Forest Stewardship Council Certification Research Articles

Unpacking Forest Stewardship Council certification in Chile: The scope and limitations of neoliberal market‐driven governance for achieving sustainable development

AbstractThe Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international NGO promoting sustainable forest management by setting standards and certifying timber as eco‐friendly. After facing significant resistance from the Chilean forestry sector, which is plagued by environmental and territorial conflicts, FSC began certifying Chile's main forestry corporations in 2010. This article examines the implementation of FSC's standards by addressing two questions. First, how does FSC function in practice, including the roles of consultants, chambers, and instruments in the certification process? Second, what are the scope and limitations of FSC in achieving sustainable development and managing forestry industry conflicts? Elaborating on 24 interviews with key forestry stakeholders, ethnographic fieldwork, and documentary analysis, the findings indicate that FSC enhances management practices in the forestry industry by promoting legal compliance, rational production management, and improved relations between firms and local communities. FSC provides a green imaginary that ‘cleans up’ timber production as conflict‐free, facilitating its free circulation in the international market. However, as a private governance system, FSC is based on an artificial consensus that has limitations such as power imbalances between firms and communities, limited sanctioning power, and close ties with large industry actors. This neoliberal form of governance fails to resolve structural problems between industry and indigenous communities, yet it creates strategic opportunities for mediating the relationships between actors. In Chile, FSC enables incomplete citizenship for communities and serves as a ‘soft regulation’ for firms, reducing the likelihood of increased State regulation in the forestry sector.

The Evolving Role of FSC Certification in Croatia: From Market Pressures to Sustainable Practices

Forests are crucial in sustaining life on Earth and are at the core of global sustainability efforts, to which Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification makes a significant contribution. Changes in motivations, benefits, and challenges associated with FSC certification among Croatian companies, particularly in light of recent market fluctuations and global sustainability trends, have been examined in this study. The research was conducted in 2015 and 2023 using a survey method among FSC chain of custody (CoC) certificate holders in Croatia. A statistically significant decline in the proportion of companies citing customer demands and company image as the main reasons for FSC certification was observed, while environmental awareness became a more prominent motivation. Additionally, although key benefits such as retaining existing customers and attracting new ones remain important, a significant decline in the proportion of companies reporting increased profits as a benefit was noted. Challenges related to extensive documentation and frequent changes in standards also significantly increased. This study suggests that FSC certification remains crucial for maintaining competitiveness in the Croatian wood industry, especially as environmental concerns gain importance. Given that FSC standards help enforce European sustainability regulations, FSC certification is important for ensuring long-term resilience and success in an unstable market environment.

Feasibility and effectiveness of global intact forest landscape protection through forest certification: the conservation burden of intact forest landscapes

Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs) are defined as forested areas of at least 500 km2 that show no signs of remotely sensed human activity. They are considered to be of high conservation value due to their role in maintaining biodiversity and mitigating climate change. In 2014, the members of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of the major global certification schemes for responsible forest management, took a conservation stand by restricting logging in FSC-certified IFLs. However, this move raised concerns about the economic viability of FSC-certified logging in these areas. To address these challenges, in 2022, FSC proposed an integrated landscape approach, considering local conditions and stakeholders’ needs to balance IFL protection, economic sustainability, and community interests. Here, we leverage publicly available management unit (MU) data, to provide a global quantitative overview of IFLs designated for timber production. We use the concept of ‘conservation burden’ for the extent that MUs overlap with IFLs, representing the impact that IFL protection has on forest management operations if logging is disallowed. Our data indicates that currently FSC-certified MUs affect 0.6% of global IFLs. Too restrictive policies for logging in IFLs may discourage FSC-certification in global IFLs. Considering the environmental and social benefits of FSC certification, it warrants careful examination whether the benefits of protecting a limited subset of FSC-certified IFLs outweighs the cost of potentially reduced growth of the total FSC-certified area. Our data can provide a basis to facilitate stakeholder engagement for landscape-level IFL management.

