As most of you know, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was set up by WWF and others in 1991 to act as an independent body to certify sustainable forestry practices according to the Ten Principles of FSC (see http://www.fscus.org/fscus2a.html ). To date about 10 million hectares of forest have been certified, with 6.7 million hectares in just three countries, Sweden, Poland and the US (see http://www.fscoax.org/frameneg.html ). The certified forests range from exotic eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, to industrial forestry with native trees in Sweden, to harvesting old-growth redwood and Douglas-fir at Big Creek Timber in California. There is general agreement that the Ten Principles are quite good ones and that they cover all the main ecological, social and economic priorities. For some years now, Greenpeace and other environmental groups have been promoting a boycott of forest products from Canada, in particular British Columbia , and even more particularly from coastal British Columbia. They have invented the name "Great Bear Rainforest" to market their international campaign to boycott our forest products. More recently this has been expanded to include all "frontier forests" as defined by the World Resources Institute, about 30% of the entire forested area on earth. As a member of the Forest Stewardship Council, Greenpeace has often stated that one of the reasons BC forest products customers should boycott our forest products is because they are not certified by the FSC. It is a fact that BC companies were initially (and continue to be in some cases) unsure of whether the FSC process was a fair one and whether they wanted to subject themselves to judgment by a process they had no part in designing. A great debate has gone on about whether the right way to go for certification was FSC, ISO14001, or the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). Recently, one BC forest company, Western Forest Products, applied to the FSC for certification of the 867,000 hectares of forest land they manage. They have engaged SGS Qualifor of UK, one of the 6 organizations worldwide that have been accredited by FSC to conduct independent audits of sustainable forestry. As there are not yet any Regional Standards for FSC certification in BC, SGS has developed a Draft Main Assessment Checklist for British Columbia, based on the Ten Principles, and has circulated it to over 100 stakeholders, in BC and internationally, for comment. These stakeholders include all major environmental groups, aboriginal people, government agencies, communities, and companies. The comment period will run until October 16. It should be pointed out that with the exception of Sweden, all the certifications that have been done under FSC have been done in the absence of separate Regional Standards. There are a number of efforts underway to establish regional standards, e.g. in the UK, various regions of the US, Belgium and Denmark, but they are all still in draft form except Sweden. SGS is working with the BC Working Group of the FSC which has been working on Regional Standards for BC for over two years but has not yet produced a draft Standard. Western Forest Products is a BC company that has been operating here for over 100 years. My family has been involved with them for 75 years. They are certainly not any kind of "fly-by-night" operation. I have been monitoring these developments closely since 1991. It was apparent to me that Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and others were, on the one hand, stating publicly that BC forest companies should become certified or risk a boycott, and on the other hand were working doubly hard behind the scenes to make sure they never did get certified. This week they have come out of the closet and have exposed their duplicity for all to see. Both Greenpeace and the Sierra Club are members of the Forest Stewardship Council. Merran Smith, of the BC Chapter of the Sierra Club is also a member of the BC FSC Working Group. Today Greenpeace released a report that they call an "indicative assessment" in which they state that Western Forest Products "failed to meet 94% of the basic criteria for (FSC) certification". Greenpeace is not an accredited auditor under the FSC program. They are trying to launch a "pre-emptive strike" to damage WFP's credibility. The headline in the Victoria Times-Colonist is "Greenpeace Mocks Eco-Effort", and in the Financial Post "Western Forest gets Failing Grade from Greenpeace". The only stated reason for the "failing grade" is that WFP is "clearcutting old growth timber". Greenpeace does not mention that many of the operations certified by the FSC use clearcutting, such as much of Sweden and the Menomonee Tribal Council forest in Wisconsin, or that much of the "clearcutting" practiced in BC is now actually "clearcutting with reserves" otherwise known as "variable retention harvesting" otherwise known as "New Forestry". Nor do they mention that old growth is harvested at Big Creek Timber, another FSC certified operation. In fact, there is no mention of either clearcutting or old growth in the Ten Principles of the FSC. How, then, does Greenpeace conclude "WFP fails to meet 94% of the FSC criteria for certification". (I have tried to find the Greenpeace document but it is not yet posted to their web) Now the Sierra Club is engaged in the same type of effort to undermine the FSC. I have attached as an appendix the e-mail distributed by Merran Smith of the Sierra Club. There are a few very disturbing points. Merran claim's that the list of stakeholders that the SGS Draft Standard has been sent to "does not include many environmental groups". This is false, it includes all the groups including Greenpeace, Sierra Club, WWF (Canada, US, UK), WRI, NRDC etc. etc. Merran states that "Certification in BC is about 'la creme de la creme' style of forestry". This makes it clear that she believes BC should be judged on different criteria than other parts of the world, Sweden and Poland, for example. The FSC Principles must be applied equally in all jurisdictions or they will not be credible. Anyway, who is she to say that WFP's forestry is not 'la creme de la creme' prior to an FSC assessment? Merran strongly suggests that the recommendations of the Clayoquot Sound Scientific Panel on Sustainable Forestry should be adopted as the basis for a BC Regional Standard. The authors of that report made it clear that 1. It is an experimental approach that must be tested before it is applied more broadly, and 2. Most of BC is not like Clayoquot Sound, in particular the