Forest Certification: Roots, Issues, Challenges, and Benefits
Features
Summary
Forest certification has been widely accepted as a tool that would encourage industrial and non-industrial management of resources in an environmentally acceptable, socially beneficial and economically viable manner. Much has been written on certification yet five issues have been missing, which this book addresses: an analysis of the scientific basis for the certification standards; a formal and mechanistic incorporation of social and natural system sustainability as part of the standards; the rationale for the different sets of standards that are currently being used to certify governmental, industrial and non-industrial organizations; the success of the different sets of standards in assessing the environmental acceptability, social benefits and economic viability of the managed system; and, the difficulty of certifying small landowners with current protocols.
Forest Certification examines the historical roots of forest certification, the factors that guide the development of certification protocols, the players involved in certification, the factors determining the customers to be certified, and the benefits of certification. The book also covers the terminology and other issues intrinsic to certification that direct the structure of standards, the similarities between indicators of different human disturbances within the ecosystem/landscape and certification standards, and, finally, a case study evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of existing certification protocols.
Forest Certification is unique in its analysis of the scientific basis for the structure of the forest certification protocols. It documents the roles of human values in the development of assessment protocols but demonstrates how elements of existing protocols should be used to produce non-value based standards.
Table of Contents
ISSUES IN FOREST CERTIFICATION
Improvements Crucial to Successful Implementation of Forest Certification
Why Certification is Relevant
ROOTS OF FOREST CERTIFICATION: ITS DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY, TYPES OF APPROACHES, AND STATISTICS
Origins of the Concept of Forest Certification
Other Relevant Initiatives in Forest Certification
The Certification of Environmental Claims in Industrialized Countries
Analysis of Forest Certification Approaches
Current Statistics and Characterization of Certified Forests by Ownership Type and Land Area
DEFINITIONS AND CURRENT VALUES INTEGRATED INTO CERTIFICATION PROTOCOLS
Defining Terminology
Value-Laden Issues of Certification
CASE STUDY AND EVALUATION OF THE DOMINANT CERTIFICATION PROTOCOLS
Relevance of Toumey Forest to Assess Certification Protocols
Analysis of the Elements Comprising the Dominant Certification Protocols as structured in January 1998
Case Study: Student Evaluation of Protocols at Yale's Toumey Forest
INDICATORS RELEVANT FOR INCLUSION IN ASSESSMENTS: TYPES, MINIMUM NUMBER, AND THOSE DERIVED FROM NON-HUMAN VALUES
Indicators Selection Criteria
Non-Value-Based Parameters Relevant for Incorporation into Certification
Social Legacies Constraining Natural Resource Uses
DIRECT AND INDIRECT IMPACTS OF NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON THE ECOSYSTEM
Introduction
Forest Management Activities Leading to Regeneration
Forest Management Activities Not Associated with Regeneration
Infrastructure Related to Forest Management Activities
Summary
SYNTHESIS DISCUSSION OF ISSUES RELEVANT TO CERTIFICATION
Necessity of Assessing the Landscape's Matrix Within Which a Management Unit is Embedded
Social and Natural Science Links
Public Participation in Certification
Importance and Participation of Non-Industrial Private Forests
Certification: Constraints and Opportunities for Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowners
Estimating Price Premiums Necessary to Pay for Forest Certification
Chain of Custody as an Impediment to Certification
Challenges and Opportunities for Tropical Timber Certification: Mexico's Experience
CHALLENGES AND BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATION
Summary Discussion of the Advantages and Challenges of Certification
Reason for Forestland Owners Not To Become Certified
The Past and Future Goals of Certification
Editorial Reviews
"…provides a valuable comparison of certifying organizations and their protocols. In addition, it clearly acknowledges that many of the issues underpinning forest certification are, like forestry itself, value-laden products of our own emerging understanding if the social and ecological systems that make up natural resource use and management. As such, it provides valuable advice to both certifiers and landowners."
-Dr. Steven R. Radosevich in Forest Science
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