Posted on June, 26 2001
All wood products and timber from IMR's certified concessions are marked with the FSC logo, assuring buyers and consumers the company follows "best forest management practices." This means striking a balance between environmental, social and economic interests to conserve forests through sustainable use.
Velarde believes forestry certification will provide a niche market for the country's troubled timber industry, and the wave is certainly catching on. Buyers from England, Germany, Holland and other northern European countries are increasingly demanding FSC products. Interest has also been growing in the United States, the top importer of Bolivian forestry products.
Bolivia boasts at least 10 FSC certified forestry concessions, comprising nearly 900,000 hectares, making this South American country number one in the tropics for hectares of certified natural forest and the trend shows no signs of diminishing - 12 additional forestry concessions are currently undergoing the process of certification.
Factors were ripe in Bolivia for certification to take hold. According to macroeconomic indicators, Bolivia is one of Latin America's poorest nations, but the country is rich in tropical forest reserves. About 53.4 million hectares, or around 48 per cent of the total surface area, is covered by natural, tropical forest. Despite these vast resources, Bolivia's timber industry was on shaky ground, which timber executives blame on a series of political and economic factors, including poor infrastructure and the government's lack of commitment to promoting forestry products.
But tough new forestry regulations brought in four years ago, helped prepare the industry for certification. The two (FSC and forestry law standards) are very compatible, especially in technical terms. Companies like IMR that were already complying with the new laws, found they were operating close to FSC standards and required few adjustments to certify "pilot" concessions.
Capturing the "green" market through certification has been more important for Bolivian companies than the price premiums of 10-15 per cent that some buyers offer for certified wood.
Although certification refers to management of forestry concessions, industrial wood production companies can also be certified with "chain of custody," guaranteeing that all products stamped with the FSC logo come from certified forests. In Bolivia, 17 industrial wood shops have either attained certification or are in the process.
Before embarking on the evaluation process, most companies consult with certification experts to determine the changes necessary to meet FSC standards. Once a company is ready the certifying body sends specialists to evaluate their concession. Costs of the evaluation and yearly monitoring are assumed by the logging company.
However, companies with certified concessions say the benefits far outweigh the costs. A 1999 report on Bolivia's experience with forestry certification by Darby Jack, an independent forestry consultant, concluded that certification helps companies cut down on operating costs at all stages of production, meaning less personal, less roads and less hours of machine use.
Strategic logging, one of the mantras of certification, ensures natural regeneration of the forest, enabling logging companies to work the same concession for hundreds of years. Such methods include leaving the best trees as "seeders," and working with 10 or more abundant species, which prevents over-logging of rare species.
Certification success stories abound. La Chonta, a Santa Cruz firm with two certified concessions totaling 220,000 hectares, has helped turn "ochoo" or possumwood - previously considered a cheap wood - into a top-seller. Technicians at the company developed a technique for treating the pale-yellowish hardwood to avoid the appearance of a blue stain during air drying. La Chonta now proudly markets the plentiful species as "white-mahogany," used to make furniture, doors and coffins.
Being part of the FSC international network provides abn opportunity for companies to promote such non-traditional species in regional and international trade fairs. Bolivian companies have participated in FSC fairs in London and Germany as well as Latin America. Although the demand has not yet caught on amongst Latin American consumers, environmental organizations like WWF are working to raise awareness. The WWF Bolivia office set up a stand at EXPOCRUZ 2000 in Santa Cruz to promote forestry certification. The fair, the second-most important of its kind in Latin America, was visited by about 400,000 people from around the world.
Such partnerships between environmental groups and forestry professionals have helped put Bolivia's once failing forestry industry at the top of a hot new. The promising economic markets suggest the once threatened "green logger" will keep expanding in habitat and numbers in coming years.
* Stephanie Boyd is a freelance journalist and documentary video maker based in Lima, Peru.
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