SGS QUALIFOR Doc. Number: AD 36A-08 (Associated Documents) Doc. Version date: 22 January 2009 Page: 1 of 49 FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION REPORT SECTION A: PUBLIC SUMMARY Project Nr: 8182-ZA Client: HM Timber Vuka-Ramanas-Ramanas Forestry Products Web Page: N/A PO Box 193; SABIE, 1260 Address: South Africa Country: Certificate Certificate Nr. SGS-FM/CoC-001855 Forest Management/COC Type: Date of Issue 08 Oct 2009 Date of expiry: 07 Oct 2014 Forest Zone: Temperate Total Certified Area 8608 ha Scope: Forest Management of plantations in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa for the production of softwood and hardwood timber products: Company Contact Christie Potgieter Person: P O Box 20 Address: Weza 4685 Republic of South Africa Tel: +27 39 553 0401 Fax +27 39 553 0425 Email: [email protected] Evaluation dates: Main Evaluation 19 – 22 May 2009 Surveillance 1 Surveillance 2 Surveillance 3 Surveillance 4 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 AAfricafrica Systems and Services Certification Division Contact Programme Director at t. +27 11 681-2500 [email protected] www.sgs.com/forestry AD 36A-08 Page 2 of 49 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SCOPE OF CERTIFICATE...........................................................................................................................5 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................7 2.1 Ownership...........................................................................................................................................7 2.2 Company Key Objectives ..................................................................................................................7 2.3 Company History................................................................................................................................8 2.4 Organisational Structure ...................................................................................................................8 2.5 Ownership and Use Rights ...............................................................................................................9 2.6 Other Land Uses.................................................................................................................................9 2.7 Non-certified Forests .........................................................................................................................9 The HM Timber’s forests are all certified as outlined in 2.4 above..........................................................9 3. Group Management ....................................................................................................................................9 4. FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ............................................................................................................9 4.1 Bio-physical setting ...........................................................................................................................9 4.2 History of use ...................................................................................................................................12 4.3 Planning process .............................................................................................................................12 4.4 Harvest and regeneration................................................................................................................13 4.5 Monitoring processes......................................................................................................................14 5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT........................................................................15 5.1 Social aspects ..................................................................................................................................15 5.2 Environmental aspects....................................................................................................................16 5.3 Administration, Legislation and Guidelines ..................................................................................18 6. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT, HARVESTING, SILVICULTURE AND MONITORING ...........................21 7. PREPARATION FOR THE EVALUATION.................................................................................................21 7.1 Schedule ...........................................................................................................................................21 7.2 Team ..................................................................................................................................................21 7.3 Checklist Preparation ......................................................................................................................22 7.4 Stakeholder notification ..................................................................................................................22 8. THE EVALUATION.....................................................................................................................................22 8.1 Opening meeting..............................................................................................................................22 8.2 Document review .............................................................................................................................22 8.3 Sampling and Evaluation Approach...............................................................................................22 8.4 Field assessments ...........................................................................................................................22 8.5 Stakeholder interviews ....................................................................................................................23 8.6 Summing up and closing meeting..................................................................................................23 9. EVALUATION RESULTS...........................................................................................................................23 AD 36A-08 Page 3 of 49 9.1 Findings related to the general QUALIFOR Programme ..............................................................24 10. CERTIFICATION DECISION......................................................................................................................36 11. MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION.......................................................................................................36 12. RECORD OF CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUESTS (CARs).....................................................................37 13. Observations.............................................................................................................................................46 14. RECORD OF STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS AND INTERVIEWS............................................................47 15. RECORD OF COMPLAINTS......................................................................................................................48 ASSOCIATED DOCUMENTS (not part of the Public Summary) AD 20: Evaluation Itinerary AD 21: Attendance Record AD 26: Corrective Action Requests AD 36-B: Evaluation - Observations and Information on Logistics AD 40: Stakeholder Reports Evaluation team CV’s List of stakeholders contacted AD 36A-08 Page 4 of 49 Complaints and Disputes Procedures for submitting complaints, appeals and disputes, and the SGS processing of such are published on www.sgs.com/forestry . This information is also available on request – refer contact details on the first page. AD 36A-08 Page 5 of 49 INTRODUCTION The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the operations of HM Timber Vuka-Ramanas Forestry Products Pty Ltd 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 Working Plan Units (WPU) in the Forest Management Unit (FMU) as described below. Description of WPUs: Description Ownership Area (ha) Longitude E/W Latitude N/S Hebron Vuka-Ramanas 1871 30 °55’ E 28 °08’ S Forest Products Pty Ltd Ramanas Vuka-Ramanas 6737 30 °59’ E 24 °54’ S Forest Products Pty Ltd Size of FMU: Nr of FMUs Area (ha) Less than 100ha 0 100 to 1000 ha in area 0 1001 to 10000 ha in area 1 8608 More than 10000 ha in area 0 Total 1 8608 Total Area in the Scope of the Certificate that is: Area (ha) Privately managed 8608 State Managed Community Managed Composition of the Certified Forest(s) Area (ha) Area of forest protected from commercial harvesting of timber and managed Unknown primarily for conservation objectives AD 36A-08 Page 6 of 49 Composition of the Certified Forest(s) Area (ha) Area of forest protected from commercial harvesting of timber and managed 0 primarily for production of NTFPs or services Area of forest classified as “high conservation value forest” 410 Area of non-forest managed primarily for conservation objectives 2008 Total area of production forest (i.e. forest from which timber may be 0 harvested) Area of production forest classified as “plantation” 6190 Area of production forest regenerated primarily by replanting 6190 Area of production