FSC-Watch has received the following announcement from the Chair of the FSC Board.

Dear colleagues

The FSC Board of Directors regrets to announce the unexpected decision of the Executive Director, Mr. Heiko Liedeker to step down after more than six years of successful leadership of the FSC and thanks him wholeheartedly for his outstanding commitment and contribution. Upon request of the FSC Board of Directors, Heiko Liedeker will continue to manage the FSC until a successor is successfully recruited.

When Heiko came to the FSC in September 2001 the organization was in severe financial straits. He turned the finances around, built a stable global organization, and oversaw the difficult, but necessary, process of relocating the office from Oaxaca, Mexico to Bonn, Germany. He has guided the comprehensive review of FSC’s core programs – standard setting and accreditation, and led the creation of FSC’s subsidiary companies, the Accreditation Services International (ASI), to deliver credible global accreditation of certification bodies, and the FSC Global Development (FSC GD), to provide direct licensing of the FSC trademarks. Under his leadership, the FSC has grown dramatically to include over 8,400 certificates in over 85 countries, and nearly 100 million hectares of certified forests and plantations. During the search for a new executive, Heiko Liedeker will continue to manage the FSC as it begins a new era of trademark licensing and implementation of its newly developed Global Strategy.

We wish to thank Heiko Liedeker for his excellent achievements over the last six years for the FSC. Please join the FSC Board of Directors in wishing Heiko Liedeker every success in this new phase of his professional career.

FSC will begin a process of recruiting for a new Executive Director in the near future. Information about this process will be posted on the FSC website at http://www.fsc.org as appropriate.

Roberto S. Waack Chairman FSC Board of Directors