Forest and Wood Certification - How Does It Work?
Susan Hammond, Silva Forest Foundation
Consumers are beginning to demand wood products that originate from forests which have been independently certified as being managed according to ecologically responsible standards. What does certification mean and how does it work?
The process of forest certification is similar to that for organic food, where an independent certifier evaluates the operation for adherence to a pre-determined set of standards. If the operation receives a passing grade, then the products are stamped as certified and consumers can be relatively assured that their dollars are supporting sound practices.
Forest Stewardship Council
Currently the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international organization based in Oaxaca, Mexico, enjoys the broadest level of consumer support, primarily because it is a performance-based certification scheme and it is widely supported by major environmental and social organizations around the world.
The FSC is a member-based organization with equal representation in three chambers: environmental, social and economic. The council has developed a set of 10 principles and criteria to guide forest management worldwide (see Ecoforestry, Fall edition). FSC members and a broad range of stakeholders are then expected to develop national or regional standards that are specific to the forest and social conditions of their area, and that conform to the international principles and criteria. In order to receive FSC certification, an operation must meet all 10 FSC principles, as interpreted by national or regional standards.
The FSC accredits certifiers; it does not perform certifications. The Silva Forest Foundation is currently undergoing the FSC-accreditation process in order to become a certifier. If accredited, SFF will be authorized to sub-licence the FSC logo to certified operations. The certification process described here is based on the requirements of both the Silva Forest Foundation and the Forest Stewardship Council. Other certification schemes, such as ISO 14000 and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), have different requirements.
Developing the Silva Forest Foundation Standards
An FSC-accredited certification body must develop certification standards prior to evaluating applicants. These standards must incorporate regional and local perspectives, put forward through peer review and public stakeholder input. If FSC-endorsed regional or national standards exist, the certification body’s standards for that region or nation must meet or exceed them. Standards must also be usable in the field. To meet all of these requirements in a set of standards is a time-consuming task.
The SFF Standards for Ecologically Responsible Timber Management are the result of more than five years of work on certification in British Columbia. SFF’s standards describe a comprehensive vision towards which the SFF certification program will continue to work. SFF’s standards are high and SFF does not require 100 percent compliance in order to certify an operation. Rather, applicants are required to meet certain entry-level minimums in each aspect of the operation and then, as an SFF eco-cert operation, to commit to continual improvement relative to SFF’s standards.
Steps to Forest Certification
While the concept of certification is straightforward, the actual process is quite rigorous. The major steps in a Silva Forest Foundation certification include:
Forest manager contacts SFF to obtain more information about how to become certified.
SFF sends an initial information package to forest manager, including SFF’s standards for certification, the procedures for certification and an application form.
Forest manager reviews the initial information package and decides whether or not he/she feels his/her operations will meet SFF’s certification requirements. This may involve clarification with SFF staff by phone or mail.
Forest manager submits application form and $100 application fee to SFF. Forest manager also submits all written planning documents and maps relating to the area to be evaluated for certification. SFF reviews the documents to ensure that all necessary papers have been received and are adequate.
SFF conducts a scoping visit to the forest to ensure that the operations have the potential for certification. During the scoping visit, SFF certification personnel determine whether or not a full certification evaluation is likely to result in a successful certification, or identify problems that would likely prevent the operation from becoming certified.
SFF produces a brief report of the process and findings to date, including identification of important or controversial issues, determination of the general potential for certification and recommendations for the further evaluation process.
If the forest manager decides to proceed with certification, SFF and the forest manager sign an evaluation agreement that sets out how the full certification evaluation will take place. The agreement sets a timeline for the evaluation and defines the roles and responsibilities of all parties. An evaluation team, including at least one professional forester, is identified and contracted. Peer reviewers for the draft certification report are also identified and contracted.
The SFF evaluation team and SFF certification staff work with the forest manager to identify stakeholders whose input will be sought regarding the certification. Stakeholders include local First Nations, local non-indigenous communities, employees or contractors of the applicant, buyers of the wood coming from the operation, local environmental groups, all Forest Stewardship Council members, and anyone else who may be interested in the outcome of the certification. An advertisement is also placed in a local newspaper to invite comments on the forest manager’s operations. Stakeholders are notified of the evaluation at least one month prior to the commencement of the evaluation. Comments received at any time prior to the certification decision are incorporated. Comments may be about any aspect of the operation and could include the quality of logging and road construction, fair treatment of First Nations and workers, compliance with environmental regulations, business practices or any other aspect of concern to the people who live and work in the area.
At least one month after stakeholders are notified of the pending evaluation, the SFF evaluation team performs a thorough evaluation of the applicant’s written plans. The findings and conclusions of this document evaluation are submitted in writing to the applicant.
SFF schedules and conducts the field evaluation of the applicant’s operations. The evaluation team uses a checklist to interpret and score the degree of compliance with SFF’s standards. The checklist sets entry-level minimums and provides a weighting of the relative importance of various issues.
The SFF evaluation team drafts a written certification report that records the evaluation process, describes the applicant operations and recommends whether or not certification should be granted and under what conditions.
