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HIGHLIGHTSThe gap in achieving forest certification between developed and developing countries remains wide.Hinderances to certification in developing countries were examined from six dimensions.The success or failure of wood producers to adopt certification is a joint result of their interactions with the political, social, economic, cultural, and psychological contexts.Conventional institutions and governance have profound implications for the promotion of forest certification on a global scale.Efficient solutions to these hindrances are often multi-dimensional and require coordination among certification bodies, government agencies, NGOs, producers, and consumers to create a favorable context for certification uptake.SUMMARYForest certification has been widely hailed for its positive impacts on implementing sustainable forest management. Despite various adjustments to promote its adoption, most of the world's certified forests are in developed countries, with about 87% in Europe and North America. To analyse the reasons for the slow certification uptake in the developing world, two rounds of literature searches were conducted, and the hindrances identified were then discussed under six themes: forest quality, socioeconomic interactions, governance capacity, certification investment, firm expectations and market responses, and risk aversion and the attitude-behaviour gap. Among them, conventional institutions and governance are the most restrictive constraints. Certification, while a non-state form of governance, may not exercise its regulatory power freely through the market without being impeded by the unfavourable contexts in which it takes hold. Finally, recommendations were proposed from the perspectives of politics, legislation, market, and certification schemes to resolve the hindrances in achieving certification.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification was introduced in Nepal with an assumption that it improves forests and ecosystem services while addressing the drivers of forest degradation. As of today, 89 community forests (CF) have been FSC certified, however empirical evidence on the contribution of forest certification on carbon stock and species richness is lacking. This research, thus tries to answer the question “do certified community forests (CCF) maintain higher carbon stock and species richness compared to non-certified community forests (NCF)?” The study collected field level data during February–May 2013 from 88 experimental plots. The study found higher carbon stock (p

HIGHLIGHTSThe paper quantifies the value that FSC certification brings to a company.Fuzzy logic has been introduced into the discounting cash flow method to obtain the value of FSC certification.Fuzzy mathematics have been used in order to integrate both information about companies' size and information about the sector.The companies analyzed with a valid certificate experienced an increase in their value because of FSC certification.The implementation of the ANOVA fuzzy method shows that neither the business size nor the sector influence the relationship between FSC certification and a company's value.SUMMARYForest certification appeared in the 1990's as a way to deal with forest deterioration. Currently, however, public opposition can limit its effectiveness. Business policy makers should analyze how Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification can affect the value of companies. Yet, the relation between financial performance and forest certification systems is a subject which has not been explored to a great extent, and the measures used for evaluating financial performance in published studies are not based on business valuation. In this study, Spanish companies with FSC certification are valuated under the premises of implementation and non-implementation of FSC certification. Given the uncertainty inherent in the second option, the use of fuzzy mathematics has been considered a suitable tool. According to the results obtained, it can be concluded that regardless of size or business sector, FSC certification is effective in increasing the value of companies. The paper offers economic arguments for managers to become more environmentally responsible.

Despite several efforts to quantify the effectiveness of forest certification in developing sustainable use of forest resources, there is little evidence that certified forests are more effective in conserving fauna than non‐certified managed forest. To evaluate the impact of forest certification on the fauna, we compared the biodiversity in reference sites (n = 23), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified management sites (n = 24) and non‐FSC management sites (n = 20) in the Tahuamanu region of Peru, during the dry season of 2017. Specifically, we determined if the acoustic space used (ASU), soundscapes composition, and the bird richness and composition significantly varied among the three management types. Variation in ASU was best explained by management type and mean ASU in the FSC sites was significantly greater than the reference and non‐FSC sites, possibly suggesting greater richness of acoustically active species. An ordination analysis of the soundscapes showed that there was a significant difference among the three management types. There was greater dissimilarity in soundscape composition between the FSC and non‐FSC sites, and greater overlap between FSC and reference sites. Bird identifications resulted in 11,300 detections of 226 bird species. Bird species richness and composition were not significantly different among the management types, indicating, in this context, that birds may not be the best indicators of different management strategies. The weak discrimination by the bird community is likely due to their dispersal ability, undisturbed primary forest matrix, and the occurrence of bamboo patches. The differences in ASU among the management types were most likely due to differences in acoustically active insects, which may be more sensitive to changes in microhabitat differences. Our findings correspond with the conclusions of other studies that certified forests can maintain levels of fauna biodiversity similar to those of undisturbed primary forest in the Amazon region.

'Forest management' aims to maintain forests as producers of goods and services, while ensuring their conservation for future generations. Forest certification has become one of the most widely used mechanisms to encourage and recognize this 'forest stewardship', with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) among the most well-known systems worldwide. FSC is widely used in several Management Units on the American Continent, which is home to large forest areas. Therefore, we evaluated the main difficulties in complying with the principles of the FSC standard in 18 American countries based on verification of non-conformities generated in the process. The data were obtained from information contained in the certification audit reports available on the FSC official website, covering all organizations with valid certificates from 1995 to 2013. We found that the United States presented the lowest mean of non-conformities per audit, which may indicate better capacity of managers to implement practices of its forestry activities. Regarding the deviation type, the United States and Canada presented higher indices in relation to the adequacy of the environmental impacts (P6) of their activities. Meanwhile, the greatest non-conformities in the Central and South America countries occurred in the labor and social area (P4), followed by environmental issues (P6). All organizations presented some type of non-compliance with the criteria set by the FSC and needed to adapt. The major difficulties encountered were related to compliance with environmental requirements. The need to implement corrective actions to maintain the certificate demonstrates a change of management influenced by the forest certification process, thus contributing to minimizing socio-environmental impacts resulting from forest operations.

O objetivo desse estudo foi analisar a capacidade das indústrias moveleiras da região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro, em atender aos requisitos das certificações de cadeia de custódia do Forest Council Stewardship (FSC). Os dados foram coletados através da aplicação de questionários contendo informações sobre a certificação florestal (administração participativa, capacitação dos funcionários, documentação legal da empresa, fornecedores certificados, rastreabilidade da matéria-prima e relatório de movimentação de certificação). Os questionários foram preenchidos durante visitas às empresas, respondidos pelo responsável do setor de projeto e produção. Os requisitos “disposição de licenças e outros documentos legais”, “disponibilidade de um responsável pelo processo de certificação de cadeia de custódia” e “capacitação de funcionários”, que necessitam de custos e que exigem procedimentos burocráticos para cumprimento, foram os que mais interferiram para que as empresas não obtivessem o certificado de cadeia de custódia. O requisito-chave “rastreabilidade da matéria-prima” não apresentou complexidade de cumprimento, visto que todas as indústrias afirmaram ter capacidade em atendê-lo. Em relação à norma de certificação de cadeia de custódia, a maioria das indústrias moveleiras da região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro consegue cumprir os requisitos exigidos.

In Sweden, there is a lack of knowledge about nature conservation management (NCM) practices in voluntary set-aside forests. Estimates indicate that, for unknown reasons, only a small proportion of...

Purpose of Review Non-native tree species (NNT) raise a range of different associations and emotions—to many citizens they are just an exotic curiosity in parks, to many conservationists they are an evil to native ecosystems that should be eradicated, to a rising group of foresters they are part of the solution to climate change and an increasing timber demand, and to others they are already daily forestry business. In this review, where we also summarise the findings of the recent COST Action FP1403 (NNEXT) ‘Non-native tree species for European forests: experiences, risks and opportunities’, we highlight opportunities and challenges in the light of climate change, ecological risks and legislative limits of growing non-native tree species in Europe. Recent Findings Few NNT in Europe show invasive behaviour and are listed as prohibited species or as species to be monitored. A larger number of NNT is utilised in productive forestry and forest restoration due to their superior growth, valuable timber properties and good performance under harsh growing conditions. Current species distribution, experiences with success and failures and environmental concerns differ profoundly across Europe, with Western Europe overall revealing higher shares in NNT and showing a stronger interest of forestry related stakeholder groups to continue planting NNT. Summary Many more NNT are already used in forestry than previously thought, but relatively few species have major importance in terms of area, mainly in western European countries. Diversification, mixing and avoidance of invasion in relation to NNT are necessities that are relatively new on the agenda. In contrast, provenance research of major NNT has been going on for many decades and now provides important information for climate change adaptation. Despite the limitations to the use of NNT either through legal restrictions or forest certification that differ considerably across Europe, the careful integration of a range of tested NNT also into future forest management planning shows a high potential for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles and criteria have been implemented in over 80 community forests in Nepal over the last decade. However, the total size of community forests certified under the FSC certification is relatively small (0.1% of the total area of the country), which limits the overall benefits they can provide to the surrounding communities. The national government has instituted the Collaborative Forest Management (CFM) initiative to maintain forest connectivity and give local communities jurisdiction over the nearby forests that they and their ancestor have lived with and managed for many generations. The CFM policies strive to ensure the restoration of large and continuous patches of forest, equitable benefit sharing of forest products and good governance, yet these policies do not certify the forests as sustainably managed, and thus cannot provide increased prices on the international market for products from these forests. Two collaborative forests were assessed in the Tarai region of Nepal to understand how well these community managed forests already follow the FSC principles and where changes must be made for these forests to be certified in the future. Field observations were undertaken, focus group discussions held, and semi-structured interviews carried out in order to understand current management practices in these two collaborative managed forests. Findings showed that the CFM helped improve biodiversity and benefit sharing from the forest amongst the wide range of communities. Collaboratively managed forests and FSC principles were shown to have complementary objectives: to sustain forests, strengthen forest governance and conserve indigenous species and knowledge, and it is argued that these plans can be synchronized for the benefit of both forests and people.

Forest certification was introduced to Chile twenty years ago, to promote sustainable forest management, address the degradation of natural forests, and ameliorate social issues associated with an economically-successful industrial plantation forestry industry. Adoption of certification in Chile offers an informative case study of competition between the two international schemes, FSC and the PEFC-endorsed CERTFOR. This qualitative study explores the reasons why forestry businesses in each of the plantation and native forestry sectors sought, promoted and maintained certification under one or both schemes. Results show that their motivations to adopt and maintain a particular certification scheme depend not only on market access or social licence to operate but also on contextual factors, including the structure of the forest industry and historical land tenure disputes. The current situation reflects the history of certification: notwithstanding that the schemes have converged, the FSC still dominates the SFM discourse, but Chile's forestry industry has maintained CERTFOR for political reasons.

State-approved forestry best management practices (BMPs) are a practice or combination of practices that, when properly implemented, effectively prevent or reduce the amount of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution entering waterbodies, such as sediment. Although BMPs are voluntary in most states in the southeastern United States (U.S.), forest landowners operating under the auspices of a forest certification system are required to use BMPs, and forest-certified wood procurement organizations also require loggers who supply them with fiber to use BMPs. Current implementation rates are, on average, 93.6% throughout the southeastern U.S. We conducted a literature review to better understand potential effectiveness of BMPs to conserve aquatic resources and species in the southeastern U.S. Our review focuses on how BMPs reduce NPS pollutants, particularly sediment, fertilizers, and herbicides; how BMPs are monitored throughout the southeastern U.S.; and current implementation rates. Additionally, we discuss how state BMP monitoring programs, coupled with participation in forest certification programs that require routine third-party audits, provide assurance to federal and state agencies that BMPs protect aquatic resources and species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized that working forests where management activities implement BMPs represent a clear, actionable, and scientifically sound approach for conserving at-risk aquatic species. However, there is a data gap in directly linking BMPs to the conservation of aquatic resources. Given the high diversity of aquatic species in the southeastern U.S., it is important to better understand this potential linkage.

Vietnam’s forestry policies have expanded the area of planted forests in order to meet the supply of raw materials for the timber processing industry. However, the diversity and volume of demand in the industry have also increased, and a shortage of raw materials can be assumed. For clarifying the correspondence of stakeholders, we explore changes in the resource supply behavior of forestry companies and procurement strategies of companies that manufacture lumber for glued laminated timber, medium density fiberboard (MDF) and wood pellets. Next, we discuss issues and future developments surrounding the supply and demand for timber from planted forests. According to a survey of Quang Tri Province, both industrial and on-farm tree planting play an important role in Vietnam’s wood industry. The origin of the supply has been categorized according to its purpose (products). On the other hand, with the declining supply of imported timber and natural forest timber, inquiries from sawmills and glued laminated timber factories for timber from planted forests have increased, and wood pellet manufacturers are facing competition for raw material procurement with MDF manufacturers, and the supply of timber from planted forests is becoming scarce. The key to the solution lies in improving the low productivity of current on-farm tree planting. To this end, forming farmer groups upon the acquisition of forest certification will help achieve economies of scale and bargaining power.

