Abstract
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) are deployed as forest certification schemes in Japan. This study aimed to identify the reasons that enterprises choose the FSC or the SGEC scheme and the effects of certification. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 126 forestry enterprises with certification as of May 2014. The results of questionnaire tabulation found different reasons for choosing FSC (high reliability of the international certification system) or SGEC (examination costs and difficulty of acquisition, certification acquisition by neighboring enterprises in the region, and guidance and information from familiar people and enterprises). The results suggest that choosing FSC or SGEC depended on international or domestic emphasis, reliability, cost, and difficulty of acquisition. Both schemes reportedly improved management planning, environmental impact assessments, and monitoring, but increased timber value was not reported. Japanese consumers’ understanding of forest certification should be enhanced and attention to forest management certification in Japan should increase because the SGEC now offers international certification. If SGEC certification is easier to obtain than FSC certification, and FSC is relatively expensive, the SGEC forest area should continue to expand.
Highlights
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), which are globally deployed as forest certification schemes, are increasingly used in Asia
The enterprises with Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) certification focused on Japan, and they were interested in the examination costs and difficulty of acquisition, connection to peripheral areas, and guidance and information from familiar people and enterprises
Because the selection of the FSC or the SGEC was important to estimation, bidding, and guidance and information from familiar people and enterprises, cost was an important aspect of certification
Summary
Since about 2000, sustainable forest management and forest certification systems have been attracting attention. Forest certification has the potential to address certain environmental problems, such as the setting of rules to manage forests sustainably and reduce the risks arising from environmental problems [1]. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), which are globally deployed as forest certification schemes, are increasingly used in Asia. Some Asian countries have developed unique national forest certification schemes [2], such as the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute and Indonesian Forestry. Certification Cooperation (IFCC) in Indonesia, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC). In Malaysia, and the China Forest Certification Council (CFCC) in China. All three—IFCC, MTCC, and CFCC—have mutual recognition with the PEFC
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