One of the problems with the FSC is that the public is almost always reliant on the FSC certifiers’ own reports to understand what is going on in any certfied area of forest – and, as we know, the certifiers have a vested economic interest in telling us the best and maybe, well, glossing over the worst. But in the interests of greater transparency, FSC-Watch can now bring you, thanks to GoogleEarth, a satellite’s view of some of the operations of FSC’s biggest certified company, Tembec, in Quebec, Canada (see below).

Some people might be surprised that something certified by FSC as an ‘environmentally acceptable’ forestry operation actually appears to be a vast area of clear-felled forest and logging roads. FSC-Watch invites its readers to say whether this looks like ‘saved’ forest or ‘deleted’ forest.

Tembec’s total certified area now extends to over 7 million hectares. FSC-Watch aims to provide more GoogleEarth images of FSC certified ex-forests.

Download the file here: