Certification of Forest Contractors (CeFCo) Project Layman s Report

Transcription

1 Certification of Forest Contractors (CeFCo) Project Layman s Report Funded by ECO/08/238998/SI May

2 0. Summary In the last 20 years, forest certification has developed to become a widely-recognised and credible instrument for promoting responsible forest management around the world. However, small private forests have difficulty accessing certification for several reasons, among them the simple fact that Owners of small forest areas do not usually gain a regular income from the forest but are requested to pay annual fees for certification. It is anticipated that certification of forestry contractors could make it easier for small forest owners and managers to become certified, offering advantages to both contractors and forest owners. In essence, the contractor can document qualifications to fulfil the requirements for management of certified forests and the forest owner will face fewer challenges and thereby costs to become certified in first place. The present project was developed to test procedures that allow small, private forest owners to delegate forest management tasks to certified forest contractors. The intention is to simplify and facilitate the certification of forests in Europe. Certification standards have been reviewed in each of the project countries, and the requirements have been grouped into requirements that must be met by the forest contractors and the forest owners respectively. As a result of this, two check-lists (sub-standards) have been developed in Bulgaria, Denmark Portugal and Spain. In late 2010 and in 2011, the check-lists were used by selected contractors and forest owners both individuals and those organised in groups - in each pilot country, and the effectiveness was tested during a third party assessment. When the requirements of the standards were met, the forest owners and the contractors received a certificate. In Sweden and Latvia, other analysis was done to facilitate certification of contractors. Finally, information was shared and training conducted on the proposed model where certification tasks are shared between landowners and contractors through workshops attended by contractors, forest owners and other interested parties. In conclusion, tests have provided positive results in five countries and have shown that certified contractors can play an important role in facilitating the certification of small forest holdings. The requests for contractors to become certified were found to be readily applicable to serious contractors. One of the main areas in which contractors may help landowners is regarding documentation of the contractors licenses, contracts, and policies/procedures. More landowners will be able to benefit from certified contractors once more contractors are certified. Project manager: Jan Peter Feil, NEPCon Senior Auditor 2 CeFCo Project Layman s Report May 2012

3 1. Project Objectives 1.1. Background In the last 20 years, forest certification has developed to become a widely-recognised and credible instrument for promoting responsible forest management around the world, safeguarding important social and environmental values in the forest, while successfully linking responsible forest managers to responsible businesses and consumers. The number of forest owners who voluntarily opt to have their forests certified has been rapidly increased over the last two decades. At the beginning of 2010, 350 million ha of forest the equivalent of 17 per cent of the global production forests area was certified by one of the leading certification systems FSC or PEFC. But when we look at who is managing these areas and the sizes of each managed forest area, it is the large forest management areas that dominate, while significantly fewer small, family-owned forests have been certified. Some of the reasons why small private forests have difficulty accessing certification and certified markets include: Certification requirements are generally developed for large-scale, high impact forest operations. Many of the requirements can be challenging for smaller operations. Control of high impact operations: Owners of small forest holdings have in many cases only limited influence on the forest operations carried out by forestry contractors. Frequently, a forest owner who sells small quantities of wood does not have the knowledge required to ensure that the contractors follows all the certification requirements. Lack of certificates for green services available: forestry contractors themselves, with some exceptions, do not have a certificate to guarantee that they meet the requirement of forest certification when working on private forest land. Certification costs: Owners of small forest areas do not usually gain a regular income from the forest. On a 25 ha property, logging might be carried out every 5thor 10th year. Reducing the burden for meeting certification standards for small forest holdings should help reduce the cost of certification. This is particularly true of Europe, where 55 per cent of the forest area is owned by approximately 16 million private forest owners. At the same time, forestry contractors carry out many tasks and activities in forest management operations. To address this problem, NEPCon, the European Network of Forest Entrepreneurs (ENFE), and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have initiated the Certification of Forest Contractors (CeFCo) project to develop and test contractor certification. It is anticipated that 3

