FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature

Forest Stewardship Council
“The FSC process reflects years of dialogue among forest managers, consumers, environmentalists
and other interested parties and embodies a negotiated definition of sustainable
forest management. It would be difficult to weaken the FSC standards without extensive
negotiations and the requirements cannot be easily scaled down by removing an FSC
principle or two. Given that CDM credits for sinks are currently limited to offsetting only a
small proportion of industrialized countries’ emissions, FSC principles and criteria offer a
selective basis for including sinks credits. The alternative to requiring a quality screen -
providing incentives instead for only fast-growing plantations - would mean that many of
the environmental and social objections to sinks projects may be realized. Subsidizing
large areas of uncertified plantations would mean that less land would be available for
new, sustainably managed plantations or for agricultural purposes, and could have the
perverse result of making quality plantations less competitive. In contrast, requiring that
projects meet FSC principles as an eligibility threshold for CDM projects would provide a
boost to achieving environmental and social goals worldwide. In theory, FSC principles still
allow for considerable carbon sequestration because the majority of the area can be
devoted to fast-growing species as long as at least a quarter is left open or planted with
other species. And FSC management plans include many components that help ensure
that forests actually last - an important concern for carbon sequestration. FSC criteria, as
currently stated, do not yet provide an overarching approach for addressing the challenges
of non-permanence, leakage and uncertain-ties in sequestration projects. (…) The main
contribution of the FSC standards and processes is that it has demonstrated that
consensus-building towards definitions of sustainability in forest management that are
specific at the local level yet consistent across countries - is possible.” 397
397 Subak, Susan (2002): ibid.
198 of 245
® FSC, A.C. All rights reserved. FSC-SECR-0002