Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management and Trade in Forest Products and Services

Transcription

1 Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management and Trade in Forest Products and Services A Background paper for the Global Project: Impact Assessment of Forest Products Trade in Promotion of Sustainable Forest Management GCP/INT/775/JPN Report prepared by Tiina Vähänen The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. 1

2 Contents: Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Criteria and Indicators to Evaluate Progress towards Sustainable Forest Management 2.1 Sustainable Forest Management 2.2 What is meant by Criteria and Indicators Countries Participate in Eco-regional C&I Processes 2.4 Tool to Guide Forest Policies and Management Practices 2.5 Status of Development and Implementation of C&I 3. Various Relationships between C&I and Trade 3.1 Trade-related Aspects in the C&I Formulations 3.2 FLEG(T) Initiatives 3.3 Certification 4. Other Implications of C&I to Forest Products Trade 5. Conclusions 2

3 Abstract This paper describes the development and use, over the 12 past years, of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (C&I) and their linkages to trade in forest products. It is widely recognized that the development and implementation of C&I are helping to build a common understanding of sustainable forest management (SFM) and that they provide a useful too to reach and monitor progress towards SFM. The tool has a wide range of applications, including to guide national decision-making, for example by linking C&I to national forest programme development and monitoring; and as a framework for reporting on countries status and trend in forests and forest management both for national and international purposes. C&I tool also has a wide potential in promoting the trade of forest products from sustainably managed forests. For example, it provides a scientifically sound and politically acceptable basis or point of reference for the development of certification standards. It can also provide a useful framework, without setting standards and without certification, to arrange forest-related information needed for national and international forest policy development and decision-making on trade. C&I may also provide a prominent bridging tool contributing to the international deliberations on forest law enforcement, governance and trade. Key words: Criteria and indicators, sustainable forest management, trade, certification 1. Introduction Developments in forestry over the past decade have focused on progress towards sustainable forest management (SFM), an approach that encompasses environmental, economic and socio-cultural objectives of management in line with the Forest Principles 1 adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 and the proposals for action adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). The specific toolset developed to describe and help monitor progress (or lack of it) towards SFM, in particular at the national level, is called criteria and indicators (C&I). The development of this tool within regional country-driven initiatives started prior to UNCED, by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) to demonstrate members commitment to achieve sustainable management of tropical forests. It has since spread world-wide. At the international level, the C&I tool has been recognized widely, including in IPF/IFF and the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF), International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC), FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) and Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and it has also been brought to the attention of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Trade and Environment. Currently, it appears prominent among the only few common denominators in the international forest policy deliberations. It is increasingly used as a systematic tool to guide practical action towards SFM and to monitor progress. Consequently, it can also have many implications to trade, market access and certification in particular. 1 The full title is the Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement on Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forest. 1

4 Although negotiations for the successor agreement of the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA) are at a very early stage, there seems to be general consensus that while the new instrument should remain a commodity agreement, emerging issues would also need to be included. A number of countries have indicated that the new agreement should address C&I. Whether and how this should happen, is open. In the meantime, the decisions of ITTC and the work of ITTO seem to pave the road towards coherence and increased interface between trade and SFM. C&I is one of ITTO s major activities and member countries remain committed to the ITTO s Year 2000 Objective which stated that all tropical timber products traded internationally by Member States should originate from sustainably managed forests. While international trade of forest products is regulated through WTO and regional trade agreements as well as ITTA, SFM is not. There is no global legally binding instrument on forests. International guidance to countries is therefore provided by soft law means, such as the Forest Principles and proposals for action of IPF, IFF and UNFF. In addition, regional political commitments to SFM guide national action, such as the Central American Forest Convention and associated Lepaterique Process on C&I, the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE) and associated Pan-European Process on C&I, and Conference of Ministers in Charge of Forests in Central Africa (COMIFAC, also known as the Yaoundé process). Non-tariff barriers, and whether or not certification counts as such, have not been widely discussed at WTO. Certification has been adopted enthusiastically in some quarters, notably by many environmental non-governmental organizations and also some governments, particularly in developed countries. However, it continues to be perceived by many developing countries as a trade barrier that reduces their competitiveness, in particular in Africa. 2. Criteria and indicators to evaluate progress towards sustainable forest management 2.1 Sustainable forest management The broad introduction of the concept of SFM can be traced to the Forest Principles and Chapter 11 of Agenda 21, adopted at UNCED in Principle 2b specifically states that: Forest resources and forest lands should be sustainably managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. The concept has continued to evolve since 1992 through the international forest policy dialogue (IPF/IFF/UNFF) and a large number international and regional initiatives and meetings, translating the concept into practice and elaborating a tool to measure progress, called C&I. 2.2 What is meant by Criteria and Indicators C&I form a tool for assessing trends in forest conditions and forest management. They provide an implicit definition of what SFM means and a common framework for monitoring, assessing and reporting on progress towards SFM. C&I approach forests as ecosystems that provide a wide array of environmental, economic and social benefits to society. 2

