The Potential of Sustainable Forestry Certification for Smallholder Tree Growing - Smallholder Tree Growing for Rural Development and Environmental Services - page 198

and can also be used to support Type I labelling, like the Blue Angel in Germany,
the Green Swan in the Nordic countries, and the EU eco-labelling scheme
(cf. Mungkung et al. 2006).
Sustainability certification can also deal with products, as is the case with prod-
ucts from the Body Shop, but its focus is usually on natural resources. Thus, there
are certificates for sustainable forestry (including the certificates under the author-
ity of the FSC; www.fsc.org) and for sustainable fisheries (including certificates
under the authority of the Marine Stewardship Council MSC; www.msc.org). There
are ongoing activities to bring the mining and metals industries under the frame-
work of sustainable development, initiated by the International Council for Mining
and Metals (ICMM) (see the Minerals, Mining and Sustainable Development
(MMSD) project (www.icmm.com) ). To enhance sustainable agriculture, the best-
known certification scheme is organic farming but there are also initiatives within
the framework of conventional farming, for example from retailers, such as the
EUREP-GAP certification (www.eurep.org) (see also De Snoo and Van de Ven
1999; Manhoudt et al. 2002). Sustainable forestry certification, like that under the
FSC, and fisheries certification under the MSC, involves verification by a third
party, and can therefore also be regarded as a form of Type I labeling.
These different types of certificates need not be exclusive. There are sound rea-
sons for the larger forestry companies to aim at an FSC certificate combined with
an EMS certificate according to ISO 14001 (Hortensius 1999). The focus of the rest
of this chapter will be on the sustainability certification of forestry.
Sustainability certification has two principal components: legality verification,
that is the assurance that the forestry activities are legal, and sustainable forestry
management. Thus, certification of sustainable forestry management, together with
the certification of the management of the chain of custody, presupposes legality
verification. Sometimes a plea is made for a step-by-step approach: first, realization
of legal forestry and the protection of high conservation value forests (HCFVs) and
then sustainability certification (cf. Jurgens 2006).

10.3 Benefits of Forestry Certification - The Chain of Custody

The most direct benefits of forest certification concern the forests themselves. This
relates to sustainable harvesting of forest products, and the enhancement of biodi-
versity. Here we will focus on the potential benefits for the different stakeholders
in the value chain. These are mainly producers of the timber resource, product
manufacturers, retailers and consumers. In fact a major distinction can be made
between the forest managers and forest workers who deal with the sustainable for-
estry management itself and the other stakeholders in the value chain, who deal
with the so-called “Chain of Custody” certification, ensuring that certified timber
will not become unduly mixed up with non-certified timber. In this section we will
discuss the benefits for the main stakeholders of the chain of custody. As Lasco
(Chapter 9, this volume), when focusing on reforestation, points out, reforestation