New Greenpeace report criticises FSC in Russia: “FSC voluntary forest certification in deep crisis”

Greenpeace has just released a very critical report about FSC’s failure to prevent forest destruction even in FSC certified logging operations in Russia. The report is titled, “FSC in Russia: Certifying the Destruction of Intact Forest Landscapes” and can be downloaded here. Greenpeace reports that,

The FSC is failing to distinguish good forest management practices from the typical model of unsustainable forest exploitation widely employed in intact boreal, or taiga, forests. It is therefore failing in its mission to be a tool for forest protection.

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FSC is “seriously compromised”, says new academic paper

A recent paper in the Journal of Business Ethics provides an in-depth case study of FSC as a multi-stakeholder initiative.

The report, which is titled, “The Politics of Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives: The Crisis of the Forest Stewardship Council”, found that FSC has failed to transform commercial forestry practices and has not had a meaningful impact on stopping tropical deforestation.

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The 10 worst things about the Forest Stewardship Council

Here’s a handy guide to 10 of the worst things about FSC. We look forward to reading your suggested additions in the comments.

In 2006, when we started FSC-Watch, we wrote that, “whilst the structural problems within the FSC system have been known for many years, the formal mechanisms of governance and control, including the elected Board, the General Assembly, and the Complaints Procedures have been highly ineffective in addressing these problems.”

Unfortunately, that still remains true today.

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Another FSC and WWF flagship company in Africa bites the dust as Danzer sells SIFORCO

Things only get worse for the FSC in Africa. Following the cancellation of the biggest certificate in Cameroon (SFEAC), the partial cancellation of the biggest certificate in Republic of Congo and sale of its holder (CIB) to a palm oil trader, now comes news that the high profile and largest certificate in the Democratic Republic of Congo has also been struck from FSC’s register of certified operations.

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