In the fall of 2018, the “Vaia” windstorm grounded around 8.5 million m3 of timber in northeastern Italy. Soon after, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Italy activated a project called “fair supply chain” to promote the purchase of timber from the damaged areas at a reasonable price. The initiative was addressed at forest owners, forest and processing enterprises, retailers, and supporting organizations. This study reports the results of a survey performed to assess the effectiveness of the project two years after its launch. The survey, in the form of a questionnaire submitted to all adhering organizations, investigated different aspects such as motivations for adherence to the project, satisfaction with the project, sale of the labeled material, and promotion of the specific label. The results provide a detailed outline of the above aspects. Through the various findings, the project is perceived as effective in supporting the region, enhancing an organizations’ image, and limiting price fall. Yet, further efforts should be aimed at increasing networking and business opportunities. Some recommendations are also offered for similar projects in the future, as forest disturbances are increasing worldwide in frequency and intensity due to climate change.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused economic difficulties for companies in forestry as well as significant issues for entities dealing with Chain of Custody (CoC) certification. Global certification schemes, like FSC and PEFC, based on some preventive provisions in their procedural frame, developed new approaches and derogations to maintain quality evaluation and the power of standards. Arising from COVID-19 restrictions, postponed audits (and the extension of the validity of existing certifications) or remote auditing became increasingly common. Based on a survey applied to companies that had CoC FSC audits in 2020, this study aimed at evaluating the perceptions of companies regarding the audits performed under COVID pandemic procedural derogations, along with other research objectives like the continuous investigation of certification drivers or advantages. Companies indicated that the certification bodies explained the characteristics of pandemic-adapted audits and conducted risk assessments before choosing the adapted approach. Almost half of the companies perceived significant differences between the on-site previous audits and the audits performed during the pandemic due to the imposed restrictions and adapted approaches. Additionally, companies found that hybrid or remote audits are not so efficient, and for the future on-site audits are preferred. The study concluded that making the auditing procedures less interactional is not yet a sufficiently mature approach, there is a clear need for better procedures, building online tools usage capacity, to better communicate the specificity of such procedures better, and to better balance the online evaluations with on-site assessments.

Articolul prezintă o analiză a importanței procesului de certificare forestieră în identificarea și gestionarea serviciilor ecosistemice furnizate de Pădurile cu Valoare Ridicată de Conservare (PVRC). Datele au fost colectate din 13 rapoarte PVRC disponibile publicului larg care acoperă o suprafață totală de pădure de 117.507 ha. Procesul de identificare a PVRC a presupus cartarea a 28.882 ha de pădure care furnizează valori de conservare. Analiza datelor calitative ale rapoartelor s-a axat pe sursele de date folosite în procesul de identificare a PVRC, grupate în cinci categorii: (i) amenajamente silvice; (ii) planuri de management ale ariilor naturale protejate; (iii) alte surse de date disponibile; (iv) consultări publice cu factorii interesați și (v) implicarea personalului silvic. Rezultate au arătat că 80% din zonele identificate ca PVRC provin din informațiile obținute din amenajamentele silvice. Acestea fac referire la serviciile ecosistemice de reglare (protecția apelor, eroziunea solului și calitatea aerului) și la pădurile încadrate în zona de protecție strictă a ariilor naturale protejate. Procesul de identificare PVRC ajută la armonizarea între planurile de management Natura 2000 și amenajamentele silvice, în special, prin cartarea prezenței speciilor rare și amenințate și a habitatelor. O valoare adăugată de procesul PVRC este identificarea serviciilor culturale prin consultări publice cu factorii interesați și implicarea personalului de teren. Serviciile adiționale identificate în procesul de certificare oferă exemple pentru măsuri financiare prin care statul ar putea să recompenseze proprietarii de păduri pentru furnizarea de servicii ecosistemice peste limita cerută legal de amenajamente. În concluzie, analiza subliniază faptul ca amenajarea pădurilor oferă un cadru riguros de identificare a serviciilor ecosistemice forestiere, certificarea forestieră adăugând însă cerințe suplimentare de gestionare și de monitorizare a gradului de furnizarea a serviciilor ecosistemice.

This study highlights the importance of incorporating objectively quantified, non-market environmental values (such as avoided erosion and carbon sequestration) into land use decision making for sustainable forest management. A continuously developing approach that has facilitated discussions between researchers, industries, and governments on the quantification of non-market values is the ecosystem services (ES) framework. Using a spatial economic tool, called Forest Investment Framework, this study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first assessment of the market (timber) and non-market (carbon sequestration, avoided nitrogen leaching and avoided erosion) ES values of the 1.75 million-hectare New Zealand planted forest estate. To collect the views of key planted forest industry representatives on ES assessment/quantification, we interviewed 14 forest managers representing 60% of the planted forest area. Results from the spatial economic analysis indicated that the non-market ES values can be more than four times the timber profit nationally, and up to 12 times higher in New Zealand’s most erosion-prone region. These estimated values are indicative and should be treated with caution. From a sensitivity analysis, we found that different discount rates significantly impact ES values, ratios, and distributions. Results from the interviews indicated that ES quantification helped inform decision making by supporting license to operate, while also signaling the development of a reward system for sustaining ES. Sixty-four percent of survey respondents identified the importance of quantifying ES in ecological terms and describing other non-market ES in spatial, qualitative, or binary forms. Overall, this study provided evidence of how estimated non-market ES values compare with market values and highlighted the importance of including them in decision making processes. Future cost benefit analyses that incorporate these non-market monetary ES values would complement multi-criteria analysis that integrate additional dimensions and allow decision makers to rank options based on their particular criteria.

This study aims to understand, through the example of Cameroon, why industrial logging companies adopt or avoid sustainable certification or labelling systems of their forest operations in the Congo Basin region. From a methodological standpoint, the research is based on a sample of three empirical case studies of logging companies operating in Cameroon: an 'anti-certification' company (the model, due to the majority trend of non-certified logging companies in this region), a company in the process of certification (the intermediate case), and a certified company (the marginal case, due to the scarcity of certified companies in the study area). While focusing on these three cases, we chose to avoid reifying the dominant case of anti-certification companies. Hence the choice of highlighting this majority trend by carrying out a comparative study with an intermediate and a marginal case. The analysis of these three case studies reveals that the high cost of long term certification, the risks of patronage and cronyism in Patron-Client (customer-provider/boss) relationships that feature sustainable labelling processes are the main reasons for the low level of commitment of logging companies to forest certification in Cameroon. At the end of the research, we recommend that other complementary and more specific research should focus on the flaws in patron-client relationships that characterize forest certification processes on the one hand, and on the necessary conditions to avoid patronage and cronyisms risks or excesses in these relations on the other hand, especially in a poor governance context like Cameroon. Similarly, we encourage that new research be carried out to better understand whether and how transaction and opportunity costs influence the decisions of industrial logging companies in favour of or against forest certification.

