Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
circumstances, sustainable forestry may create an effective counter force. An example
is the Sierra Madre Natural Park on Luzon, the northern island of the Philippines. This
park, a former site of the Conservation of Priority Protected Areas Project (CPPAP), is
presently protected throughout by the National Integrated Protected Areas System
(NIPAS) Law passed in June 1992. It has nevertheless been logged all over its western
areas. In that section of the park sustainable forestry management may well be a real
improvement on the present illegal situation. Yet, such a development is hampered by
the existence of a law that is not adhered to (Snelder et al. 2005).
Secondly, there are a number of economic barriers, including the high costs
associated with the first evaluation for qualification of the forest unit, the required
yearly assessment procedures and the implementation of recommended actions
with the aim of repairing shortcomings in the management. Price premiums should
compensate for this but as seen in Section 10.4, such premiums do not generally
exist. Moreover, it can be difficult to meet the high quality and quantity require-
ments associated with the given price premiums. Higher market prices may also not
be realized in practice because of the lack of markets dealing specifically with certi-
fied timber, or with products made from it. This may particularly hold true in
remote areas. For the initial costs such economic difficulties can in principle be
overcome by support from donor organizations, but it is not always easy to find
such an organization in practice. This is a particular problem for producers in
remote areas who do not have easy access to such bodies.
Thirdly, there can be cultural and organizational barriers. The world of certifiers,
who in line with the criteria ask for explicit formal plans and strict yearly auditing
measures, is a very different place to that of smallholders or communities managing
a plantation in developing countries. There will often be internal constraints in these
communities against making the necessary organizational changes towards a more
profitable business model. Higman and Nussbaum (2002) argue that the length and
complexity of the standard constitutes a barrier in itself and in their opinion at least
27 of the 52 FSC criteria are inappropriate for small private forestry enterprises.
It is also believed that the sustainable use of natural forests faces competition
from the cheaper plantations. Although this may be positive for the plantations,
they themselves face competition from the even cheaper, unsustainable logging in
natural forests. In addition, Cashore et al. (2006) have also stressed that a signifi-
cant part of the forestry is managed by communities in developing countries.
Community forestry is in general more complex than that conducted by individuals
or companies. Although the FSC has special criteria for group certification, this
creates another barrier to forestry certification in these countries.
10.9
The FSC SLIMFs Initiative
To address these barriers, the FSC has recently introduced the Small and Low
Intensity Managed Forests (SLIMFs) Initiative (FSC 2003, 2004a, b, c) This pro-
gram aims to allow certification bodies to use streamlined certification procedures
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