Forest Matters June 2015 by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) UK

FOREST MATTERS FSC UK Newsletter June 2015

INTRODUCING OUR NEW GLOBAL BRAND. FORESTS FOR ALL FOREVER

Contents 2

News in brief

Our new brand: Forests for all, Forever

FSC UK at the Chelsea Flower Show

Director’s Overview

7 Non-wood forest products: an untapped resource? 9

Woodmark’s 2000th certificate

WWF-UK Forest Campaign

11 Planting trees for the International Day of Forests 12

A farewell bench for our Executive Director

Confor, UKWAS and IGIs

News in Brief

Dear Reader, Forests For All Forever! The launch of FSC’s new branding is the result of considerable research and collaboration and I feel privileged to have been part of the process. I believe that the new artwork and strapline will help us engage with the consumer and create an emotional connection to FSC. Of course, the ultimate aim is to increase demand for FSC certified products and, as this demand filters back through the supply chain, growing demand for FSC certification at a forest level. We hope that companies will embrace the new assets and utilise the marketing toolkit to communicate FSC to their customers. FSC UK is already utilising the new materials and visitors to our stand at Chelsea Flower Show were amongst the first to see the artwork. We are thrilled to have been awarded a Silver Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society for our stand and to have received such an overwhelmingly positive reaction from the thousands of visitors. Gardeners queued to walk round our woodland inspired display and were extremely interested in our FSC message. Having last exhibited in 2011, it was encouraging for us to find that so many more people recognised the logo and we can be sure that everyone knew about FSC before they left the stand! I would like to thank Sainsbury’s and WWF for their support, as well as Kirsti Davies, James Carnell and the FSC UK staff for all their hard work. I hope you will enjoy reading more about our new branding and Chelsea Flower Show, as well as all our other news.

Registration is now open! FSC Friday, the international celebration of responsible forestry, will be on 25th September 2015

Project Certification film released

Forests for all forever!

Last month we were excited to release a new film, produced by Green.TV and focusing on 5 Broadgate, a new building in central London which has not only achieved FSC project certification, but 100% of the wood is FSC certified.

FSC’s new global brand has been launched, with the aim of helping certificate holders spread the FSC message to the public. You can see some of the available artwork on pages 2 and 3.

You can watch the film here. For more information on project certification please see our website. Thanks to Mace and British Land for funding the film (and the building!).

Certificate holders are able to use the artwork and messaging to reinforce their environmental credentials. You can log on to the marketing toolkit using the same password as for the Trademark portal.

FSC at the Chelsea Flower Show

In Good Company with FSC

From the 19th to the 24th May this year, FSC and WWF UK jointly hosted a garden showing the huge number of FSC certified gardening products available and asking visitors to always choose FSC.

Come and join us for the 4th ‘In Good Company’ event, from 3-5 September 2015, in Durban, South Africa.

Many were shocked that illegal wood can still enter the UK, a point that WWF UK were keen to make in their aim of strengthening the EU Timber Regulation. We were thrilled to win a silver medal, and you can see the write up on page 5.

In Good Company 2015 is FSC International’s annual global platform to engage with leading companies, brands and international NGOs working strategically with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sustainability and FSC. Read more on the website.

Welcome Beth! Beth Gratrix has joined us as our new Office Administrator. “I am really pleased to have started as Office Administrator with FSC UK, in my home town of Llanidloes. After starting in accountancy, I found I was drawn to more administration roles, so this was a perfect opportunity for me. Living close to Hafren Forest and having spent a lot of time there growing up, I felt drawn towards working for FSC UK as they put so much effort into managing forests responsibly. In the month that I have worked at FSC UK I have really enjoyed it, everyone here is lovely! I am delighted to be part of the team, and I am looking forward to gaining further knowledge of the organisation and continuing in my role.”

Our new brand

We have launched our new global brand: Forests For All Forever. In the past 20 years, FSC has become a welltrusted and established brand in sectors and markets around the world. With our new branding we plan to extend our reach by targeting consumers directly.

“Forests are so much more than trees and timber. Our Principles and Criteria have always reflected our determination to protect forests and their inhabitants. Now, our commitment will also be expressed in our visual identity, and provide a clearer message to consumers of what it means when they buy an FSC certified product,” stated Mr. Carstensen.