Millions of people are dependent on tropical forests for livelihood. However, their dependence on meagre incomes from nontimber forest products (NTFPs) and payment for ecosystem services (PES) are leading to continuing poverty. It is doubtful if the program, Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has yet achieved much in its primary goal of forest conservation, and the chance of it helping to alleviate rural poverty is slim. Forest conservation per se hardly creates economic opportunities, beyond survival, for rural people. Our efforts for conserving forests and their biodiversity will remain less effective as long as there are so many enclaves of trenchant poverty within and around them in the landscapes and we continue to by-pass practical routes to poverty alleviation. Poverty can be alleviated only if local actions spur economic development in which local communities have a rightful and fair share and can earn rewards for their entrepreneurships. Wood is a renewable, recyclable, versatile and sustainable natural resource. The demands for wood products are rising in developing countries, as their economies grow. They also face endemic wood deficits. This provides opportunities to pro-actively develop commercial forestry as a path to rural development and poverty alleviation. That would also assist national climate change mitigation measures, because forests sequester carbon, wood products are largely carbon positive and timber- based options are on hand to substitute for high emission materials such as concrete, steel and aluminium used to build our living environments. To move along this path, the businesses of tree growing by small-growers and local value adding should be strengthened, catalysing the entrepreneurial spirits of local people. Central to this is the need to put in place strategies to improve the productivity of and value from small scale enterprises; yet there is a serious lack of research and application to serve this key need. Among other constraints faced by small-growers include, lack of transparent and legal rights to land ownership in several countries, layers of bureaucratic regulations and the current international forest certification systems which are cumbersome and unaffordable for small-growers. Actions are possible and needed for simplifying or removing road blocks on all these fronts, along with, importantly, the development of markets for diverse products. Growth of the forestry sector as an engine for rural development warrants far greater recognition and investment than has been the case so far. We need to re-imagine and strengthen the role of forestry including commercial wood business - green growth - as an effective path to rural development and poverty alleviation.

We explored whether, and to what extent, variable retention (VR) forestry has been applied in European boreal forests in northwestern Russia. Our survey revealed VR since 1910. Between 1910 and the 1960s, the statistics showing how much was retained are largely missing. However, for example, in the 1950s, on a large scale in the Republic of Karelia, up to 200-ha-sized harvesting areas, 18–33%, were retention patches with a mean growing stock of 30–40 m3 ha−1. In the fellings defined as “incomplete clear fellings,” which were the most common final felling type at that time, 11–40% of the growing stock was left. Between the 1960s and the early 1990s, with more efficient harvesting and skidding techniques, conventional clear fellings with a much lower amount of retention were practiced. Concern about the regeneration of harvested areas gradually led to smaller (maximum 50 ha) harvesting areas and the increase of silvicultural activities. Until now, to ensure natural regeneration, patches of understory and 20–25 seed trees (i.e., ca. 15–25 m3) per ha have been left permanently in harvesting areas. Landscape-scale retention for protecting ecosystem functions and biodiversity was legislated in 1978 by preserving key biotopes up to 1000 ha in size. Since 2001, promoted by forest certification, the key biotopes, such as paludified forest patches, buffers around water bodies, and habitats of red-listed species, have also been retained in harvesting areas, together with a dispersed retention of different elements. Quantitative estimates of the amount of key biotopes are largely missing. However, estimates of 1–13% in harvesting areas and 23% in whole managed landscapes have been given. VR applied during the last century has emulated natural disturbances and created diverse uneven-aged forest structures with high amounts of diverse coarse woody debris. We conclude that an analysis of past and current retention practices is essential for estimating the global role of Russian forestry. Further decisions on the general direction of Russian forestry and, specifically, retention practices are important to address the global challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.

In the last decade, the forest certification has expanded in Vietnam as an effort of the Government to boost the supply of certified wood for furniture production. However, the certification creates many challenges to the many small woodlot owners. Some of the challenges consist of a lack of technical knowledge and skills, as well as the high cost of the certification process. In this study, we identify the actual economic costs of obtaining and maintaining FSC certification and discuss some mechanism which can support small-scale forest owners paying for these costs. The results reveal that the audit fee paying to the certification agency accounts for a big proportion of total costs. On one hand, the result of our Benefit Cost analysis confirms that the revenue of selling FSC certified timber is much higher than non-certified, implying that the forest owners earn from certification and therefore, are capable of paying for costs associated with forest certification by themselves. In order to obtain higher revenue, a longer forest rotation is suggested. However, the lengthened years also cause difficulties and risks to the local people’s livelihood, which therefore, requires decreasing the certification cost per ha by larger scale of certified forest area or number of members. As the first group of smallholders in Vietnam obtaining the FSC certificate, the findings from this study are important towards the management and development of forest certification in Vietnam.

Forest certification has increased the cost of companies which has affected the international trade of wood products. This paper examines forest certification costs of companies, and based on this,...

Group forest certification programs are a relatively new policy tool designed to enhance the inclusion of small-holder foresters in forest certification systems. However, our understanding of the institutional arrangements that facilitate the participation of small-holder foresters in certification programs is limited. We assessed the role and effectiveness of intermediary organisations in promoting the participation of Non-Industrial Private Forest Owners (NIPFOs) in a forest management certification program. We focused on the Eastern Ontario Model Forest (EOMF) – an intermediary organization in Canada – which facilitates the certification of NIPFOs in a group certification program. We employed a mixed method approach involving questionnaires, document review, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Our findings show that the EOMF's role in the certification of NIPFOs falls under three broad categories and program implementation phases. These are program design and implementation (early-phase), routine administrative and organisational work (take-off phase), and organisational and financial sustainability (long-term phase). Across the different phases of the program, attributes of the EOMF that enhanced its effectiveness were its capacity to (a) build social capital and run the certification at relatively low cost, (b) optimize the program to provide services required by landowners, and (c) innovate to respond to stakeholder demands. However, poor market benefits, instability in donor funding and perceived inequity in group dynamics limit the EOMF's effectiveness. Intermediaries are important not only to reduce the challenges that limit the participation of small-holders in certification but also in optimizing certification to better respond to the needs and interests of small-holder operators.

Forest certification is an important mechanism for the legitimation of environmental practices in the sustainable forest management. Its basis are the forest management standards, which represent the guidelines for defining sustainable forest management through a hierarchical structure (principles, criteria and indicators), which includes social, environmental and economic issues. The main certification systems in the world, FSC and PEFC, have adopted this structure in their forest management standards. This work aims to evaluate the perception of experts in Brazil, Spain and Portugal regarding the level of difficulty to implement forest certification applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The principal results indicated that, in general, the principles related to environmental aspects are considered the most complicated to comply, the social aspects are much more difficult to achieve in the case of Brazil, and the economic aspects are not considered as an important problem in any of the three countries.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) aims to promote environmentally responsible forest management globally. However, quantifiable evidence of effects of FSC on forest management practices ...

Expanding the use of eco-labeled wood flooring in China is an important step in achieving the country's sustainable development goals. For a deep understanding of the relationship between the knowledge of the eco-label and consumer preferences for certified wood flooring in China, this study assessed consumers' purchase intention (PI) and price premium (PP) for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)- and China Environmental Labeling (CEL)-labeled wood flooring versus nonlabeled wood flooring. A total of 367 face-to-face interviews were conducted at building material markets in Chongqing City with visitors planning to purchase wood flooring in March 2018. The results showed, first, that 21 percent of respondents knew the FSC label, and 65 percent of respondents intended to buy FSC-labeled wood flooring with a PP of 41 CNY/m2. Second, 46 percent of respondents knew the CEL label, and 81 percent of respondents intended to buy CEL-labeled wood flooring with a PP of 48 CNY/m2. Third, the knowledge of the FSC label positively affected consumers' PI and PP, but the knowledge of the CEL label only influenced PI for certified wood flooring. This study showed that the eco-label knowledge played a main role in consumer preferences for certified wood products and suggested that different strategies should be considered in promoting FSC- and CEL-labeled wood products in the Chongqing market.

