The documentary raises some important issues, which are already under investigation. However, we consider that not all issues raised are accurate, and many segments are intentionally biased to portray FSC through a damaging and negative angle.
Our forest management audits worldwide are strict, and they are all governed under the same principles and criteria that make us the most stringent and trusted responsible forest management certification scheme in the world.
FSC is a voluntary certification scheme, and we can only ensure that no deforestation and illegal logging happens in those forests that carry an FSC certificate. We cannot do the same for all forests globally. Even with our checks and balances in place, in a very few circumstances, we are confronted with specific difficulties and a void of legislative measures in countries where governance is low and corruption high. We have identified these countries as high risk in our supply chain and are increasing our efforts at policing and acting, carrying out unilateral efforts to identify and expel business out of our system that purposefully commit fraud.
These efforts include active and permanent transaction verification of many FSC supply chains to ensure that the products businesses sell match the volume of FSC-certified product they claim to have purchased. And we take action where it’s needed. For example, in Eastern Europe, during 2018 we found and suspended over 30 certificate holders for fraudulent use of our certification.
Additionally, we have begun a wide-ranging investigation on the Vietnamese businesses that the documentary portrays as processing illegal timber and selling it as FSC-certified finished products. Should any of the conclusions from this investigation prove that the allegations in the documentary are accurate, these businesses will face immediate termination of their FSC certificates.
We are also ramping up our efforts at identifying illegal timber trade in regions such as the Amazon. We have started a global project to collect samples of a wide range of wood species that we will use in wood identification and isotope testing to considerably increase our scrutiny on potential cases of illegal logging and timber trade.
We are also starting some very important new measures that we expect to roll-out during 2019, including fully digitalized maps of FSC-certified forest concessions in an effort to ensure greater transparency around the FSC certified areas. These maps will be made publicly available for stakeholder scrutiny.
While FSC certification is constantly improving, it has already had a major positive impact in addressing the many challenges that affect forests around the world. These impacts are made possible by FSC’s democratic governance, where all our members have equal say in the development of our standards, policies, and procedures.
For updates please visit the FSC Germany website at https://www.fsc-deutschland.de/de-de