Our new brand

The FSC UK team are also able to help with use of the messaging on your social media if you would like to be involved in the online FSC presence. It would also be excellent to recieve feedback on your use of the new brand with your customers or on your promotional material. The new global brand will form the basis of the artwork for the FSC Friday celebrations at the end of September. If you would like to be involved in this please do get in touch. FSC Friday is the global awareness day of FSC and forest certification and is a great day for spreading the message, to everyone from school children to big

“The success of FSC has always depended on consumer awareness and demand for FSC certified products. We have relied on our partners and certificate holders to spread the message of FSC on our behalf, and their success has been remarkable. But, we have also listened to their calls for more effective tools and materials that could inspire their customers to choose FSC – an identity that would connect with consumers and be memorable in the retail space. We believe the new branding and marketing toolkit will help them do this,” said Kim Carstensen, Director General of FSC. The new strapline - Forests For All Forever - reaffirms the FSC vision of saving the world’s forests for future generations, while the visual identity, which includes the animals and people who live and interact in forests, reinforces the all-encompassing approach FSC takes to sustainable forest management.

use, from the new brand mark, to the photographic animal clusters, and examples of how the new artwork can be used in advertisements. All of these resources are available for FSC certificate holders to download from the marketing toolkit.

For more information about the new global brand, and marketing toolkit, please contact tallulah@fscuk.org.

“In addition, with markets opening up in Asia, Latin America and Africa, it was time go beyond outreach to producers and retailers,” continued Mr. Carstensen. “Supply grows in response to demand, and those at the end of the supply chain – consumers – are vital to ensuring companies seek out sustainable solutions and engage in responsible businesses practices.”

Our Principles and Criteria have always reflected our determination to protect forests and their inhabitants. The new branding was developed based on a marketing survey that reached 9,000 participants from 11 different countries in 2013. The online toolkit containing the new branding assets can be immediately accessed by certificate holders, and will be available to trademark service providers and key accounts later in the year. Seen on this page are some of the examples of artwork that you can

Chelsea Flower Show

The Forest in your Garden FSC scoops silver medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show The Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show is Britain’s most prestigious flower show, attracting more than 150,000 visitors from all over the world. FSC UK exhibited at the 2015 event as part of the Discovery Zone within the Great Pavilion, the education area of the show.

Visitors were invited to enter a world where the forest meets the garden, and explore how wood can be used in our gardens, whether in the form of trees, timber or forest products. The exhibit, The Forest in your Garden, was awarded a much-coveted silver medal. FSC UK Executive Director Rosie Teasdale responded: “We are delighted to have won a silver medal at Chelsea. I would like to thank Sainsbury’s and WWF UK for their support and Kirsti Davies, James Carnell and all at FSC UK for their hard work. FSC awareness is on the up and we are enjoying engaging with the thousands of visitors here at the show.”

Show visitors flocked to the exhibit in their thousands, learning about forests and FSC and signing up to the WWF UK forests campaign and EUTR petition. The stand also received a visit from actress Miranda Richardson, who was there to support the WWF campaign and congratulated FSC UK on the forest garden.

WWF UK joined FSC UK in staffing the exhibit, showing how FSC certified garden products should be the priority for the conscientious gardener. They also gave tips on how to include the forest in your garden, including how to incorporate trees and shade loving plants. On show were 4 different themes of woodland garden, all of which you could recreate in your own space, depending on your priority - Edible, Social, Practical or Wildlife. The exhibit was sponsored by Sainsbury’s and WWF UK. A number of FSC certified companies also gave support by donating FSC certified products: B&Q (decking), Brooks Bros (timber and plywood), Burgon and Ball (tools), Gardman (tools), Duncombe Sawmill (planters), Forest Garden (arbour) and William Sinclair Horticulture (horticultural bark). All photos from Chelsea are © Matt Crossick

Feature: NWFPs Non-wood forest products, an untapped resource? Adam Thorogood of Llais y Goedwig presents the Startree project. Adam lives in Mid Wales and alongside working for Llais y Goedwig, he is a codirector of Dyfi Woodlands, a small not for profit business delivering social forestry projects in the Dyfi Biosphere. He has an MSc in Forestry from the University of Bangor.

