Stakeholder seminarRevision of PEFC requirementsPart 2: Requirements for SFM standards

Geneva, Switzerland (2nd June 2010)

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Objectives of the stakeholders dialogue

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- To inform stakeholders about the results of work of the revision Working Group.

- To receive feedback from stakeholders on the “enquiry draft” documents.

- To encourage stakeholders in participation in the formal public consultation.

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….4

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

Draft requirements for sustainable forest management

Jaroslav TymrakPEFC Council Head of Technical Unit

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PEFC ST 1003:20xx, Part 1 (ED): Requirements for Sustainable Forest Management Standards – Part 1: Temperate, boreal and plantation forests

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Scope

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- PEFC Council defines “meta-standards”,

- PEFC meta-standards should be based on intergovernmental processes,

- Only PEOLG and ATO/ITTO PCIs (alternatively FAO guidelines for planted forests) can be used as meta-standards,

- A single SFM standard should be assessed against a single PEFC meta-standard.

Application of SFM standards (3.1)

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By whom?

…shall apply to activities of all operators in the defined forest area who have a measurable impact on achieving compliance with the requirements.

At what level?

…are applicable at the forest management unit level, or at another level as appropriate, to ensure that all requirements are met at the forest management unit level.

Note: An example of a situation where a requirement can be defined at other than forest management unit level (e.g. group/regional) is monitoring of forest health. Through monitoring of forest health at regional level and communicating of results at the FMU level the objective of the requirement is met without the necessity to carry out the individual monitoring of every forest management unit.

Public availability of FMPs (1.1c)

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A summary of the forest management plan or its equivalent, which contains information about the forest management measures to be applied, is publicly available, except for confidential business and personal information.

Forest conversion (1.2 a and Appendix 1)

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Requirement regulating forest conversion includes two elements:

a) To regulate conversion of forests into other use, including conversion to forest plantations

b) To exclude from certification forest plantations established as a result of the conversion.

Forest conversion (1.2 a)

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Conversion of forests to other types of land use, including timber plantations, shall not occur unless in justified circumstances where the conversion:

i. is in compliance with national and regional policy and legislation relevant for land use and forest management and is a result of national or regional land use planning governed by a governmental or other official authority including consultation with materially and directly interested persons and organisations,

ii. entails a limited pro-portion of forest type,

iii. does not have negative impacts on threatened (including vulnerable, rare or endangered) forest ecosystems, culturally and socially significant areas, important habitats of threatened species or other protected areas and,

iv. makes a contribution to long-term conservation, economic, and social benefits (for example through the rehabilitation of degraded forests).

Forest conversion (Appendix 1)

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The requirement for the “conversion of forest to other types of land, including plantations” shall be interpreted that plantations established from forest conversion after the application date of this standard in other than “justified exceptional circumstances” are not meeting the requirement and are not eligible to certification.

Optional requirements:

- Specific date, e.g. …plantations established after year 2000…- Floating date, e.g. …plantations established during the period of the last 10

years…- Rotation period, e.g. …plantation within the first rotation after the

conversion…

Native species (2.2b) and introduced species (4.2b)

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Appropriate forest management practices such as reforestation and afforestation with tree species and provenances that are suited to the site conditions or the use of tending, harvesting and transport techniques that minimise tree and/or soil damages shall be applied.

For reforestation and afforestation, origins of native species and local provenances that are well adapted to site conditions shall be preferred, where appropriate. Only those introduced species, provenances or varieties shall be used whose impacts on the ecosystem and on the genetic integrity of native species and local provenances have been evaluated, and if negative impacts can be avoided or minimised.

Note: CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) Guiding Principles for the Prevention, Introduction, and Mitigation of Impacts of Alien Species that Threaten Ecosystems, Habitats or Species are recognized as guidance for avoidance of invasive species.

Usage of chemicals (2.2c)

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The use of pesticides shall be minimised and appropriate silviculturalalternatives and other biological measures shall be preferred.

The WHO Type 1A and 1B pesticides and other highly toxic pesticides shall be prohibited, except where no other viable alternative is available.

