Certification Programme Your Assurance of Responsible Sourcing - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

PEFC’s Global Forest Certification Programme – Your Assurance of Responsible Sourcing Alun Watkins Executive Director PEFC UK Promoting Sustainable Forest Management www.pefc.org #pefc

PEFC Empowering smallholders & local constituencies • Founded in response to the specific requirements of small- and family forest owners • Certification system of choice for smallholders • Global, not-for-profit , NGO based in Geneva • World's largest system with more than 60% of the world’s certified forest area • Alliance of national forest certification systems Thinking Global and Acting Locally 2

Responsible Forest Management - What it Delivers Healthy Forests • Maintain and increase the health and vitality of forest ecosystems, biodiversity • Protect ecologically important forest areas , wildlife, waterways, and soil • Prohibit forest conversions ; no certification of plantations established by conversions • Avoid genetically modified trees , most hazardous chemicals • Prevent unauthorised activities such as illegal logging Healthy Communities • Promote the long term health and well-being of forest communities • Respect forests’ multiple functions, give due regard to the role of forestry in rural development • Involve forest communities, forest-dependent people in forest management • Recognise indigenous people’s rights, incl. free, prior and informed consent • Protect sites with recognised specific historical, cultural or spiritual significance • Safeguard areas fundamental to meeting the basic needs of local communities Healthy Workers • Comply with all fundamental ILO conventions ; safe working conditions • Consideration of new opportunities for employment 3

PEFC Certification and more... • Development of international standards • Asessment & endorsement of national standards National expectations PEFC PEFC-endorsed national standards Global expectations Sustainability Benchmarks • Promote market access & market recognition • Collaborative impact projects to foster sustainable forestry & livelihoods 4

What is a PEFC Scheme? 5

Technical Infrastructure IAF Procedures ISO/IEC 17011 PEFC ST 1003:2018 PEFC ST 2002:2013 PEFC GD 2003:2012 National documentation PEFC ST 1001:2010 National documentation ISO ISO/IEC Guide 59 ISO/IEC 17021 ISO Guide 82 ISO/IEC 17065 ISO/IEC Guide 2 ISO 19011 ISO/IEC 17007 6

Organisational Responsibility IAF AB NGB CBs PEFC Notifies 7

Companies and forest owners IAF AB Issue NGB CBs PEFC certificates Notifies via Group Certification 8

PEFC Governance PEFC Membership (General Assembly) • 50 National members • 30 International Stakeholders members • 5 Extraordinary members PEFC Board of Directors • 12 Directors (UN Agenda 21) • Forest owners, forest industry, research, indigenous people, NGO, labour…. PEFC Secretariat • 13 Staff members in Geneva • Supported by consultants globally

Standard Governance • Forest owners • Business • NGOs • Scientific community • International organisations Standard Setter: • Conformity assessment bodies • Convener etc. • Coordinator • Facilitator 10

PEFC built on multi-stakeholders engagement

Bottom-Up Approach Locally Notified LOCAL Local Stakeholders Local Constituencies Certification Body National National Forest NATIONAL National Standards Certification Systems Accreditation Body International PEFC General ISO/International INTERNATIONAL Standards Assembly Accreditation Forum Standards System Verification Governance Governance • all national systems meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks • have a common identity on the global market • but are locally owned, operated, developed and verified 12

Panel of Experts Approval by members International Board Global public Sustainability recommend- consultation ation Benchmarks Revision required Multi- Independent stakeholder assessment process Consens- National based Pilot testing Standard decision Application for assessment making National public consultation 13

PEFC Bottom-Up approach to Sustainable Forest Management Benefits of National Systems: • Forests are highly diverse , as is their management, local traditions and culture, average property sizes and support structures • National forest certification systems, enable countries to tailor their sustainable forest management requirements to their specific forest ecosystems, the legal and administrative framework, the socio-cultural context and other relevant factors • National stakeholders have stronger engagement and increases access to participation of standard setting and revision processes • All National systems must meet all PEFC International requirements These set out strict rules on what must be covered within national standards, but also what must be done during the development process • Many National systems exceed our international requirements , going even further to include additional, nationally relevant requirements.