“I’m not very good with heights...I don’t know how they talked me into this!” explains Jari laughing as he stands at the top of a long ladder leaning against a thick birch tree. The ladder is ratchet-strapped to the tree and Jari is wearing a harness which he has clipped into a climbing sling also wrapped around the tree. In typical Finnish fashion, this process has been planned out carefully and all the health and safety implications considered. Jari grabs the drill attached to his tool belt and begins to drill into the tree... Drilling into the sap wood 5 meters up a good timber tree is not a silvicultural process we’re used to in the UK, but Jari is involved in research to inoculate birch trees with the spawn of the Inonutus obliquus mushroom. Also know as Chaga or Pakuri in Finland, this mushroom is parasitic on birch trees yet it also has been used as a folk remedy in Finland and Russia for hundreds of years. Chemicals found within the sterile conk that forms on the outside of the tree have potential in cancer treatment. Jari and his colleagues are researching the commercial cultivation of this mushroom in Finnish forests, mainly for use in unmanaged birch stands that are difficult to access for timber extraction. Inonutus obliquus is just one of a huge range of products which fall into the category of non-wood forest products or NWFP. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations defines non-wood forest products (NWFP) as “goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests.” NWFP have received a lot of attention due to their importance the world over for subsistence, nutrition, medicine and household income. Around 150 NWFP are globally significant export commodities, yet little work has been done on mapping the NWFP sector

in Europe. The UK Woodland Assurance Standard mentions NWFPs in the range of potential woodland products under point category 7, the Community, yet how many woodland owners in the UK have tapped into this resource? I’ve just returned from Finland where the StarTree project partners from across Europe gathered for the project’s 6th General Assembly. More than 50 people drawn from academia, the third sector and the business sector met to discuss progress and find out about innovative NWFP-related projects in Finland, such as Jari’s work with Inonutus obliquus.

Around 150 NWFP are globally significant export commodities, yet little work has been done on mapping the NWFP sector in Europe. The StarTree project focuses on NWFP and “multipurpose trees” in Europe. The project is funded through the European Union’s 7th Framework programme for research and technical development which aims to strengthen the scientific and technological base of European industry and encourage its international competitiveness. The project fosters an integrated approach, bringing together key research organisations and specialist businesses working in 14 partner regions across 12 countries. Scotland and Wales are the two UK countries involved in the project, with Reforesting Scotland and Llais y Goedwig, Wales’ community woodland network, coordinating in each region respectively. The main objectives of StarTree are to develop new knowledge and tools which support the joint provision of timber, NWFP and related services and to advance the understanding of the socio-economic importance of NWFP. These objectives are being achieved through four work teams focusing on specific

Bags of Welsh moss, awaiting collection at roadside. © Graham Wilson

thematic areas: 1) Resource management (silviculture for NWFP production), 2) Economics and marketing, 3) the Institutional dimension of NWFP and 4) Innovation systems and processes. There are three main categories of NWFP that have come to light through the project’s research: informal “foraging” for NWFP for non-commercial use, small-scale commercial harvesting and lastly large scale industrial production often for international trade. The NWFP sector in Wales is relatively underdeveloped compared to other partner countries (cork in Portugal or wild mushrooms in Finland for example), the only NWFP that could fit in the last category is moss, which is harvested from Welsh woodlands by hand or rake and finds its way into Europe via product flows for floristry and horticulture. In Wales, there is a significant small-scale trade in NWFP representing livelihood diversification for those closely involved in some form of land management, for example StarTree project partners learn about inoculating Birch with Inonutus obliquus foresters, farmers, small- spawn. © StarTree project holders and craft artisans. owners and managers missing a trick by not paying A large number of Wales-produced food and beverage more attention to the income generation potential products rely on permitted access to NWFP often that NWFP represent? Co-production of timber and on land not owned by the harvester. Wild harvested non-wood forest products could increase income elderflowers, blackberries, bilberries and bog myrtle and benefit biodiversity throughout the life of a stand are all examples of NWFP that are processed into and the harvesting can be scheduled around other food, beverages or cosmetic products that, alongside forest operations. We hope that through the StarTree a huge range of other NWFP, support the income of project, sustainable harvesting of NWFP can be 137 separate SMEs in Wales. given more consideration across the UK in order to broaden the scope of our woodland management Access to NWFP is also central to the sale of and the way in which we value our forests. educational or skills-based products where the NWFP forms part of a service product such as a wild The StarTree project continues until the end of 2016. Llais mushroom identification course or bushcraft training. y Goedwig will be producing a series of Wales-focused It is in this use of NWFP that Wales is more developed reports, articles and case studies during 2015. Please than many other European partners. contact adam.thorogood@llaisygoedwig.org.uk with any However, NWFP rarely feature in the management plans or production objectives of Wales’ forest owners, agents and woodland managers. Are forest

questions.

