SGS QUALIFOR Doc. Number: AD 36-A-04 (Associated Document) Doc. Version date: 5 April 2007 Page: 1 of 58 FOREST MANAGEMENT CERTIFICATION REPORT SECTION A: PUBLIC SUMMARY Project Nr: 9495-UG Client: UWA-FACE Mt Elgon National Park Web Page: www.uwa.or.ug Address: PO Box 135, Mbale Country: Uganda Certificate Nr. SGS-FM/COC-000980 Certificate Type: Forest Management Date of Issue 01/10/2007 Date of expiry: 30/09/2012 Forest Zone: Tropical Total Certified Area 112 100 ha Scope: The management of Mt Elgon National Park, Uganda, consisting of primary forests and other vegetation types, degraded indigenous forest areas, and softwood plantations. Company Contact Fred Kizza Person: Address: PO Box 135, Mbale, Uganda Tel: +256 078 929950 / +256 039 791002 Fax Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Evaluation dates: Re-Evaluation 16-18 April 2007; Clearance of Findings 13-14 August 2007 Surveillance 1 7-10 July 2008, 12 -13 November 2008. Clearance of Findings 3 -5 February 2009. Clearance of findings 18 -19 March 2009 Follow up on Stakeholder consultation. (Closing of ASI CAR) Surveillance 2 12-14 July 2009 Surveillance 3 Surveillance 4 SGS South Africa (Qualifor Programme) 58 Melville Road, Booysens - PO Box 82582, Southdale 2185 -South Africa Systems and Services Certification Division t +27 11 681681-2500 f +27 11 681-2543 [email protected] www.sgs.com/forestry AD 36-A-04 Page 2 of 58 AD 36-A-04 Page 3 of 58 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................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Organisational Structure...................................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Ownership and Use Rights.................................................................................................................................. 9 2.6 Other Land Uses ............................................................................................................................................... 10 2.7 Non-certified Forests ......................................................................................................................................... 10 3. FOREST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.............................................................................10 3.1 Bio-physical setting ........................................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 History of use .................................................................................................................................................... 13 3.3 Planning process............................................................................................................................................... 14 3.4 Harvest and regeneration.................................................................................................................................. 15 3.5 Monitoring processes ........................................................................................................................................ 16 4. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT ..........................................17 4.1 Social aspects ................................................................................................................................................... 17 4.2 Environmental aspects ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.3 Administration, Legislation and Guidelines........................................................................................................ 19 5. CHANGES IN MANAGEMENT, HARVESTING, SILVICULTURE AND MONITORING 20 6. PREPARATION FOR THE EVALUATION...................................................................21 6.1 Schedule ........................................................................................................................................................... 21 6.2 Team ................................................................................................................................................................. 21 6.3 Checklist Preparation ........................................................................................................................................ 21 6.4 Stakeholder notification ..................................................................................................................................... 21 7. THE EVALUATION ......................................................................................................21 7.1 Opening meeting............................................................................................................................................... 21 7.2 Document review............................................................................................................................................... 22 7.3 Sampling and Evaluation Approach .................................................................................................................. 22 7.4 Field assessments............................................................................................................................................. 22 7.5 Stakeholder interviews ...................................................................................................................................... 22 7.6 Summing up and closing meeting ..................................................................................................................... 23 8. EVALUATION RESULTS.............................................................................................23 8.1 Findings related to the general QUALIFOR Programme ................................................................................... 23 PRINCIPLE 1: Compliance with law and FSC Principles.................................................................................... 23 PRINCIPLE 2: Tenure and use rights and responsibilities.................................................................................. 24 PRINCIPLE 3: Indigenous peoples’ rights .......................................................................................................... 25 PRINCIPLE 4: Community relations and workers rights ..................................................................................... 26 PRINCIPLE 5: Benefits from the forest ............................................................................................................... 28 PRINCIPLE 6: Environmental impact.................................................................................................................. 29 PRINCIPLE 7: Management plan ....................................................................................................................... 31 PRINCIPLE 8: Monitoring and evaluation ........................................................................................................... 32 PRINCIPLE 9: High Conservation Value Forests................................................................................................ 33 PRINCIPLE 10: Plantations .................................................................................................................................. 34 9. CERTIFICATION DECISION........................................................................................36 10. MAINTENANCE OF CERTIFICATION.........................................................................36 11. RECORD OF CORRECTIVE ACTION REQUESTS (CARs) .......................................38 12. RECORD OF OBSERVATIONS...................................................................................47 13. RECORD OF STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS AND INTERVIEWS ..............................50 14. RECORD OF COMPLAINTS........................................................................................57 AD 36-A-04 Page 4 of 58 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 (incorporated into AD 36-A) 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.sgs.com/forestry. This information is also available on request – refer contact details on the first page. AD 36-A-04 Page 5 of 58 INTRODUCTION The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the management of UWA-FACE Mount Elgon National Park (MENP) 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 Tropical Forest Zone