Much of the discourse on the sustainability of forestry resources revolves around certified forestland. It is typically assumed that certified forestland is the hallmark of sustainable forestry. This reasoning has led to a general perception that uncertified forestlands are not sustainably managed. In this regard, the role of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Fiber Sourcing Standard is instrumental in promoting sustainable forest management on uncertified forestlands. We used an advanced spatial approach to determine the influence of the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard over space and time on Georgia's forestlands. We also assessed differences in the implementation rate of forestry Best Management Practices (BMPs) in Georgia on harvested sites located within the sourcing radius of mills certified to SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard relative to those harvest sites located outside the sourcing radius of certified mills. Our results suggest that the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard affects 80% or more of total forestland in Georgia. We also found that the average BMP implementation rate on harvested sites located within the sourcing radius (about 65 km) of certified mills is about 2% higher relative to harvested sites located outside the sourcing radius of such mills over time. Our results indicate that the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard is helping in ensuring sustainability of forestlands in Georgia, as forestry BMPs are an important indicator of sustainable forest management. We hope our results will bring clarity to the overall sustainability of uncertified forestlands in Georgia and other forested regions in North America in the context of global private forest governance systems like the SFI Fiber Sourcing Standard.

As voluntary third‐party certification systems become an increasingly accepted part of international frameworks for forest governance, some state forestry agencies are following the private sector in seeking certification of their forest management activities. We ask how the roles and responsibilities of state forest management agencies interact with the processes and mechanisms established by certification systems. To answer this question, we review existing research to propose a conceptual framework composed of eight issues of particular relevance to states: regulation, transnationalism, sovereignty disputes, partnerships and competition, mainstreaming, effectiveness, equity, and legitimacy and trust. We then use this framework to analyze experience in Quebec, Canada, where the state agency initially sought certification and then abandoned this plan after facing difficulties meeting the requirements pertaining to indigenous rights. Our framework helps to understand possible complementarities between state and non‐state systems, but also highlights challenges for reconciling state roles and responsibilities under certification.

Certification provides a way to demonstrate the positive impacts of sustainable forest management (SFM) on ecosystem services. Ecosystem services provide society with a wide range of benefits, from clean water and carbon sequestration to the production of wood and non-wood products. This study evaluates forest owners’ and managers’ perceptions of forest certification as a tool to support SFM and forest ecosystem services in Slovakia. The questionnaire survey focused on the understanding of the concept of SFM, the objectives of forest certification schemes, and especially on the examination of the perceptions of 288 PEFC- and FSC-certified forest owners and managers on how forest certification helps to support individual ecosystem services. Among the important factors influencing the level of understanding of forest certification and its role in ensuring forest ecosystem services is the size of the managed forest area and the implemented certification scheme. The results of this study indicate that forest certification is positively perceived as a supporting tool for ecosystem services, and certified forest owners are sufficiently aware of the objectives of SFM. Regardless of the size of the managed forest area and the type of the implemented certification scheme, forest certification is mainly perceived as a tool which improves the company image and represents a commitment to environmental responsibility while promoting SFM. Certified companies managing large forest areas see the role of certification as being more significant in ensuring selected ecosystem services, in particular, the provision of woody biomass and water. However, in general, forest certification is mainly perceived as a supporting tool for the ecosystem services related to the control of erosion, soil formation, and natural composition, as well as the function of species and ecosystem diversity, followed by the provision of aesthetic, scientific, and educational values.

It is important to understand price premiums related to certified raw wood to predict the future of forest certifications from the perspective of forestry enterprises. We focused on identifying the trading roundwood market data in the economic center of power in Tokyo. This study aimed to clarify Tama-certified raw wood prices under the local area certification scheme, forest-certified raw wood prices, and the handling volumes at the Tama Roundwood Market Center in Tokyo. Sales details of the Tama Roundwood Market Center were used to identify the handling volumes, Tama-certified raw wood prices, and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or SGEC (Japan-specific Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council)-certified raw wood prices. The FSC and SGEC have operated from the center since 2016. Data were collected from the 2006–2018 fiscal years. Our results showed that the volume of raw wood handled increased due to the regeneration-cutting project conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. On the other hand, there was no price premium for Tama-certified raw wood under the local certification scheme or for FSC- or SGEC-certified raw wood. Price premiums for forest certifications are necessary for ongoing sustainable forest management. There is a need to increase consumer awareness of forest certifications and to differentiate quality certifications further, and these would likely create price premiums.

Forest certification has emerged as a voluntary, market-driven tool for sustainable forest management (SFM). Its legitimacy depends on its ability to achieve its objectives and to retain the support of stakeholders such as NGOs and the companies that adopt it. This study presents a novel approach for assessing the contributions of forest certification to biodiversity conservation, based on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in four northern European countries (Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia). In each case, national FSC certification requirements related to specific biodiversity targets were compared with requirements in national legislation. Nearly 80% of the assessed certification requirements were more prescriptive than the national legislation. One-third of these requirements (3–8 per country) were assessed to have a positive contribution to biodiversity conservation, whereas four requirements (up to 2 per country) were assessed to have a low positive contribution. FSC requirements to protect Woodland Key Habitats were identified as having a positive contribution in all four countries, whereas requirements regarding live tree retention in harvests and preserving dead wood had a positive contribution in three countries each. Despite often prescribing similar measures, the other requirements with positive contributions varied between countries depending on the national legislative baseline. The remaining requirements could not be assessed through expert evaluation, indicating the need for additional empirical research to evaluate how the normative requirements translate to impacts in the field, and how the national context may affect their implementation. The approach is globally applicable, repeatable, and provides a basis for designing systematic empirical assessments of the certification impact.

In the recent decades, forest certification based on third-party external audits has gained momentum. This type of certification has been developed as a monitoring tool aimed at improving governance in corporate environmental management and differentiating products in the increasing environmentally sensitive markets. Although the scholarly literature has extensively analyzed the adoption and dissemination of forest certification, the findings of the external audits and certification practices remain under researched. On the basis of the analysis of 105 audit reports issued by accredited third-party certification bodies in Romania, this article sheds light on procedural factors that have significant influence on the characteristics of non-conformities (NCs) identified by Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) third party audits. Our research offers empirical evidence that certain procedural factors such as the type of assessment, auditing days, number of auditors, or the presence of foreign members in an audit team have a significant influence on the auditing process outcomes: number and grade of non-conformities, standard references, or methods of NC detection. The study opens interesting new lines of research—the influence of procedural or other types of contextual factors on certification outcomes—and provides indications on the effectiveness of the certification procedures and guidelines in certification process quality assurance. This research was funded by Transylvania University of Brasov.