4 certification of forestry contractors could make it easier for small forest owners and managers to become certified, offering the following potential advantages to both contractors and forest owners: Certification is important to meet the demand of clients, within an overall trend of rising demand for certified Certification of the contractor demonstrating compliance with some operational and administrative requirements could decrease the number of items the landowner must prove compliance for; however the overall responsibility for compliance with all forest management standards must still remain with the forest owner Certification offers an opportunity to evaluate the forest management plan and practices, ensuring optimal conditions are reached for the environment, the company itself and the people working in and benefiting from the forest. In some cases, price premiums are paid for certified wood that would be of great benefit to smallholders; in Portugal for example, pulp producers pay a considerable premium for certified Eucalyptus. Certification can give contractors recognition as a green service provider through independent and credible party verification Objective The objective of the project was to develop and test procedures that allow small, private forest owners to delegate forest management tasks to certified forest contractors. The intention is to simplify and facilitate the certification of forests in Europe. Figure 1 illustrates the flow of information in a situation in a common situation today where a contractor works for several certified forest owners. Much of the information exchanged relates to work carried out by the contractor. Thus it is likely that certification body gathers information about the contractor s work several times while auditing those forest owners. The goal is to enable contractors to document that they fulfil the requirements of certification standards relevant to them. Under the proposed scenario where certified contractors are used (see figure 2), results in a more efficient way of gathering information, lowering auditing costs for the forest owner. And because the certified contractor commissioned ensures that certification requirements are met, less effort is required of the forest owner. A certified contractor benefits by documenting relevant performance in certified forests, and is likely to be preferred by certified forest owners. Additionally, certification ensures good business practices implemented and made visible to all of the contractor s clients also those which are not certified. 4 CeFCo Project Layman s Report May 2012

5 Figure 1: Current certification process. The certification body provides a service to the forest owners and collects information from individual forest owners during audit. Figure 2: Proposed certification process using certified forest contractors. The certification body uses information collected from the certified contractor when auditing the respective forest owners. 5

6 2. Method The activities of the project can be divided into three main areas: A. Analysis Certification standards have been reviewed in each of the project countries, and the requirements have been grouped into requirements that must be met by the forest contractors and the forest owners respectively. As a result of this, two check-lists (sub-standards) have been developed in Bulgaria, Denmark Portugal and Spain, (Figure 3). Figure 3: Analysis of standards B. Field tests In late 2010 and in 2011, the check-lists were used by selected contractors and forest owners both individuals and those organised in groups - in each pilot country, and the effectiveness was tested during a third-part assessment. When the requirements of the standards were met, the forest owners and the contractors received a certificate. The experiences gained through the process were documented to inform the discussion of contractor certification options (Figure 4). 6 CeFCo Project Layman s Report May 2012

7 Figure 4: Field tests conducted C. Awareness raising and training Information was shared and training conducted on the proposed model where certification tasks are shared between landowners and contractors through workshops attended by contractors and forest owners in Sweden, Denmark, Bulgaria, Portugal, and Spain (Figure 5). Information materials (brochures, updates, news) were shared at these events and made available on the project website ( Additionally, an analysis of market demand for FSC products published. Finally, national workshops were conducted. These included field visits to the forest, the sharing of experiences, and the presentation of more specific tools related to certification. Also, a Europeanlevel workshop was held to present project results and share information. The purpose was to ensure that project experiences were discussed and communicated widely within the Europe. Figure 5: Learning from experience 7

