area 1 46,523.76 Total 56,044.64 Total Area in the Scope of the Certificate that is: Area (ha) Privately managed 56,044.64 State Managed 0 Community Managed 0 Composition of the Certified Forest(s) Area (ha) Area of forest protected from commercial harvesting of timber and managed primarily for 14,077.5 conservation objectives Area of forest protected from commercial harvesting of timber and managed primarily for 0 AD 36A-12 Page 6 of 50 Composition of the Certified Forest(s) Area (ha) production of NTFPs or services Area of forest classified as “high conservation value forest” 14,077.5 Total area of production forest (i.e. forest from which timber may be harvested) 40,966.46
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