At the end of last year, FSC-Watch reported on the certification of the Galician plantation company, NORFOR. The company has been the source of much controversy and opposition from local people. Following an investigation into NORFOR’s certifier, SGS, FSC’s own Accreditation Services International has now reported that environmental concerns were justified, and that the company was non-compliant with FSC’s Principles and Criteria.
FSC Ireland lurches into new crisis as key NGOs withdraw support
FSC-Watch has reported numerous times on the shambles that is the FSC’s Irish Forest Certification Initiative (IFCI), and the associated certificate issued to the state forestry company, Coillte. After more than six years of discussion, consuming copious amounts of funding and stakeholders’ effort, IFCI has still failed to come up with a credible national standard.
Certification of Vasto Legno/SEFAC, Cameroon; Another major blow to FSC’s credibility
FSC-Watch has received unconfirmed reports that the Italian certification company ICILA has issued a certificate to the Cameroonian Groupe SEFAC, which is owned by Italian timber company Vasto Legno. Although the Public Summary report of the certification is not yet available on ICILA’s website, sufficient details have already emerged to suggest that this will come as yet another major blow to FSC’s credibility.
Banned chemicals used in FSC-certified nurseries in Uruguay
RAP-AL Uruguay recently published a report on “Working conditions and agrochemical use in Eufores (Ence) and FOSA (Botnia) nurseries”. Both of these operations are FSC-certified. The report, written by María Isabel Cárcamo, is based on research carried out at the nurseries.
The full report (in Spanish) is available here. RAP-AL is The Latin American Network of Action on Pesticides and their Alternatives (La Red de Acción en Plaguicidas y sus Alternativas de América Latina).
SmartWood’s certification of TemRex criticised
Last month, SmartWood awarded an FSC certificate to TemRex’s industrial logging operations in Quebec, Canada. The certificate came with 26 outstanding “corrective action requests” (with which the company has to comply at some point in the future), 20 “observations” (which are voluntary) and 10 “notes for future auditors”.
British Columbia: “FSC certification is a fraudulent scam”
This comes from Earthtreenews, 27 September 2007:
OECD: timber certification sets bad example for biofuels. FSC also under attack from Australia, Finland, Canada, US?
A new report for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has cast serious doubts about the prospects for certification of biofuels, pointing to the failures of timber certification. The report, entitled ‘Biofuels: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease’ (available for download below), was presented to the OECD’s Round Table on Sustainable Development in Paris in September. It warns that timber certification has failed after many years to come up with credible Chain of Custody systems. The report also point out that certification doesn’t necessarily help to address the underlying problems of either non-sustainable timber or biofuel production because the problem simply gets displaced elsewhere.
SCS certification of Jurua Forestal, Brazil: FSC plumbs new depths of bad practice
To some people, such as Mayor Salvatore Perillo of Ocean City, New Jersey, USA, the FSC represents the ‘Gold Standard’ of forest certification; an assurance that wood comes from well-managed and properly independently audited sources. But Mayor Perillo, and many others, would do well to know what lies behind the FSC’s claims. One of the more shocking examples – Jurua Forestal Ltda, which is felling timber in the Brazilian rainforest – is a potential supplier of ipe timber for the imminent repair of Perillo’s Ocean City sea-front boardwalks.
The people or the paper industry?
Press release from Geasphere, South Africa:
Veracel certification would be yet another disaster for FSC
Press release from World Rainforest Movement, 17 September 2007:
FSC-Watch 