FSC-certified forest management benefits large mammals compared to non-FSC

More than a quarter of the world’s tropical forests are exploited for timber1. Logging impacts biodiversity in these ecosystems, primarily through the creation of forest roads that facilitate hunting for wildlife over extensive areas. Forest management certification schemes such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) are expected to mitigate impacts on biodiversity, but so far very little is known about the effectiveness of FSC certification because of research design challenges, predominantly limited sample sizes2,3. Here we provide this evidence by using 1.3 million camera-trap photos of 55 mammal species in 14 logging concessions in western equatorial Africa. We observed higher mammal encounter rates in FSC-certified than in non-FSC logging concessions. The effect was most pronounced for species weighing more than 10 kg and for species of high conservation priority such as the critically endangered forest elephant and western lowland gorilla. Across the whole mammal community, non-FSC concessions contained proportionally more rodents and other small species than did FSC-certified concessions. The first priority for species protection should be to maintain unlogged forests with effective law enforcement, but for logged forests our findings provide convincing data that FSC-certified forest management is less damaging to the mammal community than is non-FSC forest management. This study provides strong evidence that FSC-certified forest management or equivalently stringent requirements and controlling mechanisms should become the norm for timber extraction to avoid half-empty forests dominated by rodents and other small species.

PENERAPAN SERTIFIKASI FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL (FSC) SEBAGAI UPAYA PENINGKATAN DAYA SAING ECO-PRODUCT DI KAWASAN ASIA-PASIFIK

This research explains efforts to increase the competitiveness of eco-products in the Asia-Pacific region through the implementation of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for processed forest products in the Asia-Pacific. A descriptive qualitative research method of literature study, as well as a pluralism approach and an international private regime perspective were used. The research results show that FSC offers a reliable solution for sustainable forest management through the implementation of two certifications, namely Chain of Custody (COC-FSC) and Forest Management (FM-FSC) which can help all interest groups to convince consumers that their production comes from processed wood. sourced from forests that are responsible both from an environmental, economic and social perspective. This FSC certification can increase the competitiveness of eco-products in the Asia-Pacific region

The Role of Multistakeholder Initiatives in the Radicalization of Resistance: The Forest Stewardship Council and the Mapuche Conflict in Chile

AbstractMulti‐stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) that address sustainability concerns have grown in importance in recent years. These private governance measures involving market, state and civil society actors aim to resolve disagreements between stakeholders through stakeholder engagement practices. However, our empirical study of the Mapuche conflict in Chile shows how a multi‐stakeholder initiative contributed to the radicalization of a protest movement leading to an escalation of violence that left all actors worse off. The implementation of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme, perhaps the best known MSI, exacerbated existing political discontent among the Indigenous Mapuche peoples who were resisting the expansion of industrial forest on their lands in southern Chile. Our findings indicate that MSIs cannot address the needs of marginalized stakeholders and may further undermine their interests. Our analysis enhances our understanding of the outcomes of MSIs by describing processes of radicalization as well as the role of the state in conflicts. The FSC certification scheme was incapable of addressing the key Mapuche demand for land rights. Instead, it raised false expectations, which coupled with corporate irresponsibility and state repression led to an escalation of violence. The increasing reliance on private governance measures in natural resource management, especially in countries of the so‐called Global South, can further exacerbate existing conflicts and hence it is important to understand how and why MSIs lead to negative outcomes.

Evaluation of forest cover loss in properties in the Sierra Madre Occidental, State of Durango, Mexico, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council

Currently, most of the world's forests are governed by policies and regulations that contribute to sustainable forest management. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a voluntary, non-governmental mechanism, proposes a market-based international certification scheme whose mission is to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management. Despite the broad scope of the Principles and Criteria of this scheme, there is limited empirical evidence and a lack of rigorous evaluation in relation to the real impact on forest ecosystems. In order to generate evidence to contribute to the discussion, 42 properties (covering a total area of 1.1 Mill. ha) in northern Mexico, with and without FSC certification, were identified and evaluated in the period between 1986 and 2012. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences (p = 0.14) in forest cover loss between certified and non-certified properties for the period before the properties joined this scheme. Similarly, for the nine-year period after certification, there were no significant differences (p = 0.23) between the two groups. This indicates that the certification scheme has not resulted in significant additional reductions in forest cover loss in certified forest areas. It is therefore important to review the standards imposed and the evaluation methods used in the scheme, in order to identify the real environmental impacts on forest resources and, if necessary, to implement rigorous and reliable methodologies, such as remote sensing tools, to continuously analyze the forest resource in the long term.

