FSC森林经营联合认证标准最新修订及其对我国的影响

联合认证是小规模经营者开展森林管理委员会（FSC）森林经营认证的重要组织模式。从2018年起FSC对联合认证的标准进行了重新修订，并于2021年3月16日正式生效。FSC森林经营联合认证标准的制修订对于完善中国森林认证标准体系具有参考意义。文中介绍了FSC联合认证标准的最新变动，就该标准实施后对我国已开展认证的组织可能产生的影响进行了评估分析，并就国内如何开展相关工作及应对该标准的变化提出了建议。     

中国FSC森林经营认证不符合项分析

作为提高森林经营管理水平、促进森林可持续经营的一种制度创新,森林认证对森林生态保护和建设以及世界林产品贸易均具有影响。森林管理委员会(Forest Stewardship Council,FSC)认证是目前全球最具影响力的森林认证体系,不符合项是针对FSC认证标准层面开具的企业在开展森林经营过程中违反认证标准所包含的原则总和,通过对不符合项进行分析,可以总结出我国已通过认证的森林经营企业经营状况与FSC标准的差距。文中从FSC网站收集中国开展FSC森林经营认证的80家企业的191份审核报告,对FSC认证的发展现状和认证机构开展审核时提出的不符合项进行分析。结果发现,企业在环境影响、森林监测、当地社区、劳动者权利、森林经营方案编制方面与FSC认证标准存在差距。应从加强企业森林认证动力、企业森林认证能力和技术建设以及国家政策支持等方面进一步提升,进而提高森林认证对我国森林经营管理的作用。     

FSC标准与中国法规之间的冲突分析

森林管理委员会(FSC)认证体系是目前市场认可度最高的, 受到非政府环保组织和贸易组织支持的全球森林认证体系。近年来, 由于市场作用和政策支持等因素, FSC认证在中国迅速发展。然而各个认证机构在中国开展森林经营认证过程中, 发现FSC标准与中国的法规之间存在着几个方面的冲突。这些冲突是导致国内部分森林经营企业难以通过FSC认证的重要原因。作者通过参与和调查国内多个森林经营企业的FSC认证工作, 将具有普遍性的冲突进行了归纳和分析, 为中国森林企业获得FSC认证提供借鉴。     

Certification of a Community-based Forest Enterprise for Improving Institutional Management and Household Income: A Case from Southeast Sulawesi,Indonesia

Forest certification for community-based forest management was designed to strengthen an area’s forestry functions while simultaneously alleviating poverty by developing the existing community forest. It is fundamental for forest certification to maintain the economic benefits for certified local sellers and balance conservation goals with increasing local incomes. This study explores how FSC certification of a community-based forest enterprise in Southeast Sulawesi in Indonesia could improve effectively field situations of community forest management and strengthen local peoples’ financial benefits and social perceptions towards conserving forests. FSC group certification was introduced in the area of teak community forest of several villages in 2005. Because of local strong interest in group certification, the size of certified forests, the number of group certification members and the amount of certified wood harvested gradually increased. The support of a local NGO and an international NGO contributed towards successful establishment of group certification and establishment of a small-scale forestry enterprise producing certified wood in a sustainable manner. These NGOs played important roles in establishing strong relationships between producers and consumers, strengthening local forest management institutions, and promising social and economic benefits to the local people.     

瑞典林业与森林认证

面对全球森林资源匮乏,生态环境日益恶化的问题,保护环境、保护森林已成为人类的共识。国际社会、各国政府及非政府组织为实现森林可持续经营提出了一些倡议,并采取了一系列的行动。森林认证正是在这种背景下,由非政府组织作为一种促进森林可持续经营的市场机制提出来的。文中从介绍瑞典林业经营和森林认证现状入手,分析了瑞典现行森林认证体系产生的背景、服务的群体及其特点,提出了我国目前开展森林认证工作需要解决的问题及相关的建议,论述了开展森林认证对我国实施天然林保护及可持续经营的意义。     

世界森林认证的发展现状及对中国森林认证的启示

森林认证是一种基于对森林产品市场贸易的监管达到保护森林资源和提高森林管理的机制。自从20世纪90年代初第一个森林认证体系（FSC认证体系）问世以来,世界上已有50多个森林认证体系,这些认证体系对世界森林开展了不同形式的认证工作,目前已被认证的森林面积超过300×104 km2。中国第一个森林认证始于2002年,但发展较为缓慢。本文在分析世界森林认证现状的基础上,对中国的森林认证提出了几点建议。     

