FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature
FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature
FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature
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Forest Stewardship Council<br />
holders accept plantations as a “must”, because the dem<strong>and</strong> for wood <strong>and</strong> pulp is ever grow<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>and</strong> plantation forestry can reduce pressures on natural forests, as well as promote the<br />
restoration <strong>and</strong> conservation of natural forests. These <strong>FSC</strong> stakeholders appreciate the fact<br />
that <strong>FSC</strong> offers the tools to improve plantation forest management. Only when the critique<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>FSC</strong> plantation certification is directly built on concrete examples of certified plantations,<br />
<strong>FSC</strong> <strong>and</strong> the certification bodies <strong>and</strong> plantation managers can react accord<strong>in</strong>gly.<br />
Some of the plantation certificates are be<strong>in</strong>g opposed by <strong>in</strong>dividuals <strong>and</strong> organizations for<br />
example <strong>in</strong> South American countries <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> South Africa, because of their environmental <strong>and</strong><br />
social impacts. South Africa is perhaps the country where the diverse perspectives about<br />
<strong>FSC</strong>-certified plantations st<strong>and</strong> out most clearly. Unclear l<strong>and</strong> rights, <strong>in</strong>fluence on the water<br />
regime <strong>and</strong> on biodiversity, are the ma<strong>in</strong> topics critically discussed. Some of the organizations<br />
are campaign<strong>in</strong>g that “plantations are not forests”, <strong>and</strong> therefore lobby <strong>FSC</strong> to reconsider the<br />
certification of large-scale monoculture tree plantations (e.g. Timberwatch Coalition 96 with a<br />
focus on South African plantations; the Ra<strong>in</strong>forest Foundations US, UK <strong>and</strong> Norway, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
World Ra<strong>in</strong>forest Movement (with a focus on Lat<strong>in</strong> America) <strong>and</strong> more recently the Global<br />
Forest Coalition.<br />
Newsom <strong>and</strong> Hewitt (2005) found<br />
“the issue of exotic species <strong>and</strong> pests was addressed with requirements for changed management<br />
<strong>in</strong> significantly more <strong>FSC</strong>-certified operations <strong>in</strong> more developed countries than<br />
less developed ones (40% <strong>and</strong> 9%, of the 129 forest management units respectively).<br />
Many conditions regard<strong>in</strong>g exotic species <strong>and</strong> pests required operations to implement policies<br />
that encouraged the use of native species over exotics. Address<strong>in</strong>g potential <strong>in</strong>sect<br />
outbreaks featured prom<strong>in</strong>ently <strong>in</strong> conditions; often operations were required to document<br />
<strong>and</strong> monitor <strong>in</strong>sect outbreaks, or to <strong>in</strong>corporate <strong>in</strong>tegrated pest management techniques<br />
<strong>in</strong>to their management plans. The higher percentage of operations <strong>in</strong> more developed<br />
countries required to address exotic species <strong>and</strong> pests may be because temperate forests<br />
tend to be less diverse than tropical ones, mak<strong>in</strong>g them more susceptible to <strong>in</strong>sect outbreaks.”<br />
97<br />
Improvements <strong>in</strong> South African plantations<br />
96 http://www.timberwatch.org.za/certification.htm (as of July 2008)<br />
97 Newsom, Deanna <strong>and</strong> Hewitt, Daphne (2005): The Global Impacts of SmartWood Certification. F<strong>in</strong>al Report of<br />
the TREES Program for the Ra<strong>in</strong>forest Alliance. (as of June 2008: ) http://www.ra<strong>in</strong>forestalliance.org/programs/forestry/perspectives/documents/sw_impacts.pdf<br />
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