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Certification's Impacts on Forests, Stakeholders and Supply Chains

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Certification's Impacts on Forests, Stakeholders and Supply Chains Certification’s impacts on forests, stakeholders and supply chains People like forests – they have many emotional and cultural attachments Certification’s impacts on forests, stakeholdersandsupplychains impactsonforests, Certification’s to them. They also like forest products – and need increasing quantities of them. But they often don’t like, don’t understand, and don’t trust what comes in between: forest management, which lies at the interface of public services (biodiversity, watersheds, etc) and private goods (timber, food, etc). Certification was developed to independently verify the quality of forest management, to communicate this to market players, and so to improve market benefits for the products of good management. The growing influence of the Forest Stewardship Council is one of the most striking recent developments in forestry. Certification is increasingly common in all continents. But has it actually improved forest management? Has it created sufficient market incentives? Above all, has it enabled trust to develop between stakeholders, so that they can work together better, to build the institutions required for sustainable forest management? This book is the result of two years’ study by IIED and collaborators in several countries: it provides evidence for considerable policy and institutional change as a result of certification, and the Certification’s beginnings of change in forest and market practice. Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry series impacts on forests, Forests provide society with many goods and services. The private sector has come to play an increasingly dominant role in the production and stakeholders and distribution of many forest goods. Often, this has come at a price – environments have been degraded, social inequalities increased. Forest services that benefit society as a whole, notably climate moderation, supply chains biodiversity and heritage, are overlooked or undermined because they offer no opportunity for private profit. Securing these forest goods and services has traditionally been a government function. However, faced with limited resources, many governments now face the challenge of finding ways to ensure the private sector manages forests such that they Stephen Bass optimise benefits to society. Some industry leaders have already taken the Kirsti Thornber initiative and are working towards better forestry. Matthew Markopoulos This series of publications comprises both thematic and country studies. Sarah Roberts The studies aim to better understand private sector motivations and to Maryanne Grieg-Gran identify effective market and regulatory instruments to ensure that the private sector produces social and environmental benefits from forest May 2001 management. By considering new instruments within the wider context of policy reform, the series aims to provide practical guidance on how best to ensure that the private sector manages forest resources sustainably. Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry ISSN 1560-9308 ISBN 1-899825-87-8 Certification’s impacts on forests, stakeholders and supply chains Stephen Bass Kirsti Thornber Matthew Markopoulos Sarah Roberts Maryanne Grieg-Gran May 2001 A report of the IIED project: Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry Copies of this report are available from:. Earthprint Limited, Orders Department, P.O. Box 119, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 4TP. e-mail: [email protected] http://www.earthprint.com For enquiries - Tel: +44 1438 748111 Fax: +44 1438 748844 e-mail: [email protected] Correspondence should be addressed to: Forestry and Land Use Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London, WC1H 0DD, UK. Tel: +44 207 3882117 Fax: +44 207 3882826 e-mail: [email protected] Citation: Bass, S., Thornber, K., Markopoulos, M., Roberts, S., Grieg-Gran, M., 2001. Certification's impacts on forests, stakeholders and supply chains. Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry series. International Institute for Environment and Development, London. Design: Eileen Higgins Cover photos: Stephen Bass Illustration on chapter pages : © Christine Bass Print: by Russell Press, Nottingham, UK. Printed on Sovereign Silk 115gsm, 100% chlorine free Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry is a project co-ordinated by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and is supported by the UK Department for International Development and the European Commission DGVIII. The Instruments for sustainable private sector forestry publi- cation series derives from this project. Other studies in the series to date are: Foreign portfolio investment and Sustainable development: a study of the forest products sector in emerging markets. Maryanne Grieg-Gran, Tessa Westbrook, Mark Mansley, Steve Bass and Nick Robins. 1998. Privatising sustainable forestry: a global review of trends and challenges. Natasha Landell-Mills and Jason Ford. 1999. Economic instruments for tropical forests: the Congo Basin case. Alain Karsenty. 2000. These studies are available from Earthprint Limited at the above address. Forthcoming reports in this series will include: Company-community forestry partnerships. Markets for forest environmental services and poverty reduction. Country case studies: South Africa, India, Brazil, China and Papua New Guinea. For information on the above studies contact IIED, Forestry and Land Use Programme, at the above address. Contents Executive summary i Acknowledgements xii Acronyms and glossary xiii 1 Certification – its purpose and evolution 1 1.1 Questions about certification: an introduction to this study 1 1.2 What certification is and how it works 2 1.3 The early rationale for forest certification 4 1.4 Multiple certification schemes: how they evolved and what they do 5 1.5 How much forest certification to date? 11 1.6 Motivations, drivers and assumptions behind certification 12 1.7 The purpose and scope of this study 14 2 Certification’s impacts and prospects for community-based forest enterprises 17 2.1 Introduction 17 2.2 Background: communities, forestry and certification 18 2.3 Community motivations and expectations 21 2.4 The challenges of certification for community-based forest enterprises 24 2.5 The outcomes and impacts of certification of community-based forest enterprises 29 2.6 Future challenges for community forest certification 35 3 Supply chains and certification – catalysts for improving forest management 41 3.1 Introduction 41 3.2 Using the supply chain to spread certification 43 3.3 Supply chain pressure and the DIY retail sector 46 3.4 Beyond the DIY retail sector – more challenging supply chains 56 3.5 The limits of international supply chains 59 3.6 Impacts of certification on supply chains 61 3.7 Impacts on forest management and stakeholder relations 65 3.8 Costs and benefits of certification, and their distribution 69 3.9 Future challenges for certification in the supply chain 72 4 Maturing certification – progress, challenges and ways forward 75 4.1 New uses of certification arising from early experience 75 4.2 Certification’s emerging role in improving policy processes 78 4.3 How forest certification has impacted on actual policies 82 4.4 Certification in practice: assessing its effectiveness, efficiency, equitability and credibility 85 4.5 Proliferation and mutual recognition of certification schemes 98 4.6 Integrating certification into the set of instruments for SFM 100 4.7 A mature role for certification through learning – analytical and monitoring requirements 103 References 107 Annexes 113 A. Methodology 113 B. Community-based forest enterprise: case study summaries 120 C. Contacts/key certification players and resources 123 D. Glossary 127 E. FSC principles and criteria 129 Executive summary Chapter 1 – Introduction to the study Forest certification has been hailed as one of the most significant advances in forestry in recent years. Within one decade, it has emerged from just an idea to become routine practice in Europe and North America, and is increasing in all continents. This paper takes stock of this rapid development, reviewing original assumptions and motivations, and presenting recent evidence of impacts and potentials to begin to answer the question: how can certification best contribute to sustainable development? The paper concentrates on three fields of enquiry: How has certification impacted on community forestry and community forest enterprise? How has certification helped to improve responsible business practice in industrial forest product supply chains? How has certification contributed to the kinds of policy processes that lead to sustainable forest management? Two major forces explain the origins of forest certification. Firstly, environmental NGOs were increasingly disillusioned with the failure of government and intergovernmental efforts to improve forest management. Secondly, leading forest producers and retailers began to realise that their future would be more secure if they were able to prove that their products derived from sustainable sources. Forest certification emerged as a means of independent verification, linked by labelling to environmentally aware markets. The initial focus was on distinguishing between tropical deforestation and good tropical forest management. Certification has, however, subsequently evolved to handle Northern forests as well, and today over 80 per cent of certified forests are in the North. Certification is driven by the interests
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