Illegal logging and the associated deforestation have serious consequences for biodiversity, the climate, the economy and society. The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) prohibits the placing of illegally harvested timber or timber products on the market. The objective of this paper is to analyse the recent evolution of EU imports of these products from the international market, in order to check how the transparency index of the supplying countries&rsquo, institutions and tree cover loss have influenced this trajectory. To that end, a panel data model is estimated with 228 observations from 38 exporting countries between 2012 and 2017. The results show that EU timber imports have a direct association with the transparency index and an inverse relationship with tree cover loss, both these relationships are highly significant at the one-percent level. Other significant factors are the performance of the EU construction sector (as a proxy for timber demand) and timber supply. In the short and medium-term, Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) signed between the EU and non-EU timber-producing countries have a negative influence on the supply to EU member states. This study presents an analysis of EU timber imports after the implementation of the EUTR, providing specific conclusions that can inform policymakers&rsquo, efforts to foster sustainable forest management.

Achieving sustainable management of forests in China is becoming increasingly important with more awareness and realization of the importance of forests in environmental protection. Forest certification, a market-based instrument to promote sustainable forest management, has been recognized by many countries including China. While landowners&rsquo, perception and perspective regarding this voluntary program have been well-documented in the literature, how to motivate and incentivize landowners to participate in forest certification remained understudied questions. With the face-to-face survey of landowners in Shandong, China, this study analyzed landowners&rsquo, willingness to accept compensation for participating in forest certification. Results indicated that the average accepted compensation in terms of increased timber price was about RMB 120 (~USD 17.6)/m3 to have their forests enrolled in certification programs. Results from multiple regression showed that the level of such compensation required for participation in certification was influenced by forestland size, owner demographics, certification-program requirements, and importance placed on timber production. These findings would inform policy-makers in designing compensation-related policies and establish incentive-based mechanisms to motivate forest landowners to participate in forest certification programs in China.

The high level of forest intervention and the decrease in biodiversity as a result of logging are incentives to implement forest certification schemes. Despite the advances in the results of the impact of forest certification on biodiversity, there are few studies on species with specific habits, such as cavitynesting birds. The objective of this study is to compare the impact of forest certification and conventional logging on the richness, availability (density) and dominance of potentially suitable cavity trees for secondary cavity-nesting birds in the subtropical forests of northwestern Argentina. Seven sites were selected: three control sites which were not logged for at least 40 years, one site under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, and three sites with conventional logging. The results suggest that logged forests under FSC-certification may guarantee a diversity, availability (density) and dominance of potentially suitable cavity trees for secondary cavity-nesting birds, as well as certain characteristics (such as DBH > 40 cm), similar to unlogged forests for this group of birds. Therefore, we suggest that the forests of northwestern Argentina should be managed by a scheme under forest certification so that the high levels of cavity tree species are maintained. Fil: Schaaf, Alejandro Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina Fil: Tallei, Ever Denis. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina. Fundación Cebio; Argentina Fil: Ruggera, Román Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina Fil: Vivanco, Constanza Guadalupe. Fundación Cebio; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina Fil: Rivera, Luis Osvaldo. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina Fil: Politi, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Jujuy. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Ecorregiones Andinas; Argentina

Tropical forests contain approximately 40% of the carbon accumulated in terrestrial biomass. However, the loss and degradation of forests worldwide liberates this carbon and contributes 11% of total global emissions. Forest degradation is an increasing source of carbon emissions, contributing 25% in tropical forest environments; and selective logging is among the principal causes. The central objective of this study was to evaluate biomass impacts and committed carbon emissions from selective logging in two forestry communities (ejidos with common forest use and rights) in the southern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. We compared emissions performance from logging operations in both ejidos, one of them certified as sustainably managed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The species of roundwood extracted as well as the number of impacted trees from harvesting were recorded and the type of collateral damage from felling, skidding, and transport of timber was quantified. Biomass of harvested timber and impacted vegetation was estimated to calculate carbon emissions using allometric equations. Results indicated that selective logging generated 1.2 Mg m-3 1.5 Mg m-3 of total carbon emissions in the Caobas and 20 de Noviembre ejidos, with 5% and 12% corresponding to collateral damage during felling, respectively. Overall lower committed emissions and collateral damage from felling and skidding were present in Caobas, the FSC certified ejido. We discuss how forest certification, through implementation of reduced impact logging (RIL) practices can significantly reduce carbon emissions from selective logging in the region.

In recent decades, the concept of forest certification under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has been widely adopted in selected Southeast European countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia). As sustainability is traditionally recognised as a leading principle in the forest management doctrine in these countries, the aim of this study was to understand whether, and how, FSC forest certification contributes to the sustainable management of state forests. The research was carried out in two phases. First, in order to assess forest management compliance with FSC standard, non-conformities for the period 2014–2018, identified in audit Public Summary Reports, were analysed in all public companies that managed state-owned forests in selected countries. Further, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the professionals responsible for forest certification in these companies were conducted (n = 11) to determine the contribution of forest certification to the economic, ecological, and social aspects of sustainable forest management. In total, 185 non-conformities were analysed. The results showed that FSC certification was successful in addressing certain problems in forest management practices and contributed to sustainable forest management, mainly covering social and ecological issues. The most frequently identified non-conformities were those related to FSC Principle 4 Community relations and worker’s rights (32.3% of all non-conformities) and Principle 6 Environmental impact (30.4% of all non-conformities). The contribution of FSC certification to sustainable forest management is mainly reflected in the following aspects: Worker’s rights, health and safety of employees, availability of appropriate personal protective equipment, consultation with local people and interest groups, awareness of environmental impacts of forestry operations, waste disposal and storage of fuel, improving the image of forest companies and maintenance of high-conservation-value forests. The majority of non-conformities were minor and required procedural changes to be closed. Moreover, there are no statistically significant differences between the countries with regard to the number of non-conformities for all principles. It can be concluded that FSC certification, as a market-driven mechanism, plays an important role by influencing forest management practices and business operations of public forest companies in a positive manner.

The Forest Stewardship Council initiated a Forest Certification for Ecosystem Services (ForCES) project from 2011 to 2017 to improve and promote sustainable forest management addressing a range of ecosystem services. Three sites in Indonesia were included in the pilot. Whilst the development of the certification standard was largely the result of a partnership between the certification standard organization, civil society and research organizations, implementation and monitoring of the impact of this sustainability standard will entail interactions with state regulations. This study examined how voluntary certification, other market-based approaches and state regulations concerning ecosystem services in Indonesia interplay, particularly in the agenda setting and negotiation stage. Using the conceptual lenses of transition theory and state and non-state market-based governance, interrelationships between ecosystem services certification and regulations were found to be complementary and antagonistic. The majority of interrelations were complementary and supporting. However, antagonism exists where regulations do not address multiple land uses and when there are contradictions in how state regulations define ecosystem services. There was limited state involvement in developing the ecosystem services certification standard, with no substitution between the voluntary standard and regulations occurring. To scale and transition this innovatory standard from a niche to a sociotechnical regime level, it is recommended that market-driven governance arrangements at farm, forest concession and landscape level are developed in collaboration with national and local governments. Collaboration can create synergies to incentivize the acceptance, adoption and effectiveness of non-state market driven instruments to positively enhance the conservation of ecosystem services.

