Certifier conflict of interest

IKEA and the Forest Stewardship Council: “Don’t believe the greenwashing”

A recent documentary on Arte revealed the serious impact that the world’s largest consumer of timber, IKEA, has on forests around the world.

Of course, you wouldn’t know anything about these impacts from looking at IKEA’s website which tells us that,

“At IKEA, we believe we can accomplish more by working together. For many years, we have been committed to working together with different stakeholders to protect and strengthen the world’s forests. One of our key partners is the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) – an organisation that brings together different voices that represent a wide range of needs for responsible forest management. IKEA was one of several founders in 1994.“

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“FSC is no longer fit for purpose”. Open letter to the FSC demands immediate reform

In recent years, the UK-based NGO Earthsight has produced a series of investigative reports featuring the problems with the Forest Stewardship Council. These include exposing illegal Russian timber and illegal Ukrainian timber, both certified as legal and sustainable by FSC and sold by IKEA; and illegal Peruvian timber, FSC-certified and on sale by Robinson Lumber in the USA.

At the start of last year’s FSC General Assembly Earthsight coordinated an open letter to FSC, highlighting what’s wrong with FSC and demanding immediate reforms. The letter was signed by 34 organisations.

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Flatpacked Forests FAQ: Earthsight responds to FSC

Earlier this month FSC-Watch wrote about a new report from Earthsight about illegal logging in Ukraine. Earthsights’ 18-month-long investigation revealed that IKEA is selling chairs made from beech wood that was illegally logged in the Ukrainian Carpathians. And the timber is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

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Chain of Custody – failures could “cause FSC to break down altogether”

Last month, we reported on how FSC’s former  Executive Director, Andre de Freitas, had raised serious doubts about the FSC’s Chain of Custody (CoC) certification mechanism, describing it as a “myth”. Now a new and, for the FSC, more worrying voice has been added to those expressing concern about the integrity of CoC certificates; that of NEPCon, one of FSC’s accredited certifiers.

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Things not improving in Rio Platano, Honduras – more questions for Rainforest Alliance and FSC

Last week saw the distressing announcement by UNESCO that the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve had been put back on the organisation’s ‘In Danger’ list, at the request of the Honduran government because, it said, of “the combined threats of illegal logging, fishing and land occupation, poaching and the reduced capacity of the State to manage the site”. Covering 500,000 hectares, and being one of Central America’s most important protected areas, Rio Platano has also gained fame as being a source of mahogany used in the manufacture of Gibson guitars.

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A new film exposing FSC: ‘Sustainable on Paper’

A new film documents the problems with FSC. FSC-Watch will be posting several articles about this over the next few days. Meanwhile, here is FERN’s description of the film in EU Forest Watch, January 2011. Below that is a trailer for the film.

UPDATE: The full documentary is available here.

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