Certified Wood
The world has lost nearly two-thirds of its original forest cover and whatever remains is
disappearing at the rate of more than 2.3 acres per second – more than 42 million acres
annually.

WHAT IS FOREST CERTIFICATION?

Certification is a voluntary process in which an independent third party confirms that a product has been produced in accordance with specified environmental and social standards.

Applied to forestry, it involves inspection, by accredited examiners, of a timber company’s operations to verify that its lands are managed according to the best practices known to forestry. If a company passes the annual inspection, which is similar to a financial audit, it is entitled to stamp its lumber with a recognized seal certifying that the wood has been harvested from a
well-managed forest. Certification is thus a tool to encourage responsible forestry through market demand by offering consumers the option of purchasing products made from responsibly harvested wood.

Its promise lies in its potential to bridge the deep divisions that have always characterized the forest debate by uniting conservation groups, timber companies, governments, and local communities behind the drive for responsible forest management.

The actual standards that a timber company must meet to qualify are developed on a regional basis, through a participatory process involving local stakeholders, and thus may vary slightly from country to country – or even from forest to forest. But, they all must meet the Forest Stewardship Councils (FSC) Ten General principles for responsible forest management.

To date, nearly 25 million acres of forest worldwide have been certified according to FSC standards, including 3.5 million acres in the United States.

Two FSC – accredited organizations currently offer certification services in the United States: The Rain Forest Alliance’s SmartWood Program and Scientific Certification System’s Forest Conservation Program.

Both organizations offer two types of certification: Forest management and chain-of –custody. The former applies to harvested wood and has to do with responsible forestry practices. The latter extends the certification process from the forest through the mill and all the way to the retail outlet where a finished wood product, such as a piece of furniture or window molding, is sold. Companies that do not have forest holdings, but that manufacture goods made from wood harvested from certified forests, can apply for this second (and simpler) type of certification, which entitles them to put an FSC stamp on their finished products.

Although demand for certified wood is growing, it still represents only a very small share of the market. In an effort to jump-start demand, conservationists, professional foresters, and environmentally conscious suppliers and retailers have joined forces in a number of countries to create buyers’ groups to push for the supply of more certified wood.

The long-term benefits of certified and sustainable forestry far outweigh the immediate costs. This is as true from a business perspective as it is from an ecological one. As a recent study by the MacArthur Foundation pointed out, the cost of producing forest products is going to rise over the next two decades, with or without sustainable management. It will rise much more sharply without it, however. This is because over the long run the only alternative to voluntary certification is more government regulation – at the country state and province level – which ultimately will drive costs even higher.

The advantage of third party certification can be summed up in one word: credibility.

Independent third party certification remains the best way of validating claims of sustainable forest management, and thus is often worth more than its cost, just as a marketing tool.

But certification is about much more than marketing. It is about empowerment – about giving consumers the means to register their concern about the well being of the planet when ever they purchase a product made of wood.