The draft certification report is submitted to the peer review team and the forest manager for comments.
Peer review and forest manager comments are incorporated or, where this is not possible, a rationale is provided for not incorporating the comments.
The draft report, review comments and all other relevant supporting records and documents are submitted to the SFF certification committee for a final decision. The certification committee, composed of two individuals who have not been part of the evaluation, is the sole body authorized to decide whether or not to award a certificate.
The certificate is awarded, the certification report is finalized and the forest manager can now advertise and sell his product as SFF-certified, although he cannot yet label the product (see chain-of-custody certification below).
A summary of the certification report is prepared and made publicly available.
A two-month appeal period is available following finalization of the certification report. A set of written procedures guides the appeal process.
Cost of certification
One of the first questions asked by a forest manager is: “How much will it cost to get certified?” Naturally, the forest manager needs to consider the bottom line and whether the cost of certification will result in higher sale prices that will offset the initial costs.
At this time, it is unclear whether or not the market price for certified wood will be consistently higher than for non-certified wood. A recent study funded by the European Commission found that 60 percent of consumers surveyed are willing to pay a premium of up to 6 percent for certified products. Other studies point to a possible premium of up to 10 percent. Price premiums depend greatly on the specific type of wood product. For example, those closest to the end consumer (retail) in the chain of production are most willing to pay a premium. As well, the possibility of a price premium is greater for visible items such as flooring, furniture and moldings than for dimensional lumber.
Global demand for certified wood products is in excess of supply, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Excess demand generally translates into a higher price. The strongest motivation for companies pursuing the chain-of-custody certification is market share rather than a price premium.
SFF estimates a range of from $9,500 to $12,000 to conduct the certification of a 600- hectare Crown woodlot in British Columbia. Based on our certification evaluations to date, 600-hectare woodlots seem to average an annual volume of 1,000 cubic metres. This would mean a cost of from $9.50 to $12 per cubic metre if the forest owner wanted to recover all of the certification costs in the first year. However, since certification will potentially provide increased revenues over the long term, a manager would likely be content to recover the certification costs over a longer time period.
Chain-of-Custody Certification
The steps to forest certification described above do not allow the certified operation to use the SFF eco-cert label directly on products. To use the eco-cert label on products requires a chain-of-custody certification.
A forest manager may sell his/her logs to a variety of customers. If the final products are to maintain the certification label, all stages of transportation and manufacturing must be certified in order to ensure that the certified wood is distinguished from non-certified wood throughout the process. Chain-of-custody certification ranges from relatively simple to quite complex. A couple of examples illustrate the difference.
A woodlot licensee receives a timber management certificate for her 600-hectare operation. She wishes to mark her raw logs with the SFF eco-cert label prior to hauling the logs out of the woodlot license. Since the entire operation is certified, and since the logs do not leave the woodlot or the licensee’s custody prior to labeling, the chain-of-custody is easily verified and can likely be evaluated in combination with timber management practices. No special process is required to evaluate and certify this chain-of-custody.
A second woodlot licensee receives a certificate for his 600-hectare woodlot on Crown land. The licensee also operates a log house building business and uses only the logs from his certified forest. The log house building takes place next to the entry to his woodlot. The chain-of-custody for the logs used in the houses is straightforward since the logs do not travel until they are transported to the building site and no further manufacturing is done off the premises. This chain-of-custody may also be evaluated in combination with timber management, although complications may be discovered that require a full, separate evaluation and certification process. If, at some point in the future, the licensee begins to purchase non-certified logs in addition to his own certified logs, then a full chain-of-custody certification would be required.
A local bandsaw mill buys the raw logs certified in the first example above. The mill generally uses both certified and non-certified wood and is located 10 km from the woodlot. In order to maintain the certified status of the wood, the bandsaw mill must undergo a full chain-of-custody evaluation that determines how the certified wood is kept separate from non-certified wood, both before and after milling. In addition, a record- keeping system must be in place to track the volume in and the volume out.
The bandsaw mill sells all of its certified product to a local manufacturing plant that makes flooring. Again, the flooring manufacturer uses both certified and non-certified lumber and a chain-of-custody evaluation must determine if the manufacturer follows appropriate procedures for separating and tracking the certified wood. Assuming that the manufacturer receives a certificate, then the certified flooring can be labeled and sold as SFF Eco-Cert.
Consumer Protection
The whole reason for certification is to provide a consumer choice in the marketplace. In order to ensure that the consumer can have confidence that his or her dollars are supporting ecologically responsible timber management practices, the certification process must be rigorous and transparent. While the certification process may appear onerous, these measures are necessary to ensure consumer confidence.
For further information:
The Silva Forest Foundation posts its current certification standards and information about its certified operations to its web site at www.silvafor.org. If you have questions, phone Cam Brewer or Mark Kepkay at 250-226-7222, fax 250-226-7446 or e-mail cam@web.net; mkepkay@netidea.com
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© 1999 Ecoforestry Institute
Originally published in the Ecoforestry 14(1):6-10
