Gonsol

By R. Wade Mosby Senior Vice President , Collins Companies

topic among wood product manufactur- ers and environmentalists for the pastMlears. movement towards certification began in Europe during the late 1980s as environmental organizations boycotted the use of tropical rainforest wood in northern Europe. The answer to the boycott was the creation of an independent, third-party forest certification system that would ensure, through chain-of-custody tracking, that the wood came from well-managed certified forests.

The World Wildlife Fund, the largest international conservation organization, and B&Q, the largest U.K. building materials retailer, were the driving forces behind independent certification. Their commitment spawned the creation of the Forest Stewardship Council, whose responsibility was to accredit certification bodies and promote voluntary third-party certification. The Council is an independent, international, member-based organization representing industry, social and environmental interests. As a matter of fact, the strict standards set by the FSC make it the only organization in the world that is endorsed by the major environmental groups including: the World Wildlife Fund, ln response to FSC certification, two major competing certifications systems were developed in North America. First was the Sustainable Forest Initiative, created by the AF&PA, an industry group. Originally a second-party certifier, it has recently added a voluntary, independent third party component. Next, in Canada, where over 907o of the timberland is government owned, the Canadian Standards Association was developing a set of rigid forest certification standards.

N[Rainforest Alliance, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute. Currently, FSC recognizes certified forests in over 40 countries, and it is the only major certification system to have broad international recognition. In 1993, Collins was the first U.S. manufacturer to be certified under the FSC criteria.

Certification was given a big boost in the U.S. in August 1999, when Home Depot announced a preference for FSC certification. This was followed in spring of 2000 by a similar announcement from Lowe's. Other retailers and homebuilders such as Centex and Kaufman & Broad have adopted similar policies, but generally without the FSC preference. Home Depot and Lowe's, which between them sell nearly l5%o of all the building materials in the U.S., made a major impact in the marketplace.

There is no doubt that certification is here to stay. The only question remaining is which certification system will prevail. Clearly, the preference of the major retailers and environmental groups is for the more stringent FSC standards that measure all aspects of a forest's health, not just the harvesting of trees. Most major industry players have opted for the SFI system, with a good forestry component but less stringent environmental and social requirements. Several of the major Canadian operators have opted for CSA certification which, in my opinion, lies somewhere between FSC and SFI. FSC certified wood currently comprises less than2To of the U.S. market share.

What I envision for the next three years is an increasing demand forcertified wood as consumers become more

(Please turn to next page)