Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
for small forest management units, low intensity management units and groups of
these units. Small units are all forest areas under 100 ha or, depending on regional
conditions, up to 1,000 ha. These units will often be part of smallholder farms. Low
intensity units refer to units with operations such as non-timber forest product har-
vesting. Groups of management units enable certification by communities, while
each of the members has his own private unit.
The new program involves a streamlining of the certification process for the tar-
get groups. On the basis of field trials, the international list of criteria has been
adapted for small and low intensity units. In addition, the program allows for the
development of national or sub-national criteria, which is well under way, together
with the development of national indicators and verifiers.
The changes involve a reduction of the field audits, a simplification of the meth-
odology used and of the way of reporting. In the main FSC program, a yearly site
audit is required. In SLIMF this annual surveillance can be based on documentation
audits and a minimum of one site visit must take place during the period of the certifi-
cate. These site visits may be undertaken in only one day, which is possible because
of a focus on high-risk areas instead of a percentage-based areas audit. The reporting
of the surveillance is also simplified, as it can be written in any language in a short
report. For small management units, no peer review of the report is required.
Further streamlining lies in cost reduction by group certification. This enables
many of the costs and work to be borne by a group of private companies, thus
spreading them throughout the community.
Finally, certification has become a step-by-step process. Thus, over a five year
period, timber from forestry-in-transition will get preferential treatment on the
market. In 2002, the SLIMF's Initiative came into force. An overview in December
2006 (www.fsc.org/slimf) revealed that 39 forest areas, with a total of 110,000 ha
(half of which was group certification, distributed over 15 countries) had qualified
according to this scheme. Half of this area involves plantations in developing coun-
tries, including Namibia and Papua New Guinea.
10.10
Prospects for Certification of Plantations in the Philippines
In a developing country like the Philippines, it is questionable whether certification
of plantations should be the first priority for protection of the forests. Given the
rampant illegal logging, protection measures may well be directed first to the ban-
ning of illegal logging in high conservation value forests (see also Jurgens 2006).
In the shadow of illegal logging, certification will not easily get off the ground,
given the competition with the very low prices of illegal timber. For the country's
government, the first priority may therefore lie there. In Indonesia encouraging
developments take place in this respect at present (G. Persoon, personal communi-
cation 2007). Conversely, a check into the legality of imported timber may also be
priority for the industrialized countries. Once the government has set its priorities
and been able to get grip on illegal logging, the scene is ripe for private initiatives
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