Inviting oversight: Effects of forest certification on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

In the American tropics, logging is almost always highly selective, leaving most of the forest standing and available for future harvest under sustainable forest management. However, forest that has been logged is often more accessible to deforestation agents such as farmers. Thus, areas legally designated for sustainable forest management in reality may be more susceptible to illegal deforestation. Third-party certification of sustainable forest management is one strategy for protecting such forest. In this paper, we estimate the effect of certification by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) on deforestation, drawing on data from the years 2001 to 2019. We observe strong selection effects resulting in systematic differences between certified forest areas and other forest areas designated for sustainable forest management, and we find that after controlling for those selection effects, inviting oversight by FSC reduces the probability of deforestation. Our study design compares forests “treated” with FSC certification to “control” forests designated for sustainable forest management but not (yet) certified in the two Brazilian states of Pará and Rondônia. Adopting pixel-based analyses, we first create a matched sample of treated and control pixels and then estimate GLMM models, with two-way fixed effects (TWFE) models as a robustness check.We find that where forest managers have obtained certification and thus invited oversight by FSC auditors, rates of forest loss are lower (although the results are not fully robust across regions). The estimated effects vary across regions, likely due to varying socioeconomic and policy contexts and competing land uses. We conclude that especially in settings of low governance capacity and high deforestation pressure, certification can contribute to long-term forest conservation by reducing deforestation rates.

Community and industrial forest concessions: Are they effective at reducing forest loss and does FSC certification play a role?

This paper examines the role of community forest management coupled with mandatory forest certification in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR). Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification aims to promote sustainable forest practices and increase economic returns for harvesting certified timber through price premiums gained through eco-labeling and specialized access to international markets. Guatemala established community and industrial forest concessions in the reserve as a way to stem rampant deforestation in the region in the 1990s. Concessions are required to obtain FSC certification to maintain their harvesting rights to the forest. The communities that manage the concessions vary across a number of cultural and socio-demographic characteristics, such as income, educational attainment, and previous forest experience. Some community concession members have lived in the region for multiple generations and have historically depended on the forest for their livelihoods, while other groups are comprised of more recent migrants that come primarily from agricultural backgrounds. The differences among the community forest groups, along with the private industrial concessions, allow for a robust examination of the impact of forest certification across different institutional approaches to forest management. Using Hansen’s forest loss data from 2000 to 2017 for Guatemala, we employ a random effects model to compare the effectiveness of the community and industrial concessions in reducing deforestation compared to a matched control group. Additionally, we test whether the benefit of increased market access that comes with FSC certification further decreases deforestation. Our findings suggest that sustainable forest management practices have continued to reduce forest loss in the MBR, just as well, if not more so than the industrial concessions, but the impact varies based on community characteristics. The market access component of FSC certification also impacts deforestation, although the effect is small.

Development and validation of a scale to measure the benefits of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification

This study aimed to present the development and validation of a scale to assess the benefits of FSC certification. A study of this kind was not found in the literature, making the application innovative, especially for the Brazilian context. The variables to compose the scale were built through a systematic review of the literature, as well as interviews with those responsible for certification in the investigated companies and on-site observation. Further, based on the results of a survey, the scale was validated through principal component analysis. The results revealed the existence of two factors for the economic dimension and three factors for the social dimension. In conclusion, the scale is an alternative for empirical investigations and applied work in organizations, and can guide measures aimed at enhancing the benefits of certification. Moreover, as this scale was built following theoretically robust parameters, constitutes a model to be tested in studies with similar characteristics.

Global assessment of FSC forest management certification auditing through analysis of accreditation reports

One important initiative to incentivise improvement of forest management that could help maintain forestry as a feasible land use while realising socio-environmental and economic benefits is forest management certification. The most prominent scheme is the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) that started implementation in 1994. FSC certification relies on two mechanisms to assess conformance with its standard: auditing of management practices based on agreed-upon principles, criteria, and indicators; and accreditation to assess the quality of the audit process. Addressing the scant research on outcomes of accreditation activities, the goal of this study is to examine the findings raised against Certification Bodies (CABs) by Assurance Services International assessors during their accreditation evaluations regarding the quality of auditing FSC forest management certification around the world. The content of all 141 publicly available assessments reports elaborated between 2013 and 2019 was analysed and the 454 identified findings (i.e., non-conformities and opportunities for improvement) were categorised utilising an innovative framework based on key desirable attributes of the audit process to capture certification-related changes on-the-ground. Europe and Asia have seen the largest number of accreditation efforts through the study period, but no differences among regions were identified in terms of the mean number of findings per assessment. The results indicate a possible lesser effectiveness of the compliance assessments when compared with the witness assessments. Accreditation activities allow to capture major failures in essential audit-related activities: auditors’ decisions, ability of auditors to collect, interpret, and synthesise evidence, as well as making reports publicly accessible. Availability of information regarding accreditation processes and the analysis of the accreditation reports can assist in grounding learning processes to improve accreditation activities and the practice of forest management auditing. The accumulated experiences can have positive consequences for forests, as well as beyond forestry, due to the broad coverage of certification labels across sectors and commodities.

