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Forest Certifications

Deforestation poses a significant threat to global climate, prompting over 100 countries to pledge to halt and reverse it by 2030. The certification industry plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable forest management through independent audits, with major standards set by FSC and PEFC. In India, while some forest certifications exist, challenges remain in meeting domestic wood demand and establishing effective national standards for forest management.

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Lenin Vladmir
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2 views4 pages

Forest Certifications

Deforestation poses a significant threat to global climate, prompting over 100 countries to pledge to halt and reverse it by 2030. The certification industry plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable forest management through independent audits, with major standards set by FSC and PEFC. In India, while some forest certifications exist, challenges remain in meeting domestic wood demand and establishing effective national standards for forest management.

Uploaded by

Lenin Vladmir
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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OUR FORESTS ARE UNDER THREAT — HERE’S HOW THEY ARE CERTIFIED

Large-scale DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS has always been a concern for the


environment, but with climate change, deforestation has become a
critically sensitive issue globally in recent years. Forests absorb
large amounts of carbon dioxide that is emitted in various economic
activities, keeping a check on global warming. At the Glasgow climate
meeting in 2021, more than 100 countries took a pledge to stop, and
start reversing, deforestation by 2030.

Several countries and corporates, keen to present an


environment-friendly image, now try to ensure that they avoid
consumption of any product that might be the result of deforestation
or illegal logging. And Europe and the United States have passed laws
that regulate the entry and sale of forest-based products in their
markets.

This is where the certification industry comes in — offering a


multi-layer audit system that seeks to authenticate the origin,
legality, and sustainability of forest-based products such as timber,
furniture, handicraft, paper and pulp, rubber, and many more.
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SUSTAINABILITY & CERTIFICATIONS

Stopping deforestation does not mean forests cannot be harvested in a


sustainable manner for the products. In fact, periodic harvesting of
trees is necessary and healthy for forests. Trees have a life span,
beyond which they die and decay.

Also, after a certain age, the capacity of trees to absorb carbon


dioxide gets saturated. Younger and fresher trees are more efficient
at capturing carbon dioxide. The problem arises only when trees are
felled indiscriminately, and the cutting of forests outpaces their
natural regeneration.

The approximately three-decade-old global certification industry began


as a way to establish, through independent third-party audits, whether
forests were being managed in a sustainable manner. Over the years, a
range of certifications have come to be offered for various activities
in the forestry sector.

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There are two major international standards (there are a few other
less widely accepted ones as well) for sustainable management of
forests and forest-based products. One has been developed by Forest
Stewardship Council, or FSC; the other by Programme for Endorsement of
Forest Certifications, or PEFC. FSC certification is more popular and
in demand, and also more expensive.
Organisations like FSC or PEFC are only the developers and owners of
standards — like, for example, the International Organisation of
Standardisation (ISO) or Bureau of International Standards (BIS). They
are not involved in the evaluation and auditing of the processes being
followed by the forest managers or manufacturers or traders of
forest-based products. That is the job of certification bodies
authorised by FSC or PEFC.

The certification bodies often subcontract their work to smaller


organisations. PEFC does not insist on the use of its own standards.
Instead, like its name suggests, it endorses the ‘national’
standards of any country if they are aligned with its own.

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Two main types of certification are on offer: forest management (FM)


and Chain of Custody (CoC). CoC certification is meant to guarantee
the traceability of a forest product like timber throughout the supply
chain from origin to market.

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FOREST CERTIFICATION IN INDIA

The forest certification industry has been operating in India for the
last 15 years. Currently, forests in only one state — Uttar Pradesh
— are certified. Forty one divisions of the UP Forest Corporation
(UPFC) are PEFC-certified, meaning they are being managed according to
standards endorsed by PEFC. These standards have been developed by the
New Delhi-based nonprofit Network for Certification and Conservation
of Forests (NCCF).

Some other states too obtained certification, but subsequently dropped


out. The Bhamragad forest division in Maharashtra was the first to
obtain FSC certification for forest management. Later, two divisions
in Madhya Pradesh and one in Tripura also obtained FSC certification.
UPFC too had FSC certification earlier.

However, all of these expired over time. Only UPFC extended its
certification — but with PEFC.

Many agroforestry projects, such as those run by ITC, and several


paper mills too have forest management certification. The forests here
are meant for captive use of the industry.

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There are a large number of CoC certifications, but the dropout rate
is 40 per cent. As of now, there are 1,527 valid CoC certifications by
FSC, and 1,010 that are suspended, expired, or have been terminated. A
total 105 entities have obtained PEFC CoC certification in India so
far, 40 of which have expired, or have been suspended or terminated.

INDIA-SPECIFIC STANDARDS

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India allows the export of only processed wood, not timber. In fact,
the timber harvested from Indian forests is not enough to meet the
domestic demand for housing, furniture, and other products. The demand
for wood in India is 150-170 million cubic metres annually, including
90-100 million cubic metres of raw wood. The rest goes mainly towards
meeting the demand for paper and pulp.

India’s forests contribute just about five million cubic metres of


wood every year. Almost 85 per cent of the demand for wood and wood
products is met by trees outside forests (ToF). About 10 per cent is
imported. India’s wood import bill is Rs 50,000-60,000 crore per
year.

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Since ToF are so important, new certification standards are being


developed for their sustainable management. PEFC already has
certification for TOF and last year, FSC came up with India-specific
standards that included certification for ToF. Environment Minister
Bhupender Yadav launched the FSC’s India standards in June 2022.
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THE GOVT’S OWN STANDARDS

Long before private certification bodies set up operations in India,


the government had moved to define national standards for the
management of forests.

Based on the recommendations of an expert committee in 2005, the


Environment Ministry had asked relevant institutions like the
Bhopal-based Indian Institute of Forest Management to draw up national
forest standards. Considerable work was done, and a draft Cabinet note
seeking the government’s approval for setting up such standards was
drawn up. However, the effort did not come to fruition.

When the NCCF came into being in 2015, offering PEFC certification in
India, the Environment Ministry nominated an officer on the governing
board, lending it official legitimacy. But the nomination was later
withdrawn. Last year, the Ministry associated itself with FSC, by
launching its new India standards.
The role of private certification agencies, especially with regard to
forest management certification, has come under sustained criticism
from a group of influential retired forest officials. In response to
this criticism, and also to the increasing complaints about corruption
in the private certification space, the Ministry has restarted efforts
to develop official national forest standards.

The government says the “indigenous system of certifications” will


be simple, transparent, and easy to adopt, even by small farmers and
tree growers. The benchmarks will adhere to internationally accepted
norms, but will take into account India’s national circumstances.
The purpose is to make available sustainably grown and managed forest
products in the domestic market.

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