Sustainable Forest Management Certification - Case Study and Future

Initatives

Calton FrameResource Manager

Forest and Land Management

• ~200,000 ha. Company freehold

• Including 125,000 ha. Plantations• ~80,000 ha. on Company freehold• ~45,000 ha other ‘secured’

• 10,000 ha. + plantation program

• Manage 40,000ha of productive native forest on Company freehold

• Manage 35,000ha of reserves on Company freehold land

• Over 5,000 km company maintained roads

Previous Environmental FrameworkPrevious Environmental Framework

Three tiered approach to environmental managementThree tiered approach to environmental management

RFARFAStateState

Forest Practices Forest Practices ActAct

LocalLocal

ISO 14001 - Environmental ISO 14001 - Environmental Management SystemManagement System

CompanyCompany

• Gunns Limited has ISO 14001 environmental accreditation

• Gunns was the first company to achieve the Australian Forestry Standard

• Gunns was the first Australian company to gain PEFC accreditation

• Gunns was the first Australian company to achieve Chain of Custody and now labels certified forest products

Gunns Limited is now a World Leader in Forestry Certification

Why AFS Certification for Gunns Limited?

• Customers and other stakeholders require independent evaluation of forest management credentials - certification common language.

• Australian specific national Government endorsed standard allowing Mutual Recognition under a framework.

• Basis of criteria developed from credible, multi-stakeholder forums.

• Based on internationally recognised, third party accreditation.

• Standard covering both native forest and plantation aspects of forest management.

Key Improvements - AFS

• Review Policy framework - concepts of sustainability

• Implementation of a range of forest management performance indicators in order to monitor, report and demonstrate improvement in social, economic and environmental elements

• Production of a strategic forest management statement including key stakeholder participation into strategic forest management planning and concepts of sustainability

• Continuous improvement

• Extensive mapping and classification of forestry estate to ensure appropriate conservation and estate management strategy.

Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes

• A framework for mutual recognition of credible national forest certification schemes.

• Originated as a European based system but has grown to be the most extensive forest certification framework in the world with almost 200 million hectares certified in 30 member countries across 4 continents.

• 50 million hectares certified as little as two years ago

• Almost 3,000 chain of custody certifications, and 20,000 register PEFC logo users

Chain of Custody

Gunns achieved the Chain of Custody Standard for all processing sites in November 2004. Allows labelling of forest products to occur and use of both AFS and PEFC logos.

Sustainable Forest Management FrameworkSustainable Forest Management Framework

Five tiered approach to SFMFive tiered approach to SFM

Regional Forest AgreementRegional Forest Agreement

PEFCPEFCInternationalInternational

Australian Australian Forestry Forestry StandardStandard

NationalNational

StateState

Forest Practices ActForest Practices Act

ISO 14001 - Environmental Management SystemISO 14001 - Environmental Management System

LocalLocal

CompanyCompany

Trends in Future Forest Management

• Systematic framework to enhance sustainability

• Focus on forest management performance targets and indicators

• Regular public reporting and stakeholder involvement

• Continuous improvement

• New research questions

Source : www.forestrycertification.info

Certified Wood - future trends

• Future demand for certified product - environmental credentials and green tick

• Supply of certified timber increasing (25% of the world’s industrial roundwood production) - market will be able to embrace concept more freely

• Worldwide trend to avoidance of controversial sources and illegal logging

• Governments and corporate procurement policies explicitly are starting to specify certified material

Certified Wood - future challenges

• Certification being used as a tool for political means

• Inclusion of small landowners in certification to ensure not crowded out

• Ensuring that it continues to deliver improvements in sustainable forest management, and not just a labeling exercise

• Identifying the ‘next wave’ and direction in product credentials

Thank You