RECENT

ll.panel dis-cussion hosted by the International Wood Products Association took an in-depth look at certification of forests and forest products, exposing problems, controversies and progress of certification efforts across the globe.

"There is clear momentum," claimed Jane Rozanski, Knoll Furniture Group. "The pot is still being stirred, but the needle is stuck in the groove on the record."

She said that to catch on certification must become less expensive and easier to credibly verify. "From the manufacturers' standpoint there is an issue of the difficulty in identifying and using certifiable wood sources," Rozanski said. "The cost is prohibitive to certify and continue documentation and follow-up. Consuming customers' demand is not there especially if it means an increase in cost to them. How to find the volume of wood required at the quality level required, within the time-frame required for the ongoing duration required."

She added: "The general public has been concerned [about sustaining the forestsl and continues the pressure through ecology issues and supports [them] through the education system; however when it comes time for them to put their money where their mouth is, [consumers] don't want to pay up."

Globally, certification efforts have had other shortcoming, including: o Certification systems, although they may provide access to markets requiring certificates, do not provide any support for achieving improved forest management. o Chain of custody is an issue. Panelists cited the difficulty of chain of custody verification with small forest owners and identified instances in which the Forest Stewardship Council was not in control of the process. o Acceptability of forest management certificates. FSC certificates that do not appear to be in accordance with FSC principles and criteria seem to be selectively challenged. o Timber from conversion forests is currently excluded from certification, encouraging the continued burning of such tress, instead of marketing them.

Ahmad of the Indonesian EcoLabeling Institute, an independent, non-profit organization handling FSCtype certification in the country. He expects other Indonesian companies eventually to begin handling certification, allowing the Institute to become "a system maintainer."

According to the Malaysian Timber Council's Cheah Kam Huan. "Whether timber certification is able to promote sustainable forest management is questionable. From (our) perspective, timber certification can be a tool to facilitate market access for our timber products in environmentally sensitive markets. Concurrent of timber certification, Malaysia has been putting in place measures to attain sustainable forest management."

Jean Pierre Kiekens, Forestry Certification Watch, pointed out problems with certification efforts underway in the The Netherlands, Sweden, U.K., Europe, U.S. and Canada, including conflicts of interest. Certification is especially problematic in Europe, since it contains approximately l2 million different forest owners.

Bolivia's forestry law is based on Forest Stewardship Council guidelines. "The Forestry Chamber of Bolivia considers that it should be enough to comply with national legislation to achieve good forest management," said Jorge Avila, Camara Forestal de Bolivia. "Other restrictions or burdens imposed on production and marketing of tropical forest products are negative for sound development of the forestry sector and the tropical forest itself.

Certification is "up and running" in Indonesia, according to Mubariq

From 1996 to 2000, Malaysia expects to spend an estimated $760 million (U.S.) on efforts establishing the policy and legislative framework, an effective monitoring mechanism, research, infrastructure and human resource development. In January, Malaysia founded the National Certification Council, an independent, non-profit organization for assessing and monitoring sustainable forest management.

Overall, said an IWPA representative, "despite the troublesome nature of timber certification and its promotion, there is a positive trend toward the independent auditing of forest management practices, throughout the world, under a variety ofapproaches."

"Over the last l0 years," asserted Smartwood's Richard Donovan, "the big sea-change that has occurred is an acceptance of certification as one tool for improving forests and communities. Now the question is how certification will happen, what it will and won't contribute, and what effects it will have."

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