Experiences of a Forest Owners’ Cooperative in using FSC forest certification as an environmental strategy

Yusuhara Forest Owners’ Cooperative (YFOC) in Kochi Prefecture in Japan received its forest management certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in 2000. YFOC is recognised as the resource manager of its members’ forests, and they were the first organisation to gain such certification in Japan. With the continuous efforts of selling FSC certified wood in the domestic housing construction market, YFOC has substantially increased their timber sales in recent years. It is a noteworthy event in Japanese small-scale forestry, which has been struggling with declining economic performance for many years. This paper analyses the detail of forestry activities and changes which occurred in YFOC after certification by FSC. An interesting effect of increasing economic performance is found to have come from an unexpected direction. It is concluded that the FSC certification system is a possible tool to revitalise Japanese small-scale forestry as well as obtain favourable environmental outcomes.     

Effects of acquiring FSC forest management certification for Japanese enterprises using SmartWood Audits

We explore the organizational, environmental, and economic effects of sustainable forest management (FM) certification by Smart-Wood (SW), one of the certification bodies accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to carry out certification in Japan. We closely investigated three enterprises: the Yusuhara Forest Owners’ Cooperative, Yamanashi Prefectural Forest, and Ryujin-mura Forest Owners’ Cooperative. Interviews with representatives of these entities provided crucial empirical information regarding the influence of certification on environmental assessment, rare-species protection, landscape-management planning, management objectives, and forest supervision. Attainment of FM status improved environmental awareness and engendered positive changes in assessing and managing forests and other natural resources but simultaneously imposed heavier economic costs.     

Not seeing the forest for the trees? The environmental effectiveness of forest certification in Sweden

Forest certification can be conceived as one of many rapidly growing non-state market driven (NSMD) modes of governance. The environmental effectiveness of forest certification is oftentimes evaluated by indicators such as stringency of standards, degree of participation by key stakeholders, certified area, etc. In political science, forest certification as an NSMD governance arrangement is usually evaluated in terms of the quality of the decision-making procedures (input legitimacy) rather than for its problem solving capacity, i.e. its environmental performance or effectiveness. We conceptualize environmental effectiveness as a function of a standard's environmental stringency and the area covered by the standard, the latter dependent on the degree of social acceptance. Accordingly, the environmental effectiveness of different certification schemes ought to be evaluated taking both the standard stringency and the area certified into account. The forest certification process in Sweden illustrates how forestry history and regional differences affect the development, acceptance and adoption of different certification schemes. Industrial and Northern forestry owners favour the NGO led Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards whereas Southern small-scale private forest owners preferred to develop an alternative scheme the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). We demonstrate that there is a bifurcated geographical coverage of the two certification schemes along a north–south divide coupled with a similarity in standard stringency and a high degree of acceptance in their different areas of dominance. Both forest certification schemes display a similar degree of environmental effectiveness — but in different parts of the country and for different types of ownership.     

Why Brazilian companies are certifying their forests?

The paper examines the two forest certification schemes in Brazil, the Brazilian Program of Forest Certification (Cerflor) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), from the private sector perspective. The main focus is to test the relevance of three mechanisms—market, learning, and signaling—suggested by Overdevest and Rickenbach (2006), to explain forest certification adoption by Brazilian companies. Furthermore, companies' familiarity with certification systems, external influences on pursuing forest certification, and companies' intention to recertify their forests are investigated. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggests that signaling and learning mechanisms lead to better and more transparent forest management, explaining the movement towards certification, but market incentives do not play an important role in the adoption of forest certification. An importance and performance analysis (IPA) demonstrates that companies do not see any return in terms of a better price for certified products; however, certificate holders indicated overall high satisfaction with market access. Interestingly, a high performance was found for non-economic benefits such as public confidence, improvement of forest management and practices, improvement of management systems and performance, self-discovery of non-conformance, and better public, landowner, and supplier communication. International consumers and shareholders were considered the most important groups influencing companies to seek certification and FSC was reported to be the most familiar scheme. Generally, companies were pleased with certification and indicated their intention to recertify.     

Obstacles for Plantation to Get FSC Certification in China

The development of plantation plays a very important role in forestry industry development in China because of its unique advantages. However, the ecological and environmental issues urgently require sustainable plantation development. FSC certification for sustainable forest management balances the economic, environmental and social benefits and contributes to sustainable development of plantation. FSC certification for plantation is significantly important to China with the most plantation area in the wor...     

中国开展人工林FSC认