The Forest Stewardship Council: Using the Market to Promote Responsible Forestry

Abstract

Introduction There is huge public concern about the destruction of the world’s forests. Initially this concern focused on tropical forests and the activities of the timber industry, and in the mid-eighties led to the launching of two international initiatives to lessen the industry’s impact on tropical forests: the Tropical Forestry Action Programme (TFAP) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, forest issues were high on the agenda. Despite the high priority of forests for the participants, the outcome was only a set of non-binding ‘Forest Principles’. After the UNCED conference the forest issue was broadened to include temperate and boreal forests. Although the forest cover of temperate and boreal forests is more or less stable, and in some places even expanding, the biodiversity of these forests is rapidly declining. This is due to the fact that more and more old-growth forests are being replaced by plantations, consisting mainly of only one or two species. In Sweden only around 5 per cent of all forest cover still consists of old-growth forest. Only about 2.5 per cent of the productive forest land has a protected status. Despite the international attention and efforts for the world’s forests, deforestation in the tropics is still increasing. At current rates, the world is losing 0.8 per cent of its tropical forests each year. Deforestation is currently highest in South East Asia. Traditionally environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have tried to influence policy developed by governments. Through the influence they exerted, NGOs in, for example, the Netherlands and the USA managed to persuade municipalities and businesses to ban tropical timber with the help of their supporters— consumers. By that time the general public had become aware that, through their consumption of wood products, they contribute to forest depletion. Therefore more and more people started to demand products that came from well-managed forests. In response to this demand many different labels appeared on forest products, making claims such as ‘for every tree felled at least two are planted’. Many of these claims are irrelevant or misleading. An authoritative study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found that, of a sample of 80 different environmental claims found on wood and paper products, only three could be even partially substantiated. This is why the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was created, to clear up the confusion by providing a truly independent, international, and credible labelling scheme on timber and timber products, and in this way provide an incentive in the market place for forest stewardship. In the second half of the eighties the relationship between environmentalists and businesses changed. Instead of influencing governments’ policies, businesses as well as NGOs looked for ways to develop policy themselves. This resulted in collaboration between NGOs and business. The changed climate within private sector and NGOs made the founding of FSC with its current structure possible.