Basic information and types of FSC forest certification

FSC forest certification, also called timber certification, is a tool that uses market mechanisms to promote sustainable forest management and achieve ecological, social and economic goals. FSC forest certification includes forest management certification (Forest Management, FM) and chain of custody certification (Chain of Custody, COC). Forest management certification, also known as sustainable forest management certification or FSC forest certification for short, is aimed at forest management units. An independent third-party FSC forest certification agency is responsible for forest management standards in accordance with recognized principles and standards. The process of reviewing the performance of forest management to prove that it meets the requirements of sustainable management. The production and marketing chain of custody certification is to appraise the entire chain of wood processing enterprises, including the entire chain from log transportation, processing to circulation, to ensure that the final product originates from a certified, well-managed forest. After passing the certification, the company has the right to mark the name and trademark of the certification system on its products, that is, the label for forest product certification. In the past 20 years, human deforestation and poor management have caused widespread forest decline. FSC certification has led to a shortage of global forest resources, the ecological environment is deteriorating, and the space for human survival has been seriously threatened. It is generally believed that the root causes of forest problems are policy errors, market failures and imperfect institutions. The international community, governments and non-governmental environmental protection organizations have expressed greater concern about this and have taken a series of actions: (1) National policy reform. Some countries have formulated and implemented basic policies for the transition to sustainable forest management, set out to solve problems in forestry, and gave priority to forestry development and environmental protection.　(2) International intergovernmental process. Encourage and promote the sustainable development of forestry at the national level through international intergovernmental processes. But the effect is not obvious. FSC forest certification is just because environmental non-governmental organizations and civil organizations realized that some countries have made policy mistakes in improving forest management, international intergovernmental organizations have limited effectiveness in solving forest problems, and forest product trade cannot prove the origin of their products. Later, as a market mechanism to promote sustainable forest management, it was initiated and gradually developed in the early 1990s. It seeks to link "green consumers" with producers seeking to improve forest management levels and expand market share in order to obtain higher returns through independent assessment of forest management activities. Traditional methods to promote sustainable forest management (such as development assistance, soft loans, technical assistance and overseas training, etc.) have mostly neglected the commercial sector, especially the international trade of timber products. Worldwide, only 20% of forest products enter the international market, but the direct impact of trade on forests is obvious. PEFC certification people recognize that trade in forest products based on sustainable forest management can also promote environmental protection. The uniqueness of FSC forest certification is that it is market-based and relies on trade and international markets to operate. Before 1992, non-governmental organizations had the idea of certification, but no progress was made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. After the Environmental Development Conference, they began to vigorously promote this new system. In order to supervise the independence and openness of certification, a non-governmental conservation organization established the Forest Stewardship Committee (FSC) in 1993. In 1994, FSC passed the principles and standards and began to authorize certification bodies to carry out FSC forest certification based on these principles and standards. Some countries and regions have also started their own certification process. Since then, FSC forest certification has been gradually developed around the world. There are many forces to promote certification. There are market forces that promote forest management certification on a voluntary basis by enterprises, and there are certifications for certain aspects of corporate forest management at the request of the public, as well as for companies under the constraints of laws and regulations. Compulsory certification carried out. Market-oriented forest management certification refers to companies applying to certification bodies on a completely voluntary basis to conduct voluntary and independent certification of specific forest areas in accordance with improved forest management or sustainable management standards. The purpose is to convey information to the market. , CARB certification usually includes certification of forest product labeling and chain of custody. The certification/recognition of specific forest management requirements refers to the management of one or more forest assets or projects (such as community forestry, cooperative forest management projects, farm forestry) in accordance with the recognized series of requirements related to environmental protection and socio-economic development The quality of the aspects is independently certified/approved. Compulsory certification/recognition refers to the independent compulsory certification that monitors compliance with relevant forest management and chain of custody rules and regulations. BSCI certification is a measure to strengthen the implementation of the law to ensure compliance with forest management regulations and control illegal logging and trade of forest products. Environmental service certification refers to the independent certification of environmental services (such as carbon deposition, soil and water conservation, erosion control, biodiversity protection, etc.) provided in a specific forest area in accordance with a series of recognized benchmark conditions. It is based on markets, regulations or planned projects, and its implementation is often associated with certification of sustainable forest management based on performance standards. Environmental management system certification refers to the independent certification of environmental management systems (ISO14001/14004 standards or similar standards). It is a measure to establish and demonstrate the management capabilities of forest management units to manage and control the impact of their business activities on the environment. In addition, certification can also be used to determine whether a country or organization has complied with international agreements (such as the "Kyoto Protocol" goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions). A certification program may also include several certification types. Most of organic certification is market-oriented, including performance-based (such as FSC system and pan-European FSC forest certification system) and management system-based (such as ISO14001/4 standard) certification. We generally discuss this kind of market-oriented voluntary certification system.

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