The smallholder tree-farm resources of Southeast Asia are generating substantial benefits for growers and support many successful domestic wood processors. They could provide even greater benefits at all levels of the supply and value chains if they enjoyed a sympathetic policy framework; technical and specialised support and training to promote productivity gains; and greater knowledge of market trends and access requirements. This paper reviews current forest certification systems as applied to smallholder tree-farmers in Southeast Asia, with a focus on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Viet Nam, and questions whether perceived benefits match operational realities. A critical issue in any form of transactional relationship between two or more people or institutions is to answer to mutual satisfaction the question, ‘Who benefits?’ This is particularly important in transactions between relatively weak and vulnerable and relatively strong and powerful individuals and groups, such as the relationships between smallholder tree-farmers in Southeast Asia and purchasers of certified wood products. We explore factors that drive certification and how they intersect with salient characteristics of smallholder tree-farms restricting the adoption of certification. We argue that new approaches are required to deliver the benefits necessary to expand smallholder participation in wood production supply chains, such as national codes of practice for small-scale forestry and agreed standards that encourage mutual recognition between verification systems. Innovative approaches should be adopted to deliver a fair, equitable and inclusive model that is relevant, practical, feasible and cost-effective for smallholder tree-farmers. As currently practised, certification has many positive aspects for some types of forests and wood producers but rarely for smallholder tree-farmers. A new approach to smallholder forest certification is required to ensure that the answer to the question, ‘Who benefits?’ is, ‘All participants in the supply and value chain, including smallholder tree-farmers’. To achieve this outcome, certification organisations and forest products businesses should remove existing barriers to smallholder participation and develop initiatives to more fairly link smallholder tree-farmers with others in the supply chain, based on enabling and mutually supportive partnerships.

Forest certification is a conservation tool, which aims to promote the sustainable management and conservation of forest ecosystems. Establishing set-aside or lower intervention conservation zones to promote biodiversity conservation is a requisite of forest certification. We tested the effects of conservation zones on the tree biometrics and regeneration, as well as on the taxonomic, functional, and structural diversity of the shrub and herb understory, in Mediterranean oak woodlands. We also assessed how oak biometrics, regeneration and understory diversity varied among conservation zones established 10, 14, and 20 years before our sampling dates. Oak regeneration tended to be higher in conservation zones than in controls, but results varied with the age of conservation zones. For example, the abundance of oak seedlings and saplings was higher in 10-year-old conservation zones than in those established 20 years ago. Abundance of young oak trees was higher in 14-year-old conservation zones than in 10- and 20-year-old conservation zones. The understory vertical diversity was significantly higher in 14- and 20-year-old conservation zones than in controls. Functional diversity differed significantly between conservation zones and controls, with a higher abundance of late-successional shrubs, namely fleshy-fruited species in 20-year-old conservation zones. The plant species composition of the shrub and the herb understory was most dissimilar between older conservation zones and controls. Additionally, the cover and diversity of the understory herb species decreased with the age of conservation zones. Conservation zones implemented under forest certification increase habitat structural complexity of oak woodlands, which may benefit wildlife species, but there will be trade-offs with the cover and diversity of the herb understory. Forest managers must evaluate such trade-offs when establishing conservation zones in cork oak woodlands under forest certification schemes.

Forest management certification plays a supportive role in the realization of wood production by evaluating social, economic and ecological objectives. This study analyzed the changes in the perceptions, views and expectations with respect to forest management certification held by those who live on forest land in Turkey, known as forest peasants, according to their education level, age and their engagement in forestry activities. The study was conducted at the Kastamonu Regional Directorate of Forestry located in northwestern Turkey. Data were collected using face-to-face survey with 407 forest peasants who randomly selected. In addition to the descriptive statistics, Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to analyze whether there were any significant differences among the views depending on the locals’ education level, age and their engagement in forestry activities. The results showed that forest peasants generally knew what certification was. The forest peasants stated that certification has benefits for occupational health and safety. However, they also stated that there had not been any significant increase in forestry worker wages or the price of forest products, that there had not been any noticeable difference in the forest administration’s forestry activities, and that the principles of participatory forest management had not been applied efficiently and effectively following certification.

Indonesian small-scale forest holders are facing a dilemma due to the implementation of a mandatory national timber-legality verification scheme and an internationally popular forest certification ...

Sustainable forest management is the process of managing forest to achieve one or more clearly specified objectives without diminishing the forest’s ability to continue providing goods and services...

Non-industrial private forest owners in Sweden are encouraged to mitigate environmental damages from forestry on their properties under a principle of “freedom with responsibility,” although the level of mitigation is generally left to the owners’ discretion. One voluntary measure private forest owners are encouraged to take is setting aside a part of their productive forests for conservation. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how non-industrial private forest owner beliefs concerning both their own and the Swedish state’s responsibility for nature protection differ among owners of certified forests, who automatically leave a set-aside, and those who have stayed out of forest certification but have decided to leave a set-aside. Results of a Heckman selection bivariate probit model show that the more a respondent believes the state is responsible for fulfilling environmental goals compared to private forest owners, the less likely it is that an owner of a non-certified forest will leave a se...

Forest certification, under both the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the PEFC-endorsed Chilean CERTFOR schemes, has been widely adopted in both the native and plantation forestry sectors in Chile. This study of the impacts of forest certification on Chilean forestry businesses is based in-depth interviews with 72 actors representing a diversity of roles and perspectives in the Chilean forestry sector. The impacts of certification have been greatest in the plantation forestry sector, and for larger businesses. These impacts include the cessation of deforestation for plantation establishment, rehabilitation of natural ecosystems, greater benefits to local communities, and the development of a positive dialogue between forestry businesses and their stakeholders. However, certification has not resolved some long-standing conflicts between forestry businesses and other actors, notably in relation to Indigenous peoples' land claims and workers' rights. Both certification schemes in Chile have promoted legal compliance; FSC certification is encouraging improvements beyond legal compliance, and deepening the changes initiated by CERTFOR. The results illustrate how certification can contribute to effective hybrid governance regimes, but also of the limits of certification in addressing deeply-entrenched social conflicts. Nevertheless, the impacts of certification for Chilean forestry businesses and their stakeholders have largely been positive.