5 Criteria define the range of forest values to be addressed and the essential elements or principles of forest management against which the sustainability of forests may be assessed. Each criterion relates to a key element of sustainability, and may be described by one or more indicators. Indicators measure specific quantitative and qualitative attributes (and reflect forest values as seen by different interest groups) and help monitor trends in the sustainability of forest management over time Countries Participate in Eco-regional C&I Processes Nine eco-regional forestry processes 2 involving 149 countries, whose combined forest area equals 97.5 percent of the total forest area in the world, have been established since 1992 for the development and implementation of C&I. Most of them meet on a regular basis to refine the concept of SFM through the development of C&I, and to follow up progress through country reporting. The nine C&I processes were established by forestry-related governmental representatives, agencies and institutions, in many cases involving NGOs. (FAO, 2003a) 2.4 Tool to Guide Forest Policies and Management Practices In addition to providing a framework for monitoring, assessment and reporting on progress towards SFM, C&I have many applications. These include a framework for: setting goals and operational guidelines for SFM; monitoring the effectiveness of national forests programmes, (policy and strategic planning); communicating progress to policy makers and the public; certification; and building bridges among stakeholders. In many countries, the development of C&I has been the first exercise ever to bringing different stakeholder around the same table, to discuss and determine what SFM in the specific condition of their country and how to monitor it. IPF, in 1997, also emphasized multiple roles of the C&I tool, including its potential to clarify issues related to forest certification and marketing of forest products even though C&I are not performance standards. (CICI-2003, Rametsteiner and Wijewardana, 2002) The European example demonstrates the wide use of the C&I tool. The Pan-European Criteria and Indicators, developed under the MCPFE, are considered an instrument for measuring and reporting progress towards SFM in Europe as a whole, based on the commitments (resolutions) made at the Helsinki ministerial conference in 1993 on sustainable management and conservation of biological diversity in European forests. On the basis of these C&I, a complementary instrument, the Pan European Operational Level Guidelines were also developed and adopted in the Lisbon ministerial conference in These guidelines are designed for sub-national application at a practical level and represent a common framework of recommendations for SFM that can be used on a voluntary basis. They contain specifications for performance of forest management and were later adapted as the regional framework for voluntary national certification standards endorsed by the Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) system. (Rametsteiner and Wijewardana, 2002) 2 Temperate and boreal forests are covered by the Pan-European and the Montreal processes; arid zone forests by the Dry Zone Africa Process, the Near East Process and the Regional Initiative for Dry Forests in Asia; and tropical moist forests are covered by the Lepaterique Process of Central America; the Tarapoto Proposal, ITTO and the African Timber Organization (ATO). (Some of the regionally based processes cover also other forest types in the region.) Several countries are member of more than one process. 3

