FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature

2. Impact in and beyond the forest: 2.3 Social effects
aspects of the certification process. This finding, based on operations in the Amazon, differs
from Overdevest and Rickenbach’s study (2006) 212 of FSC certificate holders in the
U.S., which found that operations, particularly smaller ones, had not expected nor experienced
much learning related to the certification process. Perhaps these different perspectives
between U.S. and Brazilian certificate holders are due to their dissimilar access to information
about forest management and certification, and experiences with the certification
process in particular. Indeed, other Latin America-based studies have identified learning
as a certification benefit for CFEs in Mexico, Guatemala, and Bolivia.”
Humphries & Kainer 213 state that
“The identified need to adapt the CFE process coupled with the significant appreciation for
the learning that occurs when certifiers and community members get together has inspired
us to call for a social learning approach to CFE certification. Social learning is defined
by Schusler et al as “learning that occurs when people engage one another, sharing
diverse perspectives and experiences to develop a common framework of
understanding and basis for joint action.” Buck et al. clarify that it is the intersection of
learning and collaboration that makes social learning distinct from learning that occurs on
an individual basis or collaboration that does not involve conscious learning. They
conclude, based on several case studies of social learning in collaborative management of
community forests, that social learning “offers a compelling framework for sharing
experiences and ideas for how to improve collaboration in natural resources management
to foster institutional adaptiveness and ecological sustainability.” A social learning
approach may foster mutual learning and collaboration between the FSC, certifiers, and
community members, and to help achieve their mutual goal of increasing the number of
certified well-managed CFEs. (…)”.
Besides a range of positive and negative experiences of the certified communities, Humphries
and Kainer are emphasizing and concluding:
“Social learning provides a framework for multiple stakeholders to collaborate to address
resource management problems through communication, mutual learning, evaluation, and
adaption. Critical to this approach is good facilitation and the use of platforms that provide
opportunities for more equal participation and power-sharing among stakeholders. (…) In
our study site, dialogue and learning is taking place, but due to differences in power and
212 Overdevest, C. & Rickenbach, M.G. (2006): Forest certification and institutional governance: an empirical study
of forest stewardship council certificate holders in the United States. Forest Policy and Economics 9(1):93-102.
213 Humphries, Shoana S. & Kainer, Karen A. (2008): ibid
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