Exactly how do forest bureaucracies manoeuvre to regain power and maximise benefits in the bewildering legal, financial, and administrative field of forest decentralisation? Based on a review of thirty management plans, stakeholder consultations, intensive interactions with six forest user groups, forest officials, and donor project employees in Nepal, we document the mechanisms of legal-sounding re-centralisation. The central tenet is that bureaucratically established procedures, which are not required by law but treated as if they were, are used to impose regular revisions of community forest management plans. Meagre government or more generous donor budgets financed the revisions. Forest bureaucrats and/or consultants did the work and benefitted financially. None of the approaches, however, lived up to technical, scientific standards or followed stipulated participatory processes. The revised plans were almost identical to their previous versions and differences mostly a result of mere desk exercises to fulfil donor requirements and government orders, at least on paper. While legitimised by a perceived promotion of rational, technical sound, and equitable forest governance, the main function of plan revisions appears to be strengthening or re-establishing the forest bureaucracy's control over community forest resources which allows forest bureaucrats to tap into donor project and forest product value chains.

State forest enterprises (SFEs) in Vietnam for decades were the main source of industrial wood production, but smallholder forest plantations have become common. Smallholders need positive financial returns to be viable. Likewise, financial returns are an important consideration of proposals to turn SFEs into joint ventures, because the potentially involved private companies would seek reasonable returns on investment. Financial analyses of smallholder and SFE forest plantations were undertaken to evaluate their competitiveness and profitability, and to assess opportunities and challenges for the sector. It was found that forest plantations in Vietnam, under current market conditions, can be profitable. Smallholders who received technical assistance and financial support could generate average land expectation values (LEVs) of about US$ 5 100/ha at 8% discount rate. Even without financial support, and assuming smallholders pay for the cost of technical assistance, average LEVs were about US$ 4 600/ha. Smallholders participating in a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification pilot had higher LEVs, assuming price premiums for certified wood. Positive LEVs were robust to lower wood price and higher discount rates. SFEs, on the other hand, had poorer returns because of lower growth and yield of wood, which may be due to differences in sites and management. Vietnamese wood producers are competitive internationally, and have opportunities to tap domestic and international markets.

A crescente preocupação com as questões ambientais, principalmente com o avanço do desmatamento ilegal de florestas nativas, fortaleceu uma demanda por madeira certificada no mercado brasileiro e mundial. Essa tem sido a justificativa para no crescente mercado de certificações na área florestal, bem como a descentralização de gestão por parte governo por meio das concessões de florestas nacionais. Baseado neste contexto, o presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar a influência da certificação florestal para acesso ao uso dos recursos madeireiros por meio manejo das florestas naturais. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória de caráter qualitativo e quantitativo visando compreender o público atendido pela certificação florestal dentre os diversos demandadores de madeira, que tipo de floresta está sendo certificada (Nativa ou Plantada), bem como a mudança estrutural do Estado na gestão de florestas públicas a partir do modelo de bom manejo florestal defendido pela certificação voluntária. Como resultado foi possível observar que houve aumento da participação das florestas plantadas na produção florestal madeireira e que a certificação florestal e o manejo florestal sob a forma de concessão de florestas nacionais pelo Estado, não são suficientes para reduzir a níveis significativos o desmatamento no país.AbstractThe growing concern with environmental issues, especially with the advance of illegal deforestation of native forests, strengthened demand for certified wood in the Brazilian and world market. This has been the reason for the growing market of certification in forestry, as well as the government party for management decentralization through the national forest concessions. Based on this context, this study aims to analyze the influence of forest certification to access the use and management of natural forests. Therefore, an exploratory research of qualitative and quantitative order to understand that public forest certification meet among the various wood consumers was held, what kind of forest is being certified (Native or planted) and the structural state of change in management of public forests from good forest management model advocated by voluntary certification. As a result it was observed that there was increase in the share of planted forests in the timber forest production and forest certification and forest management in the form of granting State by national forests, they are not enough to reduce the significant levels of deforestation in the country.

SUMMARY The forest sector directly and indirectly serves several industries and economic activities. In addition to this, forests also provide various environmental services at local and global scales. The demand and conservation of these services has been increasing more strongly in recent decades. A mechanism created to highlight “good forest management” and ensuring the sustainability of forests, is forest certification. The American continent has vast forest areas and a strong forest sector, with big consumers and producers, especially Brazil, Canada and the United States. However less than 5% of this area is certified. Thus, this study aimed to review how the different countries of the Americas carried out the process of forest certification by the FSC system and to discuss how external factors would have influenced these processes. As a result, we found that the establishment of certification was not homogenous among the American countries. It has grown faster in countries with large activities in t...

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards are becoming increasingly important in sustainable forest governance. In 2016, FSC certified a total forest area of 195 Mha across 80 countries. While there is considerable room for expanding FSC's reach, there has been a lack of incentives for producers to seek certification, particularly in tropical countries. Information about existing barriers and challenges to comply with FSC standards are fundamental to promote such incentives. The objective of this study was to explore the main challenges faced by firms in the FSC certification process and discuss their policy implications. This was carried out by analyzing the quantity, spatial distribution, non-compliant principles, potential triggers and thematic areas of non-conformities (NCs) to FSC certification disclosed in the Public Summary Reports of third-party audits in Brazil. More specifically it tried to understand the specific issues to which the NCs were potentially associated to. This study generated descriptive and inferential statistics of a sample of 1086 NCs to FSC standards disclosed in the 110 Public Summary Reports, from which the overall majority were related to the certification of plantation forests that had gone through maintenance audits. The occurrence of NCs was found to be most frequently associated with FSC Principles 4 (26,07%), 6 (21,82%) and 8 (13,72%), which are related to the themes “Community Relations and Worker's rights”, “Environmental Impact” and “Monitoring and Assessment”, respectively. Many NCs were triggered by aspects of forest planning, operation and monitoring, which altogether accounted for 42.91% of all NCs. Problems related to occupational health and safety were also a relevant theme, accounting for almost 20% of the total non-conformities. Findings from the Kruskal-Wallis tests suggest that auditors tended to identify similar NCs, regardless of the geographical region, of the type of forest and of the type of audit (certification or maintenance). Spearman Correlation tests indicated significant relationships between certified forest area and non-conformities with FSC Principles 4 and 7 (Community Relations and Worker's Rights, and Management Plans, respectively). The meaning of this relationship is unclear. Overall, findings corroborate previous studies that found FSC Principles 4 and 6 among the most challenging of the global FSC system. There seems to exist an opportunity for the development of stronger technical guidance and capacity building policies related to community relations, worker's rights, and environmental impacts. If such issues are already challenging in the context of large forest plantations, Brazilian policy-makers should expect small-scale firms to face even higher levels of difficulty, given their lack of financial and human resources. The study concludes by discussing its limitations and suggesting future research avenues.