http://broome.directrouter.com/~eomf/media/k2/attachments/ir33

1-6 increasingly, experience declining sales, or even loss of market access, in at least some parts of the world. As the requirement becomes more pervasive, manufacturers who buy some or all of their wood from independent producers, will place increasing pressure on those suppliers to provide their own evidence of sustainable forest management practice. Purchasers of roundwood may be forced eventually to discontinue buying from suppliers who fail to comply.

Unlike the development of criteria and indicators which has seen a large degree of international cooperation and agreement, there are a variety of competing initiatives in the area of registration/certification. Many countries and regions have embarked upon undertakings to establish such procedures. They all have much the same purpose, (i.e., to confirm for domestic and international market purposes that the target lands, companies or products conform to some sustainability standard). Unfortunately, there is great variation amongst them, there are different reasons for developing them, and there is a sense of mistrust amongst some developers as to the intentions and sincerity of other developers. Since, at the moment, there is no broadly based standard and no global organization overseeing these processes, (e.g., the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)), there has and will continue to have a disrupting influence on an otherwise encouraging international movement. The need, then, has been to develop a system in Canada to make registration possible and to facilitate the process by which resource owners and forest products manufacturers can, in fact, become registered.

The Canadian forest industry was not slow to seek ways of responding to the sustainability movement which was threatening their overseas markets. In 1994, the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, representing a large segment of the Canadian forest industry, approached the CSA to develop a Canadian sustainable forest management system standard. The CSA is a nationally and internationally respected standards organization, and is independent, key reasons for the approach. It also has strong links to the ISO, an organization which was expected to lead to the eventual development of an international SFM standard. In an attempt to minimize future conflict with any ISO developed standard, the CSA prepared the Canadian standard in ISO format. (The ISO, with Canadian participation is now working on a standard under its environmental standards framework (ISO 14000 series) but the undertaken is still at a very early stage.)

The CSA standard is a basis for sustainable forest land management system registration, a means by which sellers of forest products can demonstrate their commitment to sustainable forest management practice and the use of materials obtained from sustainable managed forests. The registration process is applied to a defined land base and to the forest management system being employed on that land base.

The standard sets out the elements of a forest management system that must be considered when entering into a registration audit and establishes the specifications for conduct of an audit. When all aspects of the standard are met, as evidenced by a registration audit, the forest management system can be registered as complying with the standard. A certificate of registration would then be issued for use by the forest manager in respect of the land base covered by the audit. Registration of another land area would require separate application and audit.

By itself, there is no legal or jurisdictional requirement for registration by forest land owners and forest products manufacturers, although the possibility of eventual incorporation into jurisdictional requirements (e.g., provincial forest management legislation and regulations) will exist. Participation in a registration audit will be voluntary but, once underway, the audit will be conducted in accordance with the standard's specifications.

Costs of a registration audit will be borne by the applicant. As noted above, participation may one day no longer be avoidable, especially for large suppliers to overseas markets. The implication for smaller forest land owners who supply the larger organizations is crystal clear.

The development of the CSA standard was a public process in which a broad range of forest interests were