One of the more controversial of FSC’s policies has been the ‘Mixed Sources’ policy, which allows manufactured products such as plywood, paper and furniture to be labelled as ‘FSC’ even though the amount of wood fibre from FSC-certified sources is actually as little as 10% of the total wood material in the product.
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Saved or deleted? FSC certified forest destruction visible from space
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).
FSC vs PEFC: Holy cows vs the Emperor’s new clothes
One of the reasons I am involved in this website is that I believe that many people are aware of serious problems with FSC, but don’t discuss them publicly because the alternative to FSC is even worse. The alternative, in this case is PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) and all the other certification schemes (Cerflor, Certflor, the Australian Forestry Standard, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council and so on). One person has suggested that we should set up PEFC-Watch, in order “to be even-handed”.
Green groups call for urgent reform of the FSC – certifiers ‘eroding credibility’
On 30th October, more than 75 environmental organisations from 25 countries wrote a letter to the Executive Director of FSC, Heiko Liedeker, and the FSC’s International Board, calling for urgent improvements to the FSC system. The groups include WWF International, Greenpeace International, Birdlife Internationl, Friends of the Earth UK, the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense.
World Rainforest Movement calls for cancellation of 8 FSC plantation certificates
Press release from World Rainforest Movement, 1 September 2006:
FSC-Watch 