8 3. Results The project was designed to be implemented in five countries in order to capture how this concept would work within very different national contexts. By the beginning of 2012, good results have been achieved in all five pilot countries. In the other project countries Bulgaria, Portugal, Spain and Denmark the analysis of FSC and, when applicable, PEFC requirements, was made and combined with other relevant national-level guidelines and regulations for forest management. As a result check-lists were developed to specify a SmartLogging standard for contractors and a list of tasks for forest owners which can be delegated to contractors. Also, recommendations on how to simplify or improve the certification standards for small forest holdings were forwarded respectively to FSC and PEFC. In Denmark, tests resulted in the FSC certification of a forest owner group which was already PEFC certified. The certificate indicates which requirements can be delegated to contractors. In total five contractors were tested, and one of them decided to become certified according to the SmartLogging standard developed for Denmark. In Portugal, three contractors were tested but none of them have agreed to final certification at the time this report was written. One group of forest owners was certified according to FSC requirements. In Spain, five contractors were tested and two of them were certified by the time of writing this report. Three forest owners groups and one forest owner were evaluated and 3 of these received an FSC certificate. In Bulgaria, some initial delay was experienced, but by the end of the project an analysis was completed and tests of both forest owners and contractors has been initiated. In Sweden however, a different approach was taken given the country has already advanced in providing a different means to certify and verify the quality of contractors working in forests. This process has taken additional time and the main results achieved were made by SMF (Forest Machine Operators Association) which developed tools to certify +300 contractors to fulfil PEFC requirements. More contractors are planned to join the group of certified contractors in By the end of the project, field work will be done to check how far present systems of contractor certification in Sweden fulfil the requirements specified by PEFC and FSC. The results will be available at by the end of May In Latvia, one contractor was certified against a more simple version of a contractor certificate which at present does not include FSC or PEFC requirements. All contractors and forest owners who have achieved certification have been listed on the project website. Forest owners certified through the project are able to communicate their achievement in accordance to the FSC trademark rules. Contractors certified through the project according to the SmartLogging standard are able to promote their achievement by using the Rainforest Alliance logo. These three logos appear increasingly on products around the world demonstrating sustainable forestry and land use management. At the beginning of the project, a reference group was invited to a kick-off meeting in Copenhagen to comment upon the project approach to achieve good results. This event was the start of a 8 CeFCo Project Layman s Report May 2012

9 series of meetings and workshops in all countries where training and information sharing was conducted to the target groups. Near the end of the project a workshop in Lisbon was held to share the results and lessons learned, and to identify the next steps to be taken by the project team. Besides establishing the project website a number of press-releases have been distributed and articles for magazines and newspapers have been published. As a direct result of the project, NEPCon is now offering certification of forest contractors according to the Rainforest Alliance SmartLogging standard, which will make it both easier and cheaper for private forest owners to become certified. FSC is considering options for contractors to become certified under the FSC system. The FSC has yet to make a decision regarding contractor certification, and has developed a discussion paper that explores several options for accommodating contractor certification in the FSC system. The first option would allow contractors to become members of FSC-certified groups of forest owners. The second option would allow for approval of other contractor certification systems (e.g. SmartLogging) as evidence of compliance for landowners with some FSC forest certification requirements. The third option would be the creation of an FSC certificate for contractors. FSC will continue to field test these options in other parts of the world and obtain broad stakeholder feedback before making a decision (likely in 2013 or 2014). In conclusion, tests have been implemented in five countries with good results and have shown that certified contractors can play an important role in facilitating the certification of small forest holdings. The requests for contractors to become certified have shown to be readily applicable to serious contractors. One of the main areas in which contractors may help landowners is regarding documentation of the contractors licenses, contracts, and policies/procedures. More landowners will be able to benefit from certified contractors once more contractors are certified. 9

10 Project partners FSC, ENFE and NEPCon joined forces to develop an innovative concept to certify forestry contractors. The project is designed to reduce the costs and workload for small forest owners to achieve FSC certification, and ultimately boost the area of forests certified in Europe. Nature, Ecology and People Consult (NEPCon) NEPCon is a non-profit organization working to encourage and support sustainable use of natural resources worldwide Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) The FSC is an independent, nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world s forests. The European Network of Forest Entrepreneurs (ENFE) ENFE is the European umbrella organization of forestry contractors. Members are the National Contractors Associations. ENFE represents the entrepreneurial sector to policy makers in individual countries and on European level. 10 CeFCo Project Layman s Report May