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The second dialogues held on 22, 23 and 24 September 2020 served as an opportunity for members to discuss the second Global Strategy draft and discuss ideas to further advance FSC’s mission.
In this section you will find the latest materials and gathered insights from the second FSC Global Strategy Dialogues. This includes a summary report as well as presentations, recordings of the sessions, all the chat history and more. This information will allow you to stay up to date in case you were not able to attend all sessions or if you would like to get more information regarding the main topics being discussed.
… support for their priorities. Join us on 27 November, 2024 9:00 - 10:30 (CET) Register here 16:30 to 18:00 …
This dialogue provided members and stakeholders with a presentation of the Green Paper “Conversion and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) 1994 Cut-Off Date & Beyond”, produced by Richard Donovan and an update on the Conversion Policy Working Group (WG) process with WG members Dr. Marcus Colchester and Annika Terrana.
This is the first of a series of four Conversion Dialogues that seek to:
- Support FSC membership and stakeholders in developing an understanding of the facts, opinions, opportunities and challenges of a change in the FSC Conversion rule,
- Introduce possible solutions and their impact for acceptance, conditions, safeguards, equality of forest management in different regions that are acceptable for FSC members and certificate holders, and
- Provide transparency on the effects of a possible change of the conversion rule in FSC, as well as transparency on the effects if the conversion rule remains.
Background
FSC requested Richard Donovan to develop a Green Paper on the topics of conversion, deforestation and related key issues within the FSC system. Richard examined documents and emails related to the topic and interviewed over 60 individuals over an eight-week period who have been most active on the topic of conversion and deforestation, restoration and social, economic and environmental implications thereof in the FSC system.
This Green Paper is intended to complement the ongoing work in the revision of the Conversion Policy (asked for in the approved Motion 7/2017) by providing background and reference material for wider discussions among FSC members and stakeholders.
The document can be downloaded below in English and in Spanish.
Agenda
- Welcome by moderator and brief introduction of housekeeping rules
- A 20 minute introduction on the Green Paper by Richard Donovan
- 10 minutes introduction by WG members Dr. Marcus Colchester (26 October Online meeting) and Annika Terrana (27 October Online meeting)
- 60 minute Question and Answer session with members and stakeholders
In this session, members had the opportunity to start the discussion with the motion’s proposers and members. The motions for this discussion were:
When? Tuesday, March 07, 2023, 15:00-16:30 CET
Register here: https://bit.ly/3jOtLqphttps://bit.ly/3jOtLqp
This webinar will spotlight women leaders in the forest and environmental sectors, both within FSC and externally. Speakers will share their experience and points of view of leadership while relating this year’s theme of innovation and technology for gender equality to FSC’s work in forests.
FSC has prioritized diversity and gender equality in the Global Strategy 2021-2026, and this webinar follows FSC’s recent milestones, including the release of the Strategic Framework on Diversity and Gender at the General Assembly in October 2022.
We look forward to a session that is sure to be inspiring and compelling for all members, not only women.
Agenda items for discussion:
1. The FSC Global Strategy and its effect on boreal forests
The second draft of the Global Strategy is now out for consultation. If you go to the consultation platform, you will find some great material developed together with the Board Strategic Planning Committee (BSPC). This includes a short video with BSPC Chair, Al Thorne, explaining some of the thinking that’s gone into the second draft and a new document that explains some of the main changes from draft 1 to draft 2 and why they were made.
The discussion was concentrated on the effect of the Global Strategy for Boreal forests and allow members to discuss their inputs in the consultation process.
2. FSC and High-value forests
With the upcoming FSC General Assembly next year, we discussed how FSC addresses certification of high-value forests, such as Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs). As preparation for this discussion, we have taken steps to develop a research knowledge base and partnership. We seek the research basis for defining a way forward, allowing FSC to offer fact-based and pro-active nature-based solutions that respect the necessary protection of high-value forests in the landscape, and identify where and how FSC certified management of these forests and landscapes can be done in a responsible way, including the use of existing tools like certification of Ecosystem Services or Non-Timber Forest Products.
In this meeting, we updated members and stakeholders on plans and activities developed for high-value forests including IFLs, and sought feedback to these.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Gemma Boetekees at g.boetekees@fsc.org
In this event we also had the motions discussion, where the proposers provided information on their motions, members were able to ask questions or comment on the motion and had a lively debate with the motion proposers.
The motions for discussion were:
Policy Motion 56/2021
Induction of Social Expert in CB
Policy Motion 24/2020
FSC's advocacy to promote forest management certification in tropical protected areas
Policy Motion 25/2020
Creating and implementing a mechanism to promote the establishment of small community forest enterprises
The meeting took place via Zoom.
You can find the recordings here:
In English.
In Spanish.
In French.
As well as the presentations and meeting documents below.
… currently under certification (0.6% as in Zwerts et al., 2024 ) can have on the overall status of IFLs globally. …
The Policy and Standards Committee acts on behalf of the Board of Directors (BoD) with respect to technical matters related to the development or revision of FSC Policies, Standards, Procedures and other FSC normative documents.
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Barbara Bramble has been appointed as the Chairperson of the International Board of Directors of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Barbara’s term of office runs from 1 January to 31 December 2020.
