Sgs Qualifor Forest Management Certification Report
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SGS QUALIFOR Doc. Number: AD 36-A-06 (Associated Document) Doc. Version date: 20 Mar. 08 Page: 1 of 50 FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION REPORT SECTION A: PUBLIC SUMMARY Project Nr: 7833-ZA Client: HM Timber Limited – Matiwane Forests Web Page: www.hansmerensky.co.za Address: HM Timber Limited – Matiwane Forests , PO Box 20, WEZA, 4685, South Africa. Country: South Africa Certificate Nr. SGS-FM/CoC-001503 Certificate Type: Forest Management Date of Issue 08 Sept 2008 Date of expiry: 07 Sept 2013 SGS Forest Management Standard (AD33) adapted for South Africa version 04 of 29 Evaluation Standard March 2010 Forest Zone: Temperate Total Certified Area 23 630 ha Scope: Forest management of plantations in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa; the production and sale of softwood and hardwood sawn timber products at Langeni Sawmill. New Scope The forest management of HM Timber Limited’s Matiwane FSC Pure hardwood and FSC Pure softwood plantations in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, for the production of timber for 26/8/2009 sale to clients; and supply to Langeni sawmill for the production of Sawn Timber and sawmill by- products for sale on the Chain of Custody Transfer system. Location of the FMUs Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, in the vicinity of Mthatha included in the scope Company Contact Bernard Bakker Person: Address: HM Timber Limited: Matiwane Forests, PO Box 20, WEZA, 4685, Rep. of South Africa. Tel: (039) 553 0401 Fax (039) 553 0425 Email: [email protected] Evaluation dates: Main Evaluation 21st – 23rd of July 2008 Surveillance 1 24th – 26th /8/2009 SGS services are rendered in accordance with the applicable SGS General Conditions of Service accessible at http://www.sgs.com/terms_and_conditions.htm SGS South Africa (Qualifor Programme) 58 Melville Road, Booysens - PO Box 82582, Southdale 2185 -South Africa Systems and Services Certification Division Contact Programme Director at t. +27 11 681-2500 [email protected] www.sgs.com/forestry AD 36-A-06 Page 2 of 50 Surveillance 2 26 – 28 / 10 / 2010 Surveillance 3 Surveillance 4 Copyright: © 2010 SGS South Africa (Pty) Ltd All rights reserved 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 All the land leased under this contract is certified. .......................................................................................................... 9 3. FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM .......................................................................................................... 10 3.1 History of use .................................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Planning process ............................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3 Harvesting and regeneration ............................................................................................................................. 11 3.4 Monitoring processes ........................................................................................................................................ 11 4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT........................................................................ 11 4.1 Social aspects ................................................................................................................................................... 11 4.2 Environmental aspects ...................................................................................................................................... 12 4.2.1 Bio-geographical considerations. .................................................................................................................. 12 4.2.2 Sites of Special Interest & Natural Heritage Sites. ........................................................................................ 12 4.2.3 Management for biodiversity ......................................................................................................................... 13 4.3 Administration, Legislation and Guidelines ........................................................................................................ 14 5. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT, HARVESTING, SILVICULTURE AND MONITORING .......................... 17 6. PREPARATION FOR THE EVALUATION ................................................................................................ 17 6.1 Schedule ........................................................................................................................................................... 17 6.2 Team ................................................................................................................................................................. 18 6.3 Checklist Preparation ........................................................................................................................................ 18 6.4 Stakeholder notification ..................................................................................................................................... 18 7. THE EVALUATION .................................................................................................................................... 18 7.1 Opening meeting ............................................................................................................................................... 18 7.2 Document review ............................................................................................................................................... 18 7.3 Sampling and Evaluation Approach .................................................................................................................. 19 AD 36-A-06 Page 3 of 50 7.4 Field assessments ............................................................................................................................................. 19 7.5 Stakeholder interviews ...................................................................................................................................... 19 7.6 Summing up and closing meeting ..................................................................................................................... 19 8. EVALUATION RESULTS ........................................................................................................................... 20 8.1 Findings related to the general QUALIFOR Programme ................................................................................... 20 PRINCIPLE 1: Compliance with law and FSC Principles .................................................................................... 20 PRINCIPLE 2: Tenure and use rights and responsibilities .................................................................................. 21 PRINCIPLE 3: Indigenous peoples’ rights .......................................................................................................... 21 PRINCIPLE 4: Community relations and workers rights ..................................................................................... 22 PRINCIPLE 5: Benefits from the forest .............................................................................................................. 23 PRINCIPLE 6: Environmental impact ................................................................................................................. 24 PRINCIPLE 7: Management plan ....................................................................................................................... 27 PRINCIPLE 8: Monitoring and evaluation ........................................................................................................... 28 PRINCIPLE 9: High Conservation Value Forests................................................................................................ 29 PRINCIPLE 10: Plantations .................................................................................................................................. 30 9. CERTIFICATION DECISION .....................................................................................................................