6 In a number of countries around the world, C&I have been incorporated to national forest legislation and national forest policy processes (national forest programmes). An example is the requirement for management plans, which are now being incorporated in national forest legislation in a number of developing countries, based upon identifying the area of managed forests or similar type of indicator as part of an important attribute to sustainability. National-level C&I are being complemented by the development and implementation of C&I at the forest management unit level in a number of the processes as well as by other actors such as NGOs and the private sector. The major driving force for the development of C&I at the forest management unit level is certification. 2.5 Status of Development and Implementation of C&I The conceptual development of C&I has gone a long way since UNCED through the criteria and indicator processes, complemented by a number of intergovernmental meetings such as the FAO/ITTO expert consultation in Rome in 1995, the International Conference on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (ISCI) in Helsinki in 1996, and the most recent International Conference on the Contribution of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CICI 2003) in Guatemala City, and subsequent IPF/IFF/UNFF recommendations on the development and implementation of C&I. CICI-2003 demonstrated a much increased understanding of the issue of SFM and its potential contribution to wider issues of development and the place and role of C&I as a tool for reaching and monitoring SFM, with a view to improved policy and field level practices. On the basis of earlier recognition that the sets of criteria in all nine processes are very similar, the conference agreed first time ever at an international forum - that SFM comprises the following seven common thematic areas: (1) extent of forest resources, (2) biological diversity, (3) forest health and vitality, (4) productive functions of forest resources, (5) protective functions of forest resources, (6) socio-economic functions, and (7) legal, policy and institutional framework. Indicators among the nine eco-regional initiatives vary widely owing to differences in forest types and environmental, social, economic, political and cultural conditions, as would be expected. At the global level, the update of global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA), planned for 2005, will be structured according to the above thematic areas, yet providing its own set of globally compatible variables. Thus clear linkages have now been established between politically defined broad goals for SFM (the thematic areas) in various regional C&I processes and the FRA as an existing global reporting process on forest resources. Furthermore, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) is working on streamlining forest-related reporting to international processes and reducing reporting burden to countries, on the basis of these common thematic areas of SFM. 4

7 The degree of implementation of C&I at the national level varies considerably. Many countries around the world have developed their own national C&I on the basis of the regional set; collect data for indicators; and use them to report on the status and trends in their forests and forest management to help guide and monitor forest policy development (national forest programmes) and management practices. Although the usefulness of C&I is recognized world-wide, in many developed countries, action is limited by the lack of trained personnel or institutional capacity for collecting and analysing information and for following up the development and implementation of improved management prescriptions based on the information obtained. Three out of nine regional C&I processes (including more than 80 countries), namely MCPFE, Montreal Process and ITTO, are reporting on status and trends in their respective regions, through country information on indicators. 3. Various Relationships between C&I and Trade Trade-related aspects, especially certification, have a significant impetus for the development of C&I, both nationally and internationally. Although trade is one of the driving forces in support of SFM, yet trade and SFM are far apart due to lack of sufficient both national and international coordination and communication between those that deal with forestry and those that deal with trade. In ITTO, the interface between the two is probably the closest. 3.1 Trade- related Aspects in the C&I Formulations An example of linkages between trade and C&I is the number of indicators of SFM that are related to trade. Examination of all nine regional/international sets of C&I demonstrated that two criteria (thematic areas of SFM), namely socio-economic functions of forests and productive functions of forests, include indicators related to trade. Trade-related issues to be monitored at the national level, include: quantity and volume of wood and non-wood forest products traded in the domestic and market the international markets; imports and exports of forest products; existence and extent to which the economic and policy frameworks support investment and taxation policies, which permit the flow of capital in and out of the forest sector in response to market signals; and existence and extent to which economic policy framework and financial instruments support non-discriminatory trade policies for forest products. 3.2 FLEG(T) Initiatives Many international organizations, committees and groups are addressing the issue of forest law enforcement and trade (FLEGT). Some of these initiatives seem to be moving forward to approve that illegal timber should no longer be accepted by importing countries. 5