FSC publishes a discussion paper on intensification in forestry and invites members, staff and other stakeholders to review and provide feedback.
Send your feedback on the group standard through the consultation platform!
In June 2022, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Assurance Services International (ASI) launched the third transaction verification (TV) loop on bamboo supply chains to proactively find out if there are any integrity risks that need to be addressed.
The proposals of the Technical Working Group responsible for reviewing the FSC Mix label text and developing controlled wood statements are now available for public consultation. The deadline to participate is 6 April 2020.
The revised FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard (NFSS) for Sweden applies to all forest types, including small and low-intensity managed forests. It will become effective on 1 October 2020.
All stakeholders are invited to comment on the first draft of the FSC Core Labour Requirements in the Chain of Custody Certification and Chain of Custody Evaluations Standards. The consultation closes on 30 March 2020.
The consultant’s report, recommendations and draft policy are now available for FSC International members.
In 2016, we established the New Approaches project, designed to develop additional ways for us to support smallholders and communities on their journey to FSC certification. Today, the project is built on 25 years of work culminating into a formalized program within FSC to continue developing innovative approaches towards social policy and smallholders and communities.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) announces the withdrawal of the remaining forest management certificates in Russia by the respective certification bodies. This is due to the decision by Assurance Services International (ASI) to terminate its FSC assurance activities in Russia.
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The present document contains certification requirements for certifying forest operations in Chinese Taipei, developed in accordance with FSC's normative document for the development and maintenance of FSC Forest Stewardship Standards. Revisions of FSC Forest Stewardship Standards are ongoing, and all existing standards will be transferred to the revised Principles & Criteria version 5-2. All standards are valid until replaced by a new FSC Forest Stewardship Standard.
The present document contains certification requirements for certifying forest operations from smallholders in plantations in Indonesia, developed in accordance with FSC's normative document for the development and maintenance of FSC Forest Stewardship Standards. Revisions of FSC Forest Stewardship Standards are ongoing, and all existing standards will be transferred to the revised Principles & Criteria version 5-2. All standards are valid until replaced by a new FSC Forest Stewardship Standard.
The present document contains certification requirements for certifying forest operations in plantations in Uruguay, developed in accordance with FSC's normative document for the development and maintenance of Forest Stewardship Standards. Revisions of Forest Stewardship Standards are ongoing, and all existing standards will be transferred to the revised Principles & Criteria version 5-2. All standards are valid until replaced by a new Forest Stewardship Standard.
FSC had decided to waive the Annual Administration Fee (AAF) for all types of certifications in Ukraine from Q2/2022 until the end of Q4/2024, regardless of their certification status.
In August 2024, FSC decided to reinstate the AAF for certifications in Ukraine starting 01 January 2025 in a phased approach.
This Advice Note serves to implement this decision.
Please note that the content of this normative document has been streamlined into FSC-STD-20-007 Forest Management Evaluations Standard (V4-0)
Publication date: 1 February 2023
Effective date: 1 July 2023
End of transition period: 31 December 2024
The social impacts of forest management mean that forest management is a social as a well as a technical activity. It is not possible to involve all stakeholders in every forest evaluation. It is therefore essential that forest certification and its results should be open to public scrutiny. This is the only way to demonstrate to all interested or affected parties that the certification decisions are justified and acceptable. It is a basic requirement of the FSC scheme that certification bodies make a summary report of each certified forest operation publicly available.
Please note that the content of this normative document has been streamlined into FSC-STD-20-007 Forest Management Evaluations Standard (V4-0)
Publication date: 1 February 2023
Effective date: 1 July 2023
End of transition period: 31 December 2024
The following requirements aim to ensure that the certification body decision making entity has sufficient information on which to base its decisions with respect to conformity with FSC forest stewardship standards, and to help FSC ensure that there is consistency in decision making between different certification bodies.
This document provides FSC’s formal interpretation of requirements included in FSC-STD-20-007. An updated version was published on 1 August 2024.
The objective of this standard is to provide the requirements for FSC-accredited certification bodies to assess conformity of The Organization against applicable requirements of the FSC normative
framework with regards to forest management certification, as well as reporting and decision making.
To access the older version 3-0 effective only until December 31, 2025, click here .
Depending on when the unacceptable activity occurs/occurred, FSC will determine which policy version is used as the point of reference. If the unacceptable activity occurred prior to 2023, version 2-0 of the policy will be applied, whereas if the unacceptable activity occurs in 2023 or beyond, version 3-0 of the Policy for Association will be applied. To access Policy for Association, version 2-0, click here . The Policy for Association is an expression of the values shared by individuals and organizations associated with FSC. It defines six unacceptable activities that associated individuals and organizations and their corporate group commit to avoid in both certified and non-certified operations. The Policy for Association serves as a risk management tool for FSC, protecting the credibility and reputation of the FSC brand and organizations associated with it.
This guide is intended for organizations that wish to use the FSC trademarks for the promotion of FSC-certified labelled products or services and it replaces the FSC-STD-50-002 'Requirements for promotional use of the FSC trademarks by non-certificate holders' that was withdrawn on 31st May 2020.
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