Interior where 70% of the harvesting is done, so the Clayoquot report is not a good "blueprint" for the entire province. Merran concludes "LETS NOT LET THE COMPANIES GET ON THIS BANDWAGON BEFORE THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ADVOCATES IN THIS PROVINCE!" Wouldn't that be a shame if the forest companies who do the logging and silviculture decided to submit themselves to the independent scrutiny of the Forest Stewardship Council's accredited auditors. Shame on you, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. You should either resign from the FSC or take part in the legitimate process that has been set up, in part to get beyond your misinformation campaigns and politicking. Western Forest Products is making a sincere effort to apply for and comply with the Ten Principles of the FSC. If they are found to be practicing sustainable forestry they should be certified like any other company who qualifies. This would not be good for Greenpeace's boycott campaign but it would be very good for advancing the idea of third party, independent, verification of sustainable forest practices. And that means cutting trees, lots of them, sustainably. APPENDIX: Merran Smith's memo.(I have not changed the spelling) From: Merran Smith <forests@islandnet.com> To: landwatch@onenw.org; crn@onenw.org Subject: URGENT! - Forest Stewardship Council Date: Thursday, October 01, 1998 2:28 AM A message from the 'landwatch' discussion list You - Yes YOU!! You're urgently needed to help ensure that Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC)certification, a method of green, 'ecolabelling' for BC, is a useful tool for all of us in BC. As many of you have probably read in the papers, Western Forest Products has applied to have all of its logging operations certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. WFP has hired SGS Forestry, a UK company and part of the "world's largest inspection and verification organisation." SGS has been accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council as a certifying body. (For more info about FSC see their web site, which included the principles.) There is a British Columbia FSC Steering Committee and a working group that is developing regional standards for the province. Draft standards are expected to be released in the next few months, but at the moment BC has no regional standards. SGS is using the general FSC Principles & Criteria to guide it's assessment of WFP. As part of it's process, SGS has developed a 'draft assessment checklist' to use in BC in the absence of regional standards. It is now circulating this checklist to lots of "interested stakeholders" for review and comment. The list of stakeholders does not include many environmental groups. INPUT IS NEEDED ON THIS NOW! The SGS checklist being circulated outlines certifiction standards that are not much higher than the Forest Practices Code. Most people that have been working towards the establishment of a credible and effective certification standard, one that raised the bar to true ecosystem-based forestry, never and do not envision that the Code would be that standard. The FSC-BC Steering Committee is putting forth an interim standard for coastal forests of a minimum of Clayoquot Sound Scientific Panel recommendations as their starting point for BC's regional standards. WE CANNOT LET THIS PROPOSED CERTIFICATION CHANGE THE VISION OF WHAT CERTIFICATION (GREEN LABELLING) SHOULD BE IN BC. Setting a precedent with this first certification that does not adequately meet the FSC principles and criteria for ecologically and socially responsible logging will make FSC ecolabelling unacceptable for enviros and other sustainably minded groups. This will destroy its crediblilty and eliminate it as an effective tool for developing ecological forestry in BC. It is not in our interest to let that happen. The FSC is a democratic organization, where the MEMBERS vote and decide what the standards will be. There are two things you can do: 1. GET ON THE STAKEHOLDER LIST AND SEND IN YOUR COMMENTS. Contact Les Apedaile at (250) 337-5246 and ask to be put on the list. He will send you the package of info asking for comments. The FSC-BC Steering Committee is drafting comments and will circulate them to anyone who wants to sign onto them or use them in drafting your own comments. Contact Merran at forests@islandnet.com to get a copy of the FSC-BC comments. SGS will not be able to proceed until it has a checklist that has some acceptance within BC, particularly from members. Let's ensure that SGS is well aware that their proposed checklist is unacceptable for certification in BC. Certification in BC is about 'la creme de la creme' style of forestry. The checklist might look a little long, but instead of approaching it line-by-line, you may simply want to tell them that they must start with the Scientific Panel as their minimum. 2. JOIN BC-FSC. Anyone willing to accept FSC's Principles and Criteria can become a member of FSC. As such, you will be able to participate in the discussion of our regional standards. Individuals or organizations can become members. When you become a member, you determine if you should be in the social, economic, environmental or First Nations chamber. We need members in all categories! Due to the structure of FSC's voting procedures, having many environmentalists join the group does not skew it in our favour but it does provide many more voices in the debate. FSC certification could be an extremely valuable tool for raising the standard of forest management in BC and creating value for those foresters willing to commit to the best possible forestry. We cannot allow the credibility of this tool to be lost. The progress of certification in BC is crucial to this international effort - the world is watching. For Information on FSC or for a member ship form contact Lara Lamport - druid@pgweb.com or check out the FSC website For more information about SGS and WFP application, contact Lara or: Merran Smith, Forest Campaigner for the Sierra Club of BC forests@islandnet.com If you're interested in becoming a member and need a letter of support, contact Merran or Lara for help. MEMBERS ARE NEEDED - WESTERN FOREST PRODUCTS IS IN THE PROCESS OF APPLYING (IT IS NOT ASSURED THAT THEY WILL BE ACCEPTED). LETS NOT LET THE COMPANIES GET ON THIS BAND WAGON BEFORE THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ADVOCATES IN THIS PROVINCE! Merran Cheers pmoore@rogers.wave.ca Patrick Moore, Greenspirit Please visit www.greenspirit.com "May the forest be with you"
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