unctad expert meeting on environmental requirements and international trade. 2 october 2002 united...

UNCTAD Expert Meeting on Environmental Requirements and International Trade. 2 October 2002

United NationsEconomic Commission for EuropeTrade Development and Timber Division

Certification of forest products: effects and

opportunities

Kit Prins

Chief, Timber Branch

UNECE Tade Development an Timber Division



Content of presentation

• What is certification of forest products?

• Background and history

• Present situation

• Main issues



What are certified forest products?

• CFPs bear labels demonstrating in a verifiable manner by independent bodies that come from forests that meet standards for sustainable forest management



Early 1990s

• Concern about tropical deforestation

• Preparations for Rio 1992 (proposals for a Forest Convention)

• Issues of national sovereignty, accusations of neo-colonialism

• Foundation of Forest Stewardship Council, 1993



Questions

• What is sustainable forest management (SFM), anyway?

• Does it vary between regions?• Who defines SFM and how?• Who certifies and controls?• Who pays?• What about WTO rules?• Who wants to buy CFPs (and will they pay more)?



Developments during the 1990s

• Development of FSC principles and infrastructure• Intergovernmental dialogue (certification is

“voluntary, market based, instrument”): causes of deforestation, plan of action …

• Regional processes for “criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management”

• Competitors to FSC • Better understanding of commercial potential of

certification



Situation, mid-2002

• 124 million ha certified forest (90% in northern hemisphere) (3.2% of world’s forests)

• Competing certification systems• Increasing consensus on what is

“sustainable forest management” (incl. variations between regions)

• Lukewarm consumers, keen retailers



Situation, mid 2002 (cont.)

• Bottleneck: chain of custody certificates• Attempts to gain mutual recognition• Motives: company image, competitive

advantage• Lead in north-west Europe, North America• Usually no price premium, limited direct

consumer demand• Wide range of goods available, mostly FSC



The main players:

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): global, NGOs retailers, dominant in market place

• Pan-European Forest Certification System (PEFC): forest owners, European forest industry, largest forest area, group certification

• Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), Canadian standards Association (CSA)

• Indonesian, Malaysian national systems• Certifiers (SGS, SCS, …)



Area of certified forest

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Million h

ecta

res

FSC PEFC SFI CSA ATFS



36.8 43.1

24.1

29.0

12.4

32.5

5.4

8.8 10.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

millions of hectares

PEFC FSC SFI CSA AFTS

Mid 2001 Mid 2002



Issues

• Is competition between systems confusing consumers?

• How can developing countries benefit from certification?

• Is certification of sustainable forest management too ambitious? Is certification of origin an adequate substitute?

• Need to resolve chain-of custody shortage• Role of governments and public procurement?



Further information

• Forest Certification Update for the UNECE Region, summer 2002 (ECE/TIM/DP/25)

• ECE/FAO market information service website: http://www.unece.org/trade/timber/mis/cfp.htm (with links)

• ECE/FAO Forest Products Annual Market Review

unctad expert meeting on environmental requirements and international trade. 2 october 2002 united...

Documents

international trade

europe trade development

timber division slide

unctad expert meeting

environmental requirements

timber division situation

timber division questions

timber division developments