FSC has sent a draft standard for group forest managers out for public consultation.
The standard, whose technical name is FSC-STD-30-005, concerns certification of several forest operations under one certificate – a so-called group certificate. The certificate is held by a “group entity” responsible for ensuring that all forest operations (group members) covered by the certificate fulfil the FSC requirements.
You may wonder, is this different from the current rules? The new draft standard is indeed very similar to the already existing rules for group management described in different policies, guidelines and rules for certification organisation. The main news is that the rules are now compiled in one standard targeting the managers of the groups.
Limitation on operation size
However, the draft includes one major change compared to existing rules: It introduces a maximum size of 10,000 hectares for individual members of the group.
The rules were originally designed to ensure that small properties could be certified in a cost efficient way, but they have in many cases also been used by large operations certifying some of their forest management units using a group model, or by a mix of larger and smaller operations.
Introduction of this requirement might have significant negative impact on such groups because the large operations are often covering the majority of the cost, thus making certification possible for the smaller group members. Hopefully, FSC will reconsider the consequences of this requirement before finalizing the draft.
No major improvements for smallholders
That said, the standard is mostly a compilation of existing rules. This streamlining process is certainly very welcome, however it seems that opportunities for facilitating certification of smallholders are not utilized in this draft version.
While limiting the size of operations included in group schemes, it lacks innovative approaches addressing or solving the current bottlenecks within the system that have so far prevented large-scale certification of smaller forest holdings. The standard implies that all FSC Forest Management requirements shall be met by each individual group member, which prevents certified groups from adopting a group or landscape level approach to e.g. monitoring, area set aside for nature conservation, stakeholder consultation etc. This would be one option for facilitating certification of small operations.
Out of box thinking needed
Furthermore, the draft standard includes a number of requirements related to procedures for including new members and record keeping. Especially in connection with small forest holdings, these could be much more flexible. The draft also requires group members to sign up for the entire validity period of the certification (typically 5 years) – this is much stricter than what is required for operations certified under a single certificate. Such certificates can typically be terminated with a few days’ notice.
It is time for FSC to show some fresh thinking and start to address some of the obvious bottlenecks within the current system. The new standard for group managers can be a good platform for that, if considerations of its impact on certification of smallholders are taken more fully into account in the final version.
Download and comment
You can download the standard and the commenting form as well as find more information about the background for the new standard at the website of FSC International. Comments must be submitted before 30 November.