Note: Any exception for the usage of WHO Type 1A and 1B pesticides shall be defined by specific forest management standard.

Pesticides, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons whose derivates remainbiologically active and accumulate in food chain beyond their intendeduse, and any pesticides banned by international agreement, shall beprohibited.

The usage of pesticides shall follow the FAO International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides or other regulationscompatible with the FAO Code of Conduct. Proper equipment and training shall be provided with regular compliance assessment made to minimise health and environmental risks.

Representative areas , ecologically important biotops (4.1b)

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Forest management planning and terrestrial inventory and mapping of forest resources shall identify and protect ecologically important forest biotopes, taking into account protected, rare, sensitive or representative forest ecosystems such as riparian areas and wetland biotopes, areas containing endemic species and habitats of threatened species, as defined in recognised reference lists, as well as endangered or protected genetic in situ resources.

The forest management shall provide for conservation/set aside of the key ecosystems or habitats in their natural state.

Alternative proposal:

PEFC Council would incorporate the concept of HCVF.

GMOs (4.1b)

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Genetically modified trees shall not be used.

Note: The restriction on the usage of genetically modified trees has been adopted based on the precautionary principle. Until enough scientific data on genetically modified trees indicates or guarantee that impacts on human and animal health and the environment are equivalent to, or more positive than, those presented by trees genetically improved by traditional methods. PEFC Council position on genetically modified trees will be reviewed in 2015.

Alternative proposal

Until 2015, genetically modified trees shall not be used.

Note: The restriction on the usage of genetically modified trees has been adopted based on the precautionary principle that until enough scientific data on genetically modified trees indicate or guarantee that impacts on human and animal health and the environment are equivalent to, or more positive than, those presented by trees genetically improved by traditionally methods. PEFC Council position on genetically modified trees will be reviewed by 2015.

Contribution to local economy (6.1a)

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Where applicable, forest management shall stimulate employment of the local population, including indigenous peoples, as well as the local processing of timber and non-timber forest products. The employment of local people, including indigenous peoples, shall be stimulated, for example through training.

Indigenous people rights (6.1b)

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Property rights and land tenure arrangements shall be clearly defined, documented and established for the relevant forest area. Likewise, legal, customary and traditional rights related to the forest land shall be clarified, recognised and respected.

Forest management activities shall be conducted in recognition of the established framework of legal, customary and traditional rights, which shall not be infringed upon without the free and informed consent of the holders of the rights, including the provision of compensation where applicable. Where the extent of rights is not yet resolved or is in dispute there are processes for just and fair resolution. In such cases forest managers shall, in the interim, provide meaningful opportunities for parties to be engaged in forest management decisions whilst respecting the processes and roles and responsibilities laid out in the policies and laws where the certification takes place.

Training and competency (6.2b)

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Forest managers, contractors, employees and forest owners shall be provided with sufficient information and encouraged to keep up to date through continuous training in relation to sustainable forest management as precondition for all management planning and practices tasks described in this standard.

Save working condition (6.2b)

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Working conditions shall be safe, and guidance and training in safe working practice shall be provided. Forest management shall comply with ILO conventions No. 155, 161 and 184.

Alternative proposal:

Forestry work shall be planned, organised and performed in a way that health and accident risks are identified and all reasonable measures are applied which protect workers from work related risks. Workers shall be informed about the risks involved with their work and about preventive measures. Working conditions shall be safe, and guidance and training in safe working practice shall be provided to all assigned in a task in forest operation.

Compliance with legislation (7)

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Forest management shall comply with legislation applicable to forest management; including forest management practices; nature and environment protection; protected and endangered species; property, tenure and land use rights for indigenous people; health, labour and safety issues; and the payment of royalties and taxes.

Forest management shall provide for adequate protection of the forest from unauthorised activities such as illegal logging, illegal land use, illegally initiated fires, and other illegal activities.

Appendix 1: interpretation for forest conversions

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• Applicable for standards developed specifically for “forest plantations”,

• Provides interpretations for requirements of the core part,

• Interpretation is mainly based on principle of compliance at the FMU rather than individual stand level.

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Questions and queries