The project websites are www.star-tree.eu and www. llaisygoedwig.org.uk and www.reforestingscotland.org

Woodmark Woodmark celebrates 2000th certificate and a huge new contract Woodmark, the Soil Association’s forestry certification body, has achieved great things lately – passing the 2000 certificates mark and securing a contract with UPM Tilhill to certify large areas of woodland in the UK. Trees are one of our most precious resources. They give us shelter, food, fuel and clean air. The perfect forest provides many wood and paper products, and shelters a wide range of plant and animal life. Lakes and streams are protected from pollution, soil is kept healthy, and the trees are harvested carefully so that they cause the least possible damage when they are felled. Sustainable forest management tries to balance human needs with the long-term health of the planet, taking only what we need and making sure it’s replaced. Soil Association Woodmark approves forests that are managed according to these principles. UPM Tilhill, the UK market leader in forest and woodland management, has just chosen Woodmark to certify their products for the next 5 years. They maintain over 300 forests across the country, covering 200,000 hectares (square kilometres) altogether. The partnership between UPM Tilhill and Soil Association Woodmark benefits both parties – the timber producer can access the emerging market for certified timber, and the certifying body is able to protect more woodland. It’s a big step towards a better future for our forests. UPM Tilhill Certification Manager, Ewan McIntosh said, ‘we are delighted to work with SA Woodmark, whose global reputation for impartiality, professionalism and integrity chimes with our position as leaders in sustainable forest management.’

WWF Forest Campaign certificate, and there are now 14 million hectares of certified forest across the world. Its work extends to every continent, bringing responsible forest management to areas as diverse as Scandinavia, Brazil, and China. The global timber industry is changing as more people want to know that their wood and paper products come from a renewable source. As well as certifying timber from woodland managed by large companies such as UPM Tilhill, Woodmark works with rural communities to help them keep control of their resources. Smallholders and forest owners can form co-ops and work together to look after their trees, harvest and market the products. By choosing to be certified with Woodmark, they can charge a higher price for their timber, which means more people can make a living from the land and there is less pressure to move away to find work. There is also less temptation to log illegally, which often destroys large areas of forest to get at high value woods such as teak and mahogany. It can take a forest a long time to recover from such activity, endangering the very habitat that has the potential to support so much life. Woodmark has worked with the Forest Stewardship Council since 1996. This recognisable and well-respected certification scheme gives customers extra confidence in the Woodmark standard. If you would like to find out more about Woodmark certification, go to www.soilassociation. org/woodmark

Companies invited to join WWFUK’s Forest Campaign From Lucy Bertenshaw, WWF-UK

WWF-UK’s Forest Campaign was launched last September to prevent illegal and unsustainable timber products from entering UK markets. We have been encouraging companies to sign up to the campaign to commit to the following: • Pledge to buy sustainable timber products • Support the call to close the market to illegal timber • Support the call for a market in sustainable timber The campaign has gained momentum and we now have nearly 40 companies signed up. We have hosted a Forest Business Forum with HRH The Prince of Wales and a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons. The reception launched the campaign’s political asks – to close the loopholes in the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) so that all wood-based products imported into Europe are from legal sources.

demonstrate a strong business voice in support of reform so that the EUTR effectively does its job of keeping illegal timber out of Europe. For our latest report, “Do Timber Products in the UK Stack Up?” WWF investigated if companies that were selling non-EUTR covered products had done sufficient checks to ensure they were at least made from wood from legal sources. In nearly a third of the products sent for laboratory analysis, the results found that the wood was different to the one declared by the retailer, and nearly half of the companies were selling products made from timber from areas that experience high levels of illegal logging. Read the blog that has been written about this report. The campaign has also been engaging with the public and we now have over 70,000 signatures to our petition, which demonstrates the passion generated for forests. If you would like to sign your company up to the campaign or would like more information visit our website, email Lucy Bertenshaw or call her on 01483 412 506.

As we move towards the review of the EUTR later this year, WWF-UK will be working with business to

That’s not all there is to celebrate. Woodmark has recently hit its 2000th

Tree Planting The arm of the Soil Association that deals with FSC certification has been out planting trees! From Hayley Coristine, Soil Association Woodmark

In March, Woodmark reached a milestone, having issued 2000+ current FSC certificates in 50 countries covering 13.9 million hectares of certified forest. We marked the occasion with a team day of tree planting on 21 March, the International Day of Forests. Woodmark contacted the staff at our local council’s ‘One Tree per Child’ project, a partnership group with Woodland Trust, who work to involve primary aged children in planting trees and understanding the importance of trees to us all. We spent day planting ‘whips’ (trees 2-3 years old, up to 1 metre high) in the glorious March sunshine.

