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BLASTING THE FSC IN THE NETHERLANDS
JULIO CESAR CENTENO
________________________________________
Something peculiar is going on in The Netherlands. A
series of contradictory statements have been publicly
circulated by reputed organizations, with badly
damaging consequences for their own credibility, and
for the prospects of the Forest Stewardship Council as
a potentially reliable organization in the area of
forest management certification. They all revolve
around the teak plantations established in Costa Rica
by the Dutch owned company FLOR Y FAUNA.
During at least 4 months, Flor y Fauna and the
insurance company OHRA have publicly claimed that their
plantations in Costa Rica have been certified as "well
managed" by the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC. This
claim has been published in full page adds in the
newspapers with the highest circulations in The
Netherlands. It has also been printed on promotional
brochures, and on letters sent to potential investors.
The claim has often come with the official endorsement
of the local office of the World Wide Fund for Nature,
WWF-Netherlands.
Similar statements were made in a court of law by
representatives of Flor y Fauna on December 28, 1995.
This claim has been maintained even by WWF-Netherlands,
as reported in "De Gelderlander" and in "Het Brabants
Dagblad" as late as February 9, 1996.
However, the Forest Stewardship Council [FSC] does not
have the mandate to certify forest operations anywhere.
It is an organization set up to accredit certifiers.
The certificate issued to Flor y Fauna comes from the
Rainforest Alliance, a non-governmental organization in
the USA. But the claims in question avoid any reference
to this organization. The Rainforest Alliance has not
been accredited as an official certifier by the FSC.
The claimed endorsement of the plantations in question
by the FSC seems thus part of an attempt to gain
credibility through obscure means.
The misleading nature of these statements has been
reported in the media. The insurance company OHRA
recently recognized publicly the falsehood of these
statements, arguing that they were due to "a mistake",
a slip of the pen. [Elsevier, issue of 17 February
1996].
During all this time, we have witnessed a strange
silence from the organization responsible for the
certificate in question, the Rainforest Alliance and,
even more surprising, from the FSC itself. The FSC's
name has been unlawfully used to deceive the public and
a court of law. It has been used to provide credibility
to an operation with highly questionable technical,
financial and ethical dimensions. Its involvement in
this affair can cause significant damage to the
organization, and therefore to all those who have
supported its mandate and purpose. Nevertheless, the
FSC has kept conspicuously silent throughout the whole
affair.
Now, to everyone's astonishment, the Netherlands office
of the World Wide Fund for Nature has just put into
circulation a beautifully colored, 34-page brochure,
highlighting the virtues of the FSC, and how the Dutch
timber market prepares itself for FSC timber. It
reassures that the Forest Stewardship Council has
certified Flor y Fauna's Teak plantations. According to
WWF-Netherlands, Flor y Fauna is the first Dutch
producer of tropical hardwood certified by the FSC, for
the good management of its teak plantations in Costa
Rica.
In a strange attempt to render credibility to what is
openly known to be a false claim, WWF Netherlands
further add that "5 million hectares of forests, in 19
different areas, have been certified by the FSC"
The surprise and confusion stemming form these awkward
statements is enhanced by the fact that both WWF and
the government of The Netherlands are key financial
supporters of the FSC. Is this then an additional and
coincidental "mistake", made by employees at WWF-NL
without efficient supervision? It certainly adds to the
state of misinformation and confusion which has plagued
individual investors in this venture for years.
It would be beyond comprehension that such a
fashionable brochure could have been printed without
knowledge by the FSC. The new FSC logo is on its cover,
and its content makes detailed reference to the
organization. It is easily taken as a joint publication
by WWF and the FSC. The Forest Stewardship Council is
thus placed in a highly compromising position, involved
in allegations which seriously erode its reliability
and credibility.
_______________________________________
Julio Cesar Centeno
jcenteno@ciens.ula.ve
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