FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature

Forest Stewardship Council
Commissioned by the ISEAL Alliance, ‘The case of Guatemala’ is also described by Christine
Carey (2008/2) 66 :
“In 1990 the government of Guatemala decided to adopt new legislation mandating sustainable
forest management certification in the protected areas of El Petén. By associating
the concepts of ‘protection’ and ‘sustainable use’ by local communities, the Guatemalan
government adopted a relatively new approach to protected areas management, and one
quite unique for a government. (…) Today, Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve (MBR)
contains the second largest number of community FSC certificate holders in the world. It is
considered one of the most successful Central American examples of the management of
natural resources jointly by a national government and local communities 67 . The uptake of
FSC certification is also testament to the economic benefits this has brought to some 1800
people living in MBR 68 forest communities, and who have been able to diversify and generate
incomes from both timber related industries (for example, harvesting FSC certified
wood; producing a range of value-added wood products; working in FSC chain of custody
certified sawmills) and through the sustainable collection of FSC certified non-timber forest
products (NTFPs).”
A number of Carey’s findings are confirming the findings of Hughell & Butterfield (2008). Carey
additionally highlights in the “lessons learned” for the Guatemala case:
“Multiplier effect”
The case of Guatemala demonstrates the important role government agencies can play in
the uptake of voluntary forest certification by backing the process. The government of
Guatemala is satisfied with its experience of using voluntary certification in the MBR and
has begun to promote the model of forest concessions based on FSC certification out-side
protected areas on National Forest Lands in other regions of Guatemala. Similarly, the
Rainforest Alliance, SmartWood’s parent organization and members of MBR community
owned enterprises are beginning to work with the governments of Honduras, Panama, Peru
and Nicaragua to reproduce Guatemala’s experience with sustainable forest manage-
66 Carey, Christine (2008/2): E049 Governmental Use of Voluntary Standards Case Study 4: The Guatemalan
Maya Biosphere Reserve and Forest Stewardship Council Standards. ISEAL Alliance.
http://www.isealalliance.org/_data/n_0001/resources/live/E049_Guatemala_FSC.pdf (as of Sept 2008)
67 Macqueen, D., Dufey, A., Gomes, A.P.C., Nouer, M.R., Suárez, L.A.A., Subendranathan, V., Trujillo, Z.H.G.,
Vermeulen, S., Voivodic, M. de A. & Wilson, E. (2008): Distinguishing community forest products in the market:
Industrial demand for a mechanism that brings together forest certification and fair trade. IIED Small and Medium
Forestry Enterprise Series No. 22. IIED, Edinburgh, UK.
68 Hughell, D. & Butterfield, Rebecca (2008): Impact of FSC Certification on Deforestation and the Incidence of
Wildfires in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Rainforest Alliance, USA.
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