Can FSC forest certification model be used to demonstrate true sustainability?
“Can the FSC forest certification model be used to demonstrate
sustainability in large-scale agrofuel crop production?” Their answer
is a resounding “no”. In November 2008 Global Forest Coalition
released a report criticizing plantation certification in South
Africa. The report looks in detail at the FSC certification of the
industrial tree plantations belonging to the company Hans Merensky
Holdings and its subsidiary Singisi Forest Products, which have been
FSC certified since 2002 by SGS Qualifor.
(Photo: FSC certified ‘forest’ in South Africa)
“The question that now needs
to be asked,” write Menne and Karumbidza, “is how two of the most
reputable ‘forest’ certification systems [FSC and PEFC], which have
consistently been misrepresenting environmentally damaging and
socially disruptive industrial tree plantations as forests, have been
able to maintain that illusion? In the case of the FSC it would appear
to be the clever co-option of environmental and social NGOs and
academics into its tri-cameral structures, where once again an
illusion of democratic decision-making and positive social and
environmental gains has been created. Meanwhile, on the ground, global
deforestation, and the destruction of agricultural land and natural
areas through the establishment of new tree plantations have
accelerated to unprecedented rates since the inception of ‘forest’
certification! Is this mere coincidence? Can it be shown that FSC has
helped to reduce deforestation and destruction of ecosystems by
certifying plantations?”Among the findings of the research was that
around Singisi, “an area of intense poverty”, work on the plantations
is increasingly being sub-contracted and wages are falling. The
authors note that “The development of the plantation sector and its
expansion into the tribal areas of the former homelands is related to
the history of apartheid land seizures, and the desire to advance
white enterprise at the expense of the poor black majority.”
http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2009/01/13/FSC_Certification_of
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