SGS QUALIFOR Doc. Number: AD 36-A-05 (Associated Document) Doc. Version date: 24 May 2007 Page: 1 of 76 FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION REPORT SECTION A: PUBLIC SUMMARY Project Nr: 6274-ZA Client: Mondi Ltd., South Africa Web Page: www.mondigroup.com Address: 171 Jabu Ndlovu Street, Pietermaritzburg , 3200 Country: South Africa Certificate Certificate Nr. Forest Management SGS-FM/CoC-000084 Type: Date of Issue 08 December 2009 Date of expiry: 26 December 2012 SGS Forest Management Standard (AD33) adapted for South Africa version 04 of 29 March Evaluation Standard 2010 Forest Zone: Temperate Total Certified Area 234 153 ha Scope: Old Scope : Forest management of plantations in the provinces of Mpumalanga, & KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa for the production of soft and hardwood timber and the purchase and sale of FSC certified Pine, Eucalyptus and Wattle pulpwood from Mondi plantations and outside sources, and the purchase of Controlled Wood from outside sources for sale as FSC Controlled wood on the transfer system. New Scope : Forest management of plantations in the provinces of Mpumalanga, & KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa for the production of soft and hardwood timber and the purchase and sale of FSC certified Pine, Eucalyptus and Wattle wood products, and the purchase of Controlled Wood from outside sources for sale as FSC Mixed wood on the Credit system to internal markets and the sale of FSC Certified hardwood and soft wood in the rough to external markets on the transfer system. Location of the FMUs Iswepe, Piet Retief Areas are located in Southern Mpumalanga. eDumbe and Tygers Areas included in the scope are in Northern KwaZulu Natal, Ntonjaneni and Umfolozi areas are in Zululand and the Greytown areas is in the KwaZulu Natal midlands. Company Contact Tony Bold Person: Silvicultural Manager – Forests Operations Address: Mondi Ltd., South Africa PO Box 39 Pietermaritzburg, 3200, South Africa 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-05 Page 2 of 76 Tel : +27(0)33 8974077 Tel: Mobile : +27 (0)82 903 4843 Fax :+27(0)33 3456555 Email: [email protected] Evaluation dates: Main Evaluation 3 – 7 September 2007 Surveillance 1 15-23 September 2008 Surveillance 2 5-13 September 2009 Surveillance 3 2-8 November 2010 Surveillance 4 Copyright: © 2010 SGS South Africa (Pty) Ltd All rights reserved AD 36-A-05 Page 3 of 76 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. SCOPE OF CERTIFICATE ..................................................................................................................... 5 2. COMPANY BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Ownership .................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Company Key Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 8 2.3 Company History .......................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Organisational Structure ............................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Ownership and Use Rights ..........................................................................................................................11 2.6 Other Land Uses .........................................................................................................................................11 2.7 Non-certified Forests ...................................................................................................................................11 3. FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ..................................................................................................... 11 3.2 History of use ..............................................................................................................................................19 3.3 Planning process .........................................................................................................................................19 3.4 Harvest and regeneration ............................................................................................................................21 3.5 Monitoring processes...................................................................................................................................22 4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT .................................................................... 23 4.1 Social aspects .............................................................................................................................................23 4.2 Environmental aspects ................................................................................................................................23 4.3 Administration, Legislation and Guidelines. ..................................................................................................24 5. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT, HARVESTING, SILVICULTURE AND MONITORING......................... 26 6. PREPARATION FOR THE EVALUATION ........................................................................................... 28 6.1 Schedule .....................................................................................................................................................28 6.2 Team ..........................................................................................................................................................28 6.3 Checklist Preparation...................................................................................................................................28 6.4 Stakeholder notification ...............................................................................................................................29 7. THE EVALUATION .............................................................................................................................. 29 7.1 Opening meeting .........................................................................................................................................29 7.2 Document review.........................................................................................................................................29 7.3 Sampling and Evaluation Approach ..............................................................................................................29 7.4 Field assessments .......................................................................................................................................29 7.5 Stakeholder interviews .................................................................................................................................29 7.6 Summing up and closing meeting.................................................................................................................30 8. EVALUATION RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 30 8.1 Findings related to the general QUALIFOR Programme ................................................................................30 PRINCIPLE 1: Compliance with law and FSC Principles.................................................................................30 PRINCIPLE 2: Tenure and use rights and responsibilities ...............................................................................32 PRINCIPLE 3: Indigenous peoples’ rights ......................................................................................................33 PRINCIPLE 4: Community relations and workers rights ..................................................................................33 PRINCIPLE 5: Benefits from the forest..........................................................................................................35 PRINCIPLE 6: Environmental impact ............................................................................................................36 AD 36-A-05 Page 4 of 76 PRINCIPLE 7: Management plan ..................................................................................................................39 PRINCIPLE 8: Monitoring and evaluation .......................................................................................................40 PRINCIPLE 9: High Conservation Value Forests ............................................................................................41 PRINCIPLE 10: Plantations .............................................................................................................................42 9. CERTIFICATION DECISION ................................................................................................................ 43 10. MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION ................................................................................................. 44 11. RECORD OF CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUESTS (CARs) ................................................................. 46 12. RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS ........................................................................................................... 59 13. RECORD OF STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS