NATIONAL CONTROLLED WOOD RISK ASSESSMENT

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1 DEVELOPING A NATIONAL CONTROLLED WOOD RISK ASSESSMENT Forest Stewardship Council Canada

2 Revising the Controlled Wood System At the 2011 FSC General Assembly, the highest decision making body of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the FSC Membership passed Policy Motion 51 to Strengthen the Controlled Wood System. The motion includes: A revision of the Controlled Wood Standard (FSC-STD ); An evaluation of existing risk assessments; The phase-out of company developed Risk Assessments; The development of National Controlled Wood Risk Assessments, by December 31st, Why Develop a National Risk Assessment? Development of a National Risk Assessment (NRA) provides a consistent application of our Standards & Policies and helps our Certificate Holders better avoid products from: Illegally harvested forests; Forests harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights; Forests in which high conservation values are threatened; Forests that are being converted to plantations or nonforest use; or Forests in which genetically modified trees are planted. Development & Process FSC Canada is currently developing a National Risk Assessment in accordance with FSC-PRO The Development and Approval of a FSC National Risk Assessment and FSC-PRO a FSC National Risk Assessment Framework. The key elements to developing a National Risk Assessment include: 1. Establish NRA Working Group 2. Develop detailed NRA Workplan 3. Review proposed indicators, guidance and thresholds with NRA WG 4. Complete a list of all stakeholders for NRA development 5. Compile sources of information for each CW category 6. Determine appropriate scale to for assessment of each CW category 7. Review analysis completed by FSC consultants under the Centralized National Risk Assessment 8. Identify partners for data management, mapping, consultants 9. Determine location and logistics for an NRA field test 10. Hold face to face and virtual NRA WG meetings 11. Engagement with Certificate Holders, Certification Bodies, and government 12. Align NRA development with revision of the National Standard 13. Determine draft risk designations for each CW category

3 14. Present Draft National Risk Assessment to FSC Canada BOD for approval (preconsultation) 15. Distribute NRA draft assessment for 60 day public consultation 16. Complete consultation report for public review 17. Revise NRA to address comments received and consider second public consultation 18. Submit NRA to FSC International for approval National Risk Assessment Working Group A National Risk Assessment Working Group (NRA WG) has been established to provide strategic and technical input into the development of Canada's National Risk Assessment. This Group consists of highly regarded professionals from FSC Canada s four chambers (Aboriginal, Social, Environmental and Economic). The following individuals represent the National Risk Assessment Working Group: Aboriginal Chamber Larry Joseph Tawney Lem Independent Consultant Independent Consultant & Auditor Social Chamber Jamal Kazi Janette Bulkan Independent Consultant & Auditor Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia Economic Chamber Line Roy Samuel Elkins Certification Coordinator, Tembec Independent, Senior Consultant, Strategic HSE Systems Inc. Environmental Chamber Peter Wood Chuck Rumsey Director of Terrestrial Campaigns, CPAWS-BC The Nature Conservancy, Senior Conservation Advisor The NRA Working Group will ensure that FSC Canada s National Risk Assessment is: Aligned with FSC International s Centralized National Risk Assessment Process; Critical concepts such as Free, Prior and Informed Consent and Intact Forest Landscapes are in-line with our revised Forest Management Standard; Complete risk determinations for the 5 Controlled Wood Categories; Work with FSC Canada to seek proactive input from stakeholders; and Review stakeholder feedback with the goal of achieving consensus.

4 If the NRA Working Group cannot come to consensus within in an agreed upon time, the FSC Canada Board of Directors will make the final decision on assigning risk designations. Public Consultation A 60-day consultation period will take place for each of the five Controlled Wood categories. During this period, FSC Canada will hold webinars in French and English detailing the proposed risk for each category and solicit feedback. FSC Canada will respond to all stakeholders who participate in the consultation and indicate how their comments were taken into account. A stakeholder consultation report will be completed and publically available on FSC Canada s website with the exception of stakeholders that have requested comments to remain confidential. The need for additional public consultations, prior to the development of the final draft, shall be at the discretion of the NRA WG, taking into account the comments received during the public consultation. The period for consultation following the first draft will be 30 days.

5 Annex 1: FSC IC Policy Motion 51 At the 2011 FSC General Assembly, the FSC Membership passed Policy Motion 51 to Strengthen the Controlled Wood System. The motion includes a number of changes to the Controlled Wood System, including a provision that company-developed Controlled Wood risk assessments will no longer be approved after December 31, 2012 and all company-developed risk assessments will expire by December 31, These changes will require FSC-certified companies wishing to make claims regarding Controlled Wood to source from any one of the following: Geographic areas that have been determined to be low risk through a National Risk Assessment (an FSC-approved risk assessment developed by a national office); Forest Management Units (FMUs) that have been verified to be low risk for all Controlled Wood categories through a combination of an FSC-approved national risk assessment and a verification program conformant with Annex 3 of the Controlled Wood standard FSC-STD Note that FSC-IC plans to revise Annex 3 as part of this initiative; FSC-certified FMUs that produce Controlled Wood through FSC-STD ; Controlled Wood from an FSC Chain of Custody (COC) source that sells verified Controlled Wood. FSC Canada intends to follow in the development and approval of an FSC Canada National Risk Assessment. The risk assessment will include risk determinations ( low risk or specified risk ) for specific geographic areas based on the level of threat posed by forest management activities to the five Controlled Wood risk categories: 1. illegally harvested wood 2. wood harvested in violation of traditional or civil rights 3. wood harvested from forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities 4. wood harvested from areas being converted from forests and other wooded ecosystems to plantations or non-forest uses 5. wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted The process will conform in its entirety to the formal procedures established by FSC-IC, FSC Controlled Wood Risk Assessments by FSC Accredited National Initiatives, National and Regional Offices, FSC-PRO v