Internationalisation of South African companies in the hardwood industry in the European market

Orientation: Export opportunities, internationalization, have been prioritised by South African Trade and Industry in order to promote economic growth. Research purpose: It is critical for the expansion of organisations to consider internationalisation when there are prospects for expanding trade activities in already existing and sometimes firmly established markets. Motivation for the study: Upon entering an international market competitively, a clear understanding of all factors impacting on profitability and sustainability of the organisation strategic endeavour, is required. Research design, approach and method: A case study research design was selected for this study. The parameters presented a large role player in the hardwood industry and export trade at the time of the data gathering. Qualitative research approach represented the data collecting process as observational and specifically perceptible. The data acquired from participants in their natural environment and preference given to the ways in which individuals interpret their social world. Secondary data was used. Main findings: Belgium’s market size for hardwood products is greater than the consumption indicating an over-supply, whereas Germany’s supply and demand are exactly equal. The Netherlands’ demand for wood is greater than the supply. Practical/managerial implications: Although all the European Countries are possible export markets for wood, it is recommended rather to concentrate exports of wood products to the Netherlands. Contribution/value-add: The international market for hardwood in Europe is available for exports from SA. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification awarded South African plantations is sufficient to serve as the requirements stipulated by both the European countries and CITES.

The costs and benefits of certification for community forests managed by traditional peoples in south-eastern Tanzania

Community forests managed by indigenous, traditional, and local communities must be environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable for their benefits to persist. Certification of community forests communicates that products harvested there meet these standards. However, certification of community forests has been limited, particularly in Africa. Financial analysis, review of audit reports, and a survey of forest managers were used to explore monetary and non-monetary social costs and benefits of Forest Stewardship Council certification for 14 timberproducing community forests managed by traditional peoples in south-eastern Tanzania. Direct monetary costs of certification outweighed monetary benefits, threatening economic sustainability. Nevertheless, forest managers believed that community forests should retain certification because they valued its non-monetary benefits, which were consistent with the Forest Stewardship Council's social principles. This study demonstrates that certification of community forests can help indigenous and traditional peoples ensure safe working conditions, strengthen forest tenure rights, sustain multiple community benefits, and protect culturally-important sites, however, financial barriers persist.

Regional and Place-Based Institutional Drivers of Practice Adoption: The FSC Certificate

Scholars who study the adoption of management practices using institutional theory have rarely examined geographically bound institutional pressures. In this paper, we consider the impact of regional institutional pressures on firm adoption decisions and we use a place-based approach to examine firm headquarter (HQ) distance from a country’s capital as a moderator to the above relationship. We, therefore, highlight regional institutional pressures and the differential responsiveness to such pressures by remote and, perhaps, isolated firms within the region, given the place where they are headquartered. Our analysis is based on 291 paper and paperboard manufacturers from five European countries at the NUTS-2 level who were considering adopting the Forest Stewardship Council certificate between 2000-2010. We find confirmation for most of our hypotheses at the regional level. Most importantly, we find that as HQ distance from capital increases, a) regional competitive institutional pressures reverse their impact on adoption decisions, b) regional social institutional pressures become more pronounced and c) regional regulatory institutional pressures also reverse their impact. Our paper contributes to institutional theory by examining fine-grained institutional drivers of geographical adoption decisions, thereby paying attention to heterogeneity (rather than homogeneity) in the mechanisms behind such decisions. It also contributes to the debate of conflicting institutional pressures facing firms by distinguishing the regional from the local levels of analysis. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study in detail and we offer future research avenues for institutional theory, institutional logics and the field of sustainability.

Forest Stewardship Council Certification of Forest Plantation Management in the Southern Cone of America

Forest Stewardship Council Certification of Forest Plantation Management in the Southern Cone of America

Seeing the trees for the forest: Adoption dynamics of the Forest Stewardship Council

AbstractThe integration of voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) into public policy (i.e., their institutionalization) is generally considered a driver for their adoption. However, although the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a leading VSS in forest governance, has been increasingly institutionalized, its adoption has been stagnating recently. To understand what drives this stagnation, we analyze the adoption of FSC certification globally and at the country level over a 20‐year period. We show that the global stagnation in FSC adoption hides distinct adoption dynamics at country level. We highlight three types of country‐level adoption dynamics: stagnation, growth, and decline. Based on selected descriptive country case studies, we explore factors driving these dynamics, with a focus on the role of governments and competition with other VSS.

