Stakeholder seminarRevision of PEFC requirementsPart 3: Requirements for Group forest certification

Geneva, Switzerland (3nd June 2010)

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Global Challenges for Certification

PEFC Stakeholder DialogueGeneva 2st June 2010

Ben GunnebergPEFC Council Secretary General

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Over last ten years:

Increasing public and consumer awareness and knowledgeIncreasing involvement by governments at all levelsConcept of “corporate social responsibility" adopted – and implemented – by more and more companies

Forest management has become a global procurement issue

The rise of issues such as climate change, social issues, biodiversity – and the potential contribution by forests especially in the tropics

Forest certification is now a solution provider

However….3

Challenge 1: Expansion of Certification

Only 8% of the world’s forests are certified – have we stalled?Only 26% of the world’s industrial roundwood supply is certified – after almost 20 years of forest certification66% of the total area certified to PEFC

8% 26%

66%

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Challenge 2: Distribution of certification

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52.8

38.3

5.22.8 2.5 0.9 0.8

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Western Europe

North America

Oceania CIS Latin America Africa Asia

% o

f tot

al fo

rest

are

a

180 million ha, 56% of world’s certified forests

82 million ha, 26% of world’s certified forests

CIS = Commonwealth of independent statesSource: UNECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review 2008-2009

Legislation and procurement policies as drivers for sustainable and legal timber stimulate demand for certified product and are welcomed:

Legislation (Lacey Act, Due Diligence Proposal EU)Bilateral Agreements – FLEGT; MoU China & Indonesia, etcPublic Procurement Policies (CPET, TPAC, ICLEI, EU Ecoflower etc)Green Buildings initiativesResponsible Purchasing Policies & Codes of Conduct

Need to ensure they remain drivers and do not become barriers

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Challenge 3: Securing Market Access

PEFC Standards Revision needs to ensure that:

Meta standard requirements are flexible enough to be applicable to all national processes,

Resulting national certification requirements are feasible, realistic and cost-effective.

Both the Meta standard requirements and resulting national certification standards and systems are robust enough to provide confidence to deliver key market and stakeholder expectations

Finding the right balance is the challenge

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Context of the PEFC Revision

� Governance Review 2008� New Strategic Plan � General Review of Statutes and Documents

chain of custody and requirements for C-o-C Certification Bodies requirements for standard setting, forest management standards and regional/group certification,requirements for FM CBs and PEFC endorsement process.

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PEFC ST 1001:20xx: Standard setting – requirements

-- establishes governance requirements for national standards processes

PEFC ST 1002:20xx: Group forest certification – requirements

-- rules for group or regional certification

PEFC ST 1003:20xx: Sustainable Forest ManagementStandards

-- requirements for national SFM standards

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Elements under Review

Objectives

� Incorporate latest knowledge� Respond to customer/community expectations� Respond to new challenges (global south)� Broaden stakeholder involvement� Streamline PEFC requirements and structures � Simplify PEFC documentation

Stages of the revision process (PEFC GD 1003:2009)

Proposal stage: “Project” for development of new document or revision of existing is approved by the BoD

Preparatory st.: A working group is set up and first draft or analytical papers prepared by the project leader

WG stage: Working Group builds consensus on draft documents

Enquiry stage: A draft document is released for public consultation (2 months minimum), comments received are considered by the WG

Formal approval: Final draft is adopted by the PEFC General Assembly based on recommendation of the PEFC BoD.

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Timetable of the revision process

Timetable

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• Provides for balanced representation of stakeholders

• 5 meetings 2009-2010

• Established four (4) task forces (standard setting and group

certification; biodiversity; social issues; and plantation forestry and

GMOs)

• Organised two specialists workshop (social issues in Feb 2010

and biodiversity in March 2010),

• Prepared draft documents for public consultation

Working group stage

• Three documents published for public consultation

(mid April to the end of June 2010),

• Stakeholder Dialogues (Geneva in May 2010,

Malaysia in June 2010)

• Three webinars (1-3rd June 2010)

Public consultation stage

• WG will consider all comments from public consultation and will deliver to the PEFC BoD a final draft (September 2010),

• PEFC Board of Directors will consider the final draft and recommends it to PEFC General Assembly for formal voting or returns it back to the WG (October 2010),

• PEFC General Assembly will formally vote on the final drafts documents

Next stages

Participate in online consultation: www.pefc.org, click on Get involved - Public consultations

Group Forest Management Certification Requirements (PEFC ST 1002:200x (ED 1.0)

Jaroslav Tymrak PEFC Council Head of Technical Unit

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Main differences between “old” and proposed new documentation

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1. Cancels and replaces requirements for group and regional certification as defined in Annex 3 of the Technical Document

2. Provides one set of requirements for all multi-site/group/regional approaches,

3. Removes duplication / overlaps in documentation and provides clear definitions

4. Provides a concise and precise Meta standard requirements for forest certification systems which allow group forest management certification.

Why do we need Group forest certification ?

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1. It is normal practice in certification to audit every company site covered by the certificate

2. Implications for forest owners:1. Small forest owners could not afford the costs 2. Many forests would not be certified

3. Solution:1. Group Certification based on sampling , making use of

existing information on forest management and existing monitoring mechanisms.

What does Group forest certification do ?

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1. Allows forest owners to become certified under one certificate and share 1. The financial obligations2. Common responsibilities for forest management

2. Aims to improve information dissemination and co-operation in forest management amongst forest owners

Structure of Document

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1. This document defines the requirements “inside the group” including certain management structures between owners / managers and/or the entity representing them. This in turn leads to the correct implementation of sustainable forest management and provides confidence in sampling

2. Requirements for “auditing” including sampling etc to be covered in the document on requirements for certification bodies

3. Provides a meta standard as strong framework for development of locally adapted and suitable solutions

4. Contains requirements which have to be followed to ensure a clear approach and structure

Basic approach

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Group entity(Central office) (3.2)

Participant (3.6)

Participant (3.6)

Participant (3.6)

Participant (3.6)

Group organisation (3.3)

Basic Model

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1. This model applies to all situations where more forest owners are covered by one certificate

2. National terms can be applied provided each element is identifiable in the structure of this standard.

3. Whole box defines group forest organisation which is certified

4. Any non conformity in any of the participants applies to the whole group organisation

5. Any sampling requires structure, rules and management between the Group entity and the participants to ensure robustness

Functions and responsibilities of Group Entity

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1. To represent the group forest organisation in certification process

2. Provide commitment on behalf of organisation to comply with SFM and other scheme requirements

3. Establish written procedures for management of group4. Keep records including

a) All participants, contact details, id of properties and sizeb) Conformity of participants with requirementsc) Certified aread) Implementation of internal monitoring, its review and any

preventative / corrective actions takene) Written agreements on participants comitments and

obligations

Functions and responsibilities of Group Entity

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5. Provide “confirmation on participation“ in group forest certification

6. Provide info and guidance for effective implementation of SFM and other scheme requirements

7. Operate annual internal monitoring programme for evaluation of participant’s conformity with requirements

8. Operate Review of conformity with SFM standard, including results of internal monitoring, CB’s evaluations and surveillance, corrective and preventative measure if required and evaluation of effectiveness of CARs

Functions and responsibilities of Participants

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1. Contractual relationship with group entity on conformity with SFM and other requirements

2. To comply with SFM standard and other requirements3. Provide full co-operation and assistance to group entity or

CB requests for data etc4. To implement corrective actions and preventative action

established by group entity.

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Questions and queries