Bench for Charles By the end of the day it was estimated that between the Woodmark team and the other volunteers, about 1500 trees had been planted on an approximately 4.3 hectare piece of Bristol City Council land, managed in partnership with the Woodland Trust, on the outskirts of Bristol, UK. Despite the muscle soreness that followed from all that digging, all Woodmark participants agreed the day was a great success. We all benefitted from a day out of the office together, enjoying and celebrating our reward for all of the team’s hard work and feeling good about contributing to the population of trees in a different way than we normally do.

A perfect farewell present for our Executive Director For Charles Thwaites’ leaving present, we wanted something special that he could remember FSC by, and that was also FSC certified. We finally chose the excellent Warwick bench by 4MemorialBench.co.uk.

For more information about the great work Woodmark carry out, see http://www.sacert.org/woodmark

“We specialise in buying wooden garden products from Asia & Eastern Europe, adding value to them & retailing them through websites in the UK. The most successful has been the personalisation of FSC certified teak benches. We letter carve them & deliver them direct to our customers throughout the UK. Buying FSC certified products comes at a higher price & involves more regulation, but we believe in the sustainability goals of the certification system. This mission has to be to convince customers of the benefits as they have to pay a higher price than uncertified wood for example from Indonesia. Importing FSC certified wood has helped us meet the criteria of due diligence required by the European Union & their new European Union Timber Regulations requirements. We are pleased to have supplied the bench to celebrate the work of Charles Thwaites at FSC UK which was presented on his retirement.” Out planting trees. © Soil Association Woodmark

John Caldwell, Managing Director at 4MemorialBench.co.uk

Current Consultations FSC develops new and reviews and revises policies, standards and procedures on a regular basis. This process involves wide consultation with stakeholders. The FSC standard-setting process is transparent, democratic and inclusive with many opportunities for the public to participate. It is this process that has allowed FSC to become an important and recognised forum where innovative solutions have become possible with the support of all stakeholders interested in forestry issues. Click here to see more about FSC consultations.

View from the forest

Latest on the International Generic Indicators (IGIs)

Engaging with the forest industry through Confor The last few months have seen some very positive engagement between FSC UK and Confor, the Confederation of Forest Industries, to try to resolve some of the concerns raised by the industry about forest management certification. You can read about this from Confor’s perspective here. ‘We are well aware of industry concerns about the supply of certified material from UK forests, which of course we share,’ says Forest Standards Manager Owen Davies. ‘If we are to increase the availability of certified timber, we need to continue to strive to make certification more attractive, by increasing market pull, and to reduce resistance, by striking that difficult balance between removing barriers and maintaining the integrity of the system.’ Some of the solutions being pursued alongside Confor, such as using readily available remote sensing technology to improve auditing and stakeholder engagement, should help to ease the burden of certification for owners and managers of small and medium woodland estates. Both FSC UK and Confor are open to suggestions for innovative solutions to any challenges you yourselves may have faced in forest management certification.

Acetamiprid Acetamiprid, often referred to by the trade name Gazelle, is a pesticide which has been identified as a possible alternative to cypermethrins for weevil control on restock sites. It is included in FSC’s latest highly hazardous pesticide list (available at http:// pesticides.fsc.org/), which means its use in certified forests must cease later this year. Some UK forest management certificate holders are seeking a derogation from FSC International to continue to use this product. As with all derogation applications there will be a public consultation, which should open shortly; anyone with a view on the use of acetamiprid for weevil control in certified forests should check the UKWAS website (http://ukwas.org. uk/) for consultation documents.

UKWAS, UKWAS and more UKWAS Any of you who attended the Confor Westminster conference on Delivering Green Growth will have heard Anna Jenkins talking about The Joy of UKWAS. Anna is more familiar than most with the UK Woodland Assurance Standard, as a former director of FSC UK and the facilitator of the current UKWAS revision process, and few other speakers would have thought to draw a comparison between the Standard and another book which is notorious for very different reasons…! She made some great points about why UKWAS really is a joy, particularly in terms of how much negative attention certification has deflected from the UK forest industry by involving environmental organisations. The joys of UKWAS are very much in our minds at the moment as the revision of the Standard is in full swing. Owen Davies represents FSC UK on the Standard drafting group, advising the group on meeting FSC’s international requirements. ‘Finding the right balance between economic, environmental and social interests can be tricky, of course,’ says Owen, ‘but actually it’s surprising how much commonality of vision and purpose there is around the table. Crucially, everyone is absolutely committed to finding solutions that work, and I feel really privileged to be working alongside such a terrific group. I’m very excited about some of the suggestions that have been put forward in areas like forest productivity and management of plantations on ancient woodland sites, and I would certainly encourage anyone with an interest in UK forestry to comment on the consultation draft of UKWAS later this year.’ Consultation on the revision draft of the Standard is expected to take place in September and October; keep an eye on the UKWAS website (http://ukwas. org.uk/) for updates.

