FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature

Forest Stewardship Council
Non-timber forest products
Worker wages and living conditions
Special cultural sites
Economic & legal
issues
Forest management
issues
System issues
Profitability of operation
Compliance with state, federal and international laws
Illegal activities and trespassing
Long term tenure
Roads and skid trails
Regeneration and reforestation
Chemical use and disposal
Exotic species and pests
Conversion to non-forest uses
Management plan
Monitoring
Inventory
Chain of custody
* Table from Newsom & Hewitt (2005) 83
In the study, 2099 preconditions and conditions were given to the 129 operations in 21 countries
and analyzed by the researchers.
“Systems issues were addressed most often (by 98% of certified operations); however,
even the category addressed least frequently – social issues – was addressed by 83% of
certified operations. An examination of the top ten issues addressed during certification
assessments lends support to the statement that the impacts of certification are very diverse
and not skewed in any one direction (see diagram 1 below). The top ten list contains
all four systems issues, three social issues, and three environmental issues. The percentages
of operations that were required to address these issues range from 56% at the lowest
to 93% at the highest. This means, for example, that 93% of certified operation had to
either create a management plan or make improvements to their existing plan. 84 ”
83 Newsom, Deanna and Hewitt, Daphne (2005): The Global Impacts of SmartWood Certification. Final Report of
the TREES Program for the Rainforest Alliance. (as of June 2008: ) http://www.rainforestalliance.org/programs/forestry/perspectives/documents/sw_impacts.pdf
84 Ibid.
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