PEFC alliance, for global availability 45 Endorsed National systems National members in 51 countries More than 20,000 PEFC-certified companies in 71 countries Over 318 million hectares PEFC-certified ➔ 60% share of all certified forests worldwide

Certified Forest Area by Country Country Certified Area (ha) Country Certified Area (ha) Argentina 246,717 Japan 1,780,365 Australia 11,355,779 Latvia 1,717,511 Austria 3,027,112 Luxembourg 35,217 Belarus 8,618,187 Malaysia 4,612,239 Belgium Netherlands 300,999 3,240 Brazil 3,810,105 New Zealand 469,198 Canada (CSA) 33,533,849 Norway 7,380,750 Canada (SFI) 98,790,971 Poland 7,155,810 Chile 1,915,480 Portugal 277,356 China 6,808,998 Russia 22,490,931 Czech Republic 1,776,882 Slovak Republic 1,216,491 Denmark 280,351 Slovenia 286,000 Estonia 1,238,453 Spain 2,222,593 Finland 18,037,840 Sweden 15,927,847 France 7,975,755 Switzerland 211,496 Gabon 596,822 United Kingdom 1,502,143 Germany 7,567,446 USA (ATFS) 6,881,814 Indonesia 3,905,288 USA (SFI) 25,977,995 Ireland 376,108 Uruguay 645,670 Italy 819,175 Total 311,776,983 16

Defining Controversial Sources Illegal GMO use Conversion Harvesting • Forest operations • Utilising genetically • Converting forest to • High environmental modified forest-based other vegetation type organisms • Conversion of values • Protected & primary forest to plantations endangered species • Health & labour issues of workers • Property, tenure & use rights • Taxes, royalties, trade & customs 17

PEFC’s Due Diligence System The PEFC Due Diligence System applies to all certificate holders Reason : availability of tree-species and origin information required at any point in PEFC Chain of Custody Background • PEFC's positioning in "legality and responsible sourcing" issue • No regional exception, same requirements for all • Retailer/end-user feedback • Unpredictable material flow between Europe and other areas 18

PEFC’s Due Diligence System • Certified material NOT exempt from Due Diligence System • Information on species and origin is required • Certified material EXEMPT from Risk Assessment • Applies to PEFC Certified & PEFC Controlled Sources • PEFC claim demonstrates "negligible risk" by default • Provided no substantiated comments / complaints were raised 25

Public Sector Procurement Central Point of Expertise on Timber Timber Procurement Assessment Committee European Green Public Procurement EU Eco Label 20

UK Public Procurement CPET According to the CPET assessment reports, the certification systems comply with the CPET criteria as follows: • FSC: 94% • PEFC: 96% Legal Sustainable (100% from legal sources) (>70% from sustainable sources) Products containing >70% certified or FSC All certified products recycled raw material Products containing >70% certified or PEFC All certified products recycled raw material Source: Results of the Evaluation of Category A Evidence: Forest Certification Schemes (October 2015) 21

WWF Certification Assessment Tool (CAT) • Formalized methodology to evaluate and compare standards and certification systems • Based on WWF’s views and opinions • Assesses in how far forest certification systems are aligned with the mission and objectives of WWF 22

WWF Certification Assessment Tool (CAT) • “Standard Strength”: PEFC appreciates that WWF finds its forest management standards closely aligned with WWF priorities (PEFC: 70%, FSC: 76%) • “System Strength”: Indicates that the WWF CAT is not well suited to capture PEFC’s approach to governance (Agenda 21) and conformity assessment (ISO/IAF) Different roads lead to Rome PEFC appreciates that WWF recognizes that PEFC delivers SFM in alignment with WWF priorities 23