Networks and institutions in sustainable forest use: Evidence from South-East Tanzania

Despite growing interest in the impacts of both forest certification and networks in effective natural resource management, there is little literature that brings these two lines of inquiry together. Combining longitudinal remote sensing and village-level forest governance network data, we estimate Cox proportional hazard models predicting the risk of forest loss within 100-square meter forest plots in areas that eventually came under Forest Stewardship Council certification. Our models indicate Forest Stewardship Council certification substantially reduces deforestation, despite that the system is not explicitly designed to do so. While villages with ties to civil society organizations also tend to experience reduced deforestation, those with ties to private sector organizations experience more forest loss. Further, we find that forest loss declines as the share of closed triangles in villages’ governance networks increases. Our results indicate network structure may complement Forest Stewardship Council certification’s impact on forest cover and account for some reduction in deforestation previously attributed to certification itself.

Revisiting Forest Certification in Sri Lanka: The Forest Management and Export Wood-Based Manufacturing Sector Perspectives

There are discussions and debates surrounding forest certification in developing countries. In this study, we surveyed 50 forest-based companies in Sri Lanka (43 wood-based manufacturers and 7 plantation companies) to ascertain their participation in forest certification, current and future forest certification trends, as well as their satisfaction with the performance of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in its economic, environmental, and social aspects, using an importance–performance analysis (IPA). Study results indicate that certified companies typically focus on exports and supplying raw materials for value-added exporters. The customer demand/signaling mechanism appears to be the primary driver of FSC certification in Sri Lanka. Forest certification was found to be helpful for companies to access new markets, keep market share, and sell products in existing markets. Results further indicate that price premiums for FSC-certified products exist, though they may not always be significant. However, certification positively influences sales volume and reduces business risks via securing continuous orders from the buyers. The IPA results further indicate that FSC certification has substantially improved company images by positioning certified companies as socially responsible businesses, while helping to create better business stakeholder relationships. FSC certification was found to have weak links in improving on-the-ground environmental performances of certified companies. Study findings have implications for the FSC certification scheme and independent certifiers, enabling them to identify the areas of FSC certification with significant performance gaps.

Acacia Plantation Development and the Configuration of Tree Farmers’ Agricultural Assets and Land Management—A Survey in Central Vietnam

Since 1990 acacia-based tree plantations have fast expanded in Vietnam, now supporting a multi-billion-dollar export-oriented wood industry which is transforming from woodchip production to value-added products. Within this dynamic context, tree farmer associations have started to produce sawlogs under FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. In this paper, we retrace the development of plantation assets, investigating farmers’ current livelihoods and land management, specifically considering various aspects of sustainability. We interviewed 180 tree farmers in three districts (lowland–upland regions) of Thừa Thiên Huế Province, including sawlog producers with and without FSC and smallholder producers of woodchips. Acacia planting in ‘barren lands’ was initiated through state programs in the 1990s (low-/midlands) and 2010s (uplands). Farmers now producing FSC sawlogs were among the first to gain forestland tenure; they now own large plantations (on good terrain), are in tune with policies and maintain resources/capacities to adopt management in line with FSC standards. Yet, most farmers also retain plots for easy-to-manage and low-risk woodchip production. Soil/vegetation conservation depends on farmers’ status/capacities and environmental awareness; FSC membership added economic-political benefits. Findings are discussed within a regional historic context. Plantations contribute to economic development, but issues persist/emerged in terms of land equity and environmental governance, risks (e.g., plant pathogens), and spaces/impetus for farm-based innovation and adaptiveness.

Perception of Brazilian Companies on the Potential and Concrete Benefits Resulting from the FSC Certification

Concern with the adequate use of natural resources has increased the relevance of products certifications in the wood supply chain, especially in companies established in Brazil, the cradle of one of the largest forest reserves. This study investigates the perception of companies on the potential and concrete benefits resulting from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. To achieve this, a multiple case study was carried out with data triangulation through semi-structured interviews, documentary research and non-participant observation. Four FSC certified industries established in Brazil were analyzed. The results showed that of the four companies participating in the study, only one did not achieve the desired economic benefits, whereas all organizations accomplished the advantages of the other areas of sustainability, both the social and environmental.