8 Then of course the question arises whether or not this is compatible with the WTO rules. Furthermore, the extent and causes illegal logging and trade are not well known. The recent ministerial level meeting of the Africa Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Process (AFLEG) (13-16 October 2003, Yaoundé, Cameroon) recognized, similarly to the FLEG East Asia Ministerial Conference in September 2001, that adequate legal and institutional frameworks and their effective implementation are preconditions for SFM. FLEGT initiatives also stress making use of and strengthening existing instruments to achieve SFM, including effective national forest laws and enforcement, national forest programmes and C&I. It is acknowledged that certification, while a prominent market tool to promote SFM, can only provide a partial solution to combat illegal activities. However, since "legality" is among the main principles in certification, it also means that the C&I framework for SFM is already very close to the debate on trade, trade distortions, trade barriers etc. 3.3 Certification Forest certification, although not yet widely applied in developing countries, is a marketbased tool for third party auditing of sustainable management practices in production forests. In June 2003, the world had 160 million hectares of certified forests, equivalent to 3.5 % of the world s forests (Rametsteiner, 2003). Greatest interest in certification continues to come from Europe and to some extend North America. The Pan-European Forest Certification (PEFC) scheme and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) are the two main international certification schemes. FSC, the Malaysian national certification scheme, and Kerhout are the main certification schemes operating in the tropics. (Atyi and Simula, 2002; Rametsteiner, 2003) Appropriate relationship between C&I and certification can produce a greater commitment to SFM by different actors and interest groups. For example, ITTO s C&I training and field testing showed that a major motivator for many countries/forest managers in collecting data for indicators was the desire to eventually seek certification of their timber products. (Johnson, 2001) The broad objectives of certification and C&I are identical; to promote good, sustainable management of forests. There are also many differences between these two concepts, especially regarding scale, purpose and participating actors. SCALE: The scale of C&I frameworks range from national to FMU level. Forest certification is mainly concerned with the sub-national, particularly FMU, level. PURPOSE: C&I provide a means to measure, assess, monitor and demonstrate progress towards achieving sustainability of forests in a given country or in a specified forest area, over a period of time. On the other hand certification is a means to certify the achievement of certain, pre-defined standards of forest management in a given forest area, at a given point in time. Being a descriptive tool, C&I are not intended for assessment of the performance of forest management, whereas forest certification is based on prescriptive standards (that can be based on C&I). C&I contain no targets or performance expectations, while certification is an assessment against performance standards. ACTORS: While the elaboration of C&I sets is often led by governmental bodies, forest certification standards and systems are set up mainly by private bodies. (Simula, 2002) 6

9 In many countries and in many certification schemes regional or national C&I have been used as the basis or starting point for certification, when developing performance standards (see Box 1). Many C&I based certification schemes have also taken note of the FSC Principles and Criteria and made efforts to ensure a degree of compatibility. C&I based certification is driven by many forest owner, industry and government representatives, whereas many environmental NGOs representatives continue to stand behind FSC. CICI-2003 encouraged voluntary approaches, such as certification schemes, to use C&I as a useful reference (CICI- 2003). Box 1. Examples of the use of C&I in certification Canada (regional C&I reference: Montreal Process) The Canadian Council of Forest Ministers has adopted national C&I that are similar to, or augment, those in the Montreal Process. These are used in national reporting on SFM, and by the Canadian Standards Association (national certification body) in its forest certification system. C&I formed the basis for the CSA s forest certification standards. Finland (regional C&I reference: MCPFE) A vast majority of the Finnish forests have been certified according to the Finnish Forest Certification System (FFCS). FFCS is acknowledged as part of the Pan European Forest Certification Scheme (PEFC). The national C&I were used as one of the references when a national certification standard was developed. (Parviainen and Suoheimo, 2003). Ghana (regional C&I references: ATO and ITTO). A National Committee on Forest Certification was established in 1996 and the Ghana Forest Management Certification Standards and Checklist were revised in ATO Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PC&I) were used as the basis for development the national standard. However, the national committee has not been active since. The ATO PC&I and the ITTO C&I were harmonised in Malaysia (regional C&I reference: ITTO) Malaysia can be considered as one of the leading countries among ITTO producer members in the application of the ITTO C&I. It developed national and FMU C&I, on the basis of ITTO C&I in 1994 and has linked these closely to the forest management certification, developed under the Malaysia Timber Certification Council. The Malaysian criteria & indicators have provided the basis for the standards of performance. *) Note that other certification systems, such as FSC, are also used in many of these countries and/or the national standards based on C&I are compatible with other schemes such as the FSC PC&I. Although forest management certification has also been recognized as a potential tool to promote SFM, the efficacy of this tool is still subject to considerable debate at the international level. Furthermore, although the certified forest area has increased rapidly it is not likely that expansion continues boundless. Only 7% of global industrial roundwood output is traded; many developing countries consider certification as a trade barrier; and markets for certified wood are limited as customers are rarely ready to pay premium. 7

