Posted on October, 20 2014
Established in 1994, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was the first forest certification scheme, setting the standard for a new model of market-based conservation tool to promote responsible forest management and trade. Now in its 20th year, FSC has inspired a number of other certification schemes, and remains the sole one with broad support from environmental and social NGOs.
FSC’s aim is to improve forest management globally and, through certification, create an incentive for forest owners, managers, and buyers of wood products, follow best social and environmental practices. Today, over 180 million hectares of forests worldwide are managed according to FSC standards. These include boreal, temperate and tropical forests owned publicly, privately and by communities.
A handful of credible and scientific studies have been conducted to assess the impact of FSC certification. A meta-analysis of these studies reveals that there is limited but concrete evidence suggesting that FSC certification is likely to have a multitude of positive impacts on the environment, social development and governance. There are little or no credible and scientific studies assessing the impact of other forest certification schemes.
Related links
- Effects of forest certification on biodiversity
- Sustaining conservation values in selectively logged tropical forests: the attained and the attainable
- Social impacts of the Forest Stewardship Council certification: An assessment in the Congo basin
- Transnational governance through private authority: The case of the Forest Stewardship Council certification in Russia
- Confronting Sustainability: Forest Certification in Developing and Transitioning Countries
- The evidence base for environmental and socioeconomic impacts of "sustainable" certification
- An overview of current knowledge about the impacts of forest management certification
- Toward sustainability: The roles and limitations of certification
- Logging concessions can extend the conservation estate for Central African tropical forests
- The persistence and conservation of Borneo's mammals in lowland rain forests managed for timber: observations, overviews and opportunities
- RIL for biodiversity and carbon conservation
- Impact of FSC certi cation on deforestation and the incidence of wild res in the Maya Biosphere Reserve
- Primary forests are irreplaceable for sustaining tropical biodiversity
- Evaluation of the management of wildlife in the forestry concessions around the national parks of Lopé, Waka and Ivindo, Gabon
- Certified and uncertified logging concessions compared in Gabon: Changes in stand structure, tree species, and biomass