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Forest management auditing is expanding from its traditional focus on forest management, stewardship and Chain of Custody certification to more innovative topics such as ecosystem services, forest carbon credits, Non-Wood Forest Products, wood energy and Fair Trade certification. Forest managers, auditors and project developers require a new range of skills, capacities and expertise to monitor these issues. This book outlines the market-based tools that are required by such professionals to ensure corporate social responsibility in the forestry sector. It shows how a mutual learning process between established forest certification processes and innovative markets is needed. It addresses key topics such as High Conservation Value (HCV) approaches, the role of independent certification versus due diligence process and the engagement of smallholders and SMEs. Beginning with a market and policy analysis, the book fosters a deeper understanding of standards, methodologies and auditing techniques. Numerous case studies are included from a wide range of contexts, including both temperate and tropical forests in developed and developing countries. Overall, the book analyses all the steps towards forest management and forest products and services certification.
The often-claimed environmental and social benefits of forest certification remain to be empirically evaluated. Despite numerous publications on the impacts of tropical forest certification, virtually all are based on secondary sources of information and not on field-based measurements. This paper proposes an empirical research framework for a carefully designed field-based evaluation of the ecological, social, economic, and political impacts of tropical forest management certification taking into account location-specific contextual factors which shape certification outcomes. The paper also suggests that solid methodological quantitative and qualitative approaches be used to build proper counterfactuals on which to base the comparisons for inferring impacts, all informed by a thorough theory-of-change and through processes that bring stakeholders together. The proposed research framework represents a first step towards the design and future implementation of evaluation research in the context of tropical forest certification on a global basis. It is hoped the research framework proposed contributes to learning from past mistakes, building on lessons learned and enhancing decision-making towards the maintenance of forest values over the long term, and for the benefit of society as a whole.
First published in 1995, The Forest Certification Handbook has become the landmark book concerning all aspects of forest and wood product certification from policy to business to in-the-field technical issues. Yet since first publication an enormous amount has happened in the field. This new second edition has been entirely rewritten to incorporate the changes over the past decade, and is a complete and up-to-date source of information on all aspects of developing, selecting and operating a forest certification programme that provides both market security and raises standards of forest management.
The last decade saw dramatic concern for forest problems. The future decades will witness an even more dramatic interest. Certification of forests provides a guarantee to buyers of timber products that their purchases come from well-managed forests that will not support unsustainable or inequitable practices. This produces multiple advantages to those with stakes in the entire chain of production, not the least of which is justification of their pricing. The Forest Certification Handbook is the first book to fully assess the role of certification and provide practical advice on developing, selecting and operating a program. The most critical role of certification is providing an incentive to forest owners and managers to raise the standard of their forest management. With international and national initiatives supporting specific principles for forest management and means of quality assessment taking place, The Forest Certification Handbook is the only published guide of its kind to eliminate any confusion. Here, in clear, exacting language, is all of the information you will need to complete a certification program.
As public awareness of the problem of deforestation has grown, a variety of consumer-based approaches to addressing the issue have emerged. One of the most innovative of those is forest product certification. Products derived from forests that have been managed and harvested in a sustainable manner are certified as such, thus providing consumers with a direct means of addressing deforestation and creating a positive incentive for improving forest management practices around the world.This volume presents an overview of the mechanics, background, and implications of voluntary certification programs. It features perspectives from all parties involved, from both southern and northern hemispheres, including the forest products industry, indigenous communities, academics, biologists, certifiers, policymakers, environmental activists, and retailers.Among the topics considered are: the development of market-based conservation initiatives elements involved in certification biological aspects of forest auditing implications of forest product certification importance of cooperation among all parties involved The book traces the history of certification, the development of an internationally agreed upon set of forest management principles, and the various certification programs currently underway. In addition to providing the most current information on the certification process itself, it includes a valuable discussion and analysis of the social and political context in which certification must function.Certification of Forest Productsbrings clarity to a highly debated and poorly understood topic, and is an important work for anyone concerned with deforestation and the methods available for addressing it.