Abstract
An expansion of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to forest ecosystem services (FES) is a potential tool to improve FES management. Certification of FES in bundles is an expected strategy because it could decrease trade-offs among FES, increase forest owners' incomes, and reduce certification costs per FES. However, there is insufficient evidence of which bundles FES would be most feasible to certify. This study assesses the adaptability of the FSC system to FES bundles through analyses of FES projects and surveys of FSC certification bodies, enabling partners, and certificate holders. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple correspondence analysis identified two bundles: 1) soil and watershed conservation and 2) cultural ecotourism with non-timber forest products or agricultural goods. These findings indicate potentially manageable FES bundles, given the current FSC system and FES projects, as well as some implementation challenges.
Highlights
Since the early 1990s, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification has been implemented globally to promote sustainable forest management and mitigate illegal logging and biodiversity loss (Auld & Bull 2003, Cashore et al 2006, Elliott & Schlaepfer 2001)
Based on consumer confidence that certified products derive from more sustainable management, FSC forest certification has been found to contribute to improved forest governance (Cerutti et al 2011, Pettenella & Brotto 2012) and communication among stakeholders (Tsanga et al 2014)
This study aims to address the knowledge gap pragmatically by systematically identifying the support for current forest ecosystem services (FES) projects as well as the capacities, preferences, and experiences of FSC stakeholders, which we take as indicators of FSC system adaptability
Summary
Since the early 1990s, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification has been implemented globally to promote sustainable forest management and mitigate illegal logging and biodiversity loss (Auld & Bull 2003, Cashore et al 2006, Elliott & Schlaepfer 2001). Based on consumer confidence that certified products derive from more sustainable management, FSC forest certification has been found to contribute to improved forest governance (Cerutti et al 2011, Pettenella & Brotto 2012) and communication among stakeholders (Tsanga et al 2014). We use the term FES to denote any benefit of forest ecosystems to society, such as regulation of water discharge rates, provision of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), and mitigation of climate change through carbon sequestration (MA 2005). Beyond these indispensable benefits, FES represent many market opportunities, once of which is the potential for the FSC to expand the scope of certification
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