10 The debate between different certification schemes continues, although common understanding among the schemes is gradually emerging. The proliferation of certification schemes has exacerbated the need for an international framework for their mutual recognition and a set of internationally agreed C&I as reference for a credible forest certification. To advance mutual understanding between different certification schemes, FAO facilitated a Meeting of CEOs of Forest Certification Schemes in June 2003 in Borgo Spante, Italy. Although participants views on priorities and emerging issues varied widely, the call for collectively promoting information exchange was unchallenged and it was emphasized that the dialogue between international and national forest certification schemes should continue. (Parviainen and Suoheimo, 2002; Tang, 2002; and FAO 2003c). However, do consumers really care what certification scheme is used? First of all, only a small percentage care at all; and second, some may be satisfied by just knowing that the forest product comes from a well managed forest. From the perspective of market accesses, the key seems therefore to be reliable, credible information on the conditions and trends in forests and forest management, rather than certification per se. C&I can serve as a tool, a framework to provide such information for all users. Perhaps the efforts in the future should concentrate more on how to obtain the reliable data than arguing which certification scheme is the best. With increasing number of certification schemes, the role of governments in certification is also increasing for setting the broad game rules and following up possible political implications of how certification is implemented. This trend may also contribute to the increasing role of C&I in certification. 4. Other Implications of C&I to Forest Products Trade Debates on trade and SFM continue within the negotiations of a new International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Declaration, UNFF, regional trade agreements and national trade policy making. Key issues on the trade-sfm agenda include illegal trade, certification and labelling, public procurement, valuation of forest products and services, TFRK, alien species, and trade in endangered species. IPF/IFF/UNFF has not yet found a solution to increased market transparency in order to improve market access for forest products and services, including those coming from sustainably managed forests, but it is worth noting that many countries during the recently started preparatory negotiations for the new ITTA have expressed interest in including C&I in the new agreement. As WTO does not explicitly deal with forest products trade, national issues have a greater effect on forest policy development than do international concerns. These include national forest programmes, forest tenure, sectoral rules, subsidies as well as logging bans, which can be prompted because a government has not shown that revenue from the timber industry was used for legitimate social, humanitarian and development purposes (UN, 2003). China, as a major consumer of wood, is an example where in part due to the logging bans the country has recently shifted from timber exporter to importer. These and many other examples of logging bans indicate lack of adequate measures of SFM and means to report on trends in forests and action taken. 8

11 5. Conclusions An argument in many debates is that SFM is not adequately defined. This in fact is not true as the C&I implicitly provide a broad definition of SFM. Despite the different levels of implementation, C&I have helped clarify and build consensus on the concept of SFM and establish a framework for monitoring progress in implementation and the effects of actions taken or not taken, which has been recognized in various fora, notably by the IPF/IFF and the UNFF. The potential of C&I as a systematic tool to help evaluate progress towards SFM is strong, in particular after the international recognition of common thematic elements (criteria) of SFM in the CICI-2003 meeting in Guatemala. Key emerging issues and trends that also have linkages to forest products trade include: integrating C&I into national forest programmes, as recommended by IPF and CICI- 2003; using C&I as a basis for monitoring, assessment and reporting on progress towards SFM; using common thematic areas (criteria) as a structure for global reporting in FRA; using C&I as a basis or reference to set standards in certification; possibly incorporating C&I in the successor agreement of ITTA; bringing up and recognizing the issue of C&I in the deliberations on forest law enforcement and governance (FLEG). It remains unclear whether there will be a strong and growing demand for certified wood. However, there appears to be an increasing demand for accurate, reliable information on forest conditions and management. C&I provide a widely recognized framework to arrange such information. SFM and trade policies are still far apart. With an exception of ITTO, C&I and trade and trade-related aspects are not being brought close in governmental deliberations at regional and/or international levels. However, there are opportunities to get them closer for increased coherence of policies and strategies. C&I could be used as a bridging tool between trade and SFM, as neutral, scientifically sound and politically accepted framework for promoting SFM and monitoring progress. This framework could be used to communicate that that all views (all elements of SFM) are considered. The examples of successful uses of C&I and the benefits of this tool in promoting and achieving SFM should be further communicated to those fora that deliberate on trade and SFM including WTO/CTE, ITTO, COP of CBD and UNFF. This would likely speed finding solutions to increased market transparency in order to improve market access for forest products and services, especially those coming from sustainably managed forests. 9

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