Forestry & the Environment
Forest Certification
World markets are increasingly demanding wood from sustainable forests. This move is very positive for the long-term demand for New Zealand's Radiata pine plantation forests as these are grown as a crop for harvest (unlike the vast majority of the world's forests).
Internationally a whole industry has arisen around the concept of sustainable management and in particular the provision of reputable independent verification to prove that a forest is 'sustainably managed'.
In 1994, leading environmental groups and Non Government Organisation (NGO) groups established the Forest Stewardship Council as a global standard setting and certification body with the clear objective of changing forestry management practices. In reaction, the international forest industry initiated an International Standards Organisation (ISO) based process. Currently the FSC system appears to have greater international market acceptance.
Because plantation forests comprise a small percentage of the world's forests, the focus of these international certification schemes is indigenous forests, not plantation forests. In response to this the New Zealand Exotic Plantation Industry has been working since 1999 to design its own robust reporting system called Verification of Environmental Performance (VEP). In July of 2000, the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, the Forest Industries Council and the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association, together with key environmental groups, agreed to work together to devise a performance standard for exotic plantation forests.
It is intended that the standard will form the basis of all certification of plantation forestry operations in New Zealand. It is also intended that the standard be compatible with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) development process, principles and criteria so that companies that meet the standard, and want FSC certification, can obtain this.
The process to agree on a standard is a challenging one requiring the marrying of the diverse objectives of the parties involved and the following three major points of contention are currently being worked through - use of chemicals for weed and pest control, management of indigenous areas within plantations and genetic modification of treestocks.
Forest Enterprises is well placed to keep abreast of developments. Our Forest Auditor, Forme Consulting Group Ltd, is one of two forestry consulting firms in New Zealand contracted to undertake the Forest Stewardship Council certification process and we have discussed the process and benefits with them.
The fact is that Forest Stewardship Certification is costly to achieve, and once gained is costly to maintain. Unless there is a market premium or barrier reduction for certified forests it is currently hard to justify. Harvest of our forests is only just commencing and currently involves only relatively small areas. We therefore believe that it is better to adopt a watching brief while the work of the New Zealand forest industry to devise a performance standard for exotic plantations continues. Once concluded in the next year or so, the accreditation process should be both simplified and less costly.