In March, the FSC International Board of Directors approved the International Generic Indicators (IGIs) as the starting point for developing national forest stewardship standards. This approval was subject to clarification of some of the instructions to standard developers and further work on guidance to take account of scale, intensity and risk of forest management. The IGI standard is expected to be published in June. FSC UK has been very active while the IGIs have been under development in making sure that the implications for the UK have been taken into account. ‘We recognise the important role that the IGIs will play in bringing more uniformity to national standards, especially in those countries where there are currently only interim standards,’ says FSC UK Forest Standards Manager Owen Davies. ‘However, FSC UK has argued strongly from the start for the primacy of existing, approved national forest stewardship standard wording. We’re pleased to report that our arguments have been recognised, and the procedure for applying the IGIs explicitly recognises that, in countries like the UK with an approved standard, the existing standard wording can be used as the starting point for revising (or ‘transferring’) the standard to meet version 5.1 of the FSC Principles and Criteria. In the UK, that means we can in most cases adapt the wording of current UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) requirements rather than adopting new wording verbatim.’

View from the forest What are the IGIs? FSC forest management certification is based on our ten Principles and the associated Criteria (https://ic.fsc.org/principles-and-criteria.34.htm). An Indicator, as defined by FSC, is ‘A quantitative or qualitative variable which can be measured or described, and which provides a means of judging whether a forest management unit complies with the requirements of an FSC Criterion’. As such they are the basis for forest management evaluation – in UKWAS terms, the equivalent of requirements. The Principles and Criteria are subject to periodic review; version 5 was approved in 2012, and minor changes resulting in version 5.1 were introduced at the FSC General Assembly last year. The International Generic Indicators have been developed to phase in use of the new Principles and Criteria in a consistent way across the world, and to strengthen the credibility of the FSC system. As the name suggests they are designed to be applicable in forests throughout the world. As such they will inevitably require some adaptation to reflect local circumstances, but crucially, particularly for current which do not currently have approved national forest stewardship standards, they will provide a consistent baseline for standard development. You can read more about IGIs and the process by which they have been developed at http://igi.fsc.org/index.htm.

While this high level recognition of UK concerns is crucial, as with so many processes the devil is often in the detail. ‘In reviewing the last draft of the IGIs, we noticed a significant change in the interpretation of Criterion 2.4 regarding minimum and living wages. While we did not necessarily disagree with the interpretation, it was unclear to us who had sanctioned this change which could have important implications for UK certificate holders, so we challenged it. I’m pleased to say that the original interpretation has been restored in the current draft. This is a good example of the important role FSC UK has to play as part of the wider FSC family.’ The process to transfer standards to version 5.1 of the FSC Principles and Criteria is a vital element of the current revision of UKWAS.

Invitation to join consultative forum Would you like to contribute to the revision of FSC trademark use requirements? Tell us which aspects you think are worth a revisit, or even a total change? What information should there be on the on-product label exactly? Join the consultative forum for the revision of Requirements for use of the FSC trademark by Certificate Holders (FSC-STD-50-001) and let us know your suggestions right from the start! In June, there will be a survey on several suggestions on how to develop the requirements. If you would like to actively contribute to and be closely informed about the revision process, please fill out the following online form to join the consultative forum. Please also note that there will be a public consultation of the draft for all stakeholders, planned for September – October 2015.

FSC in numbers 2,350 Chain of Custody certificates in the UK 1,604,196 hectares of FSC certified forest in the UK 29,102 Chain of Custody certificates worldwide 185,301 million hectares of FSC certified forest worldwide Latest figures from FSC IC. Correct as of June 2015.

Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) UK is a charity dedicated to promoting responsible forestry. For more information about FSC UK: www.fsc-uk.org 11-13 Great Oak Street Llanidloes Powys, SY18 6BU 01686 413916 info@fsc-uk.org All photos (C) FSC UK unless otherwise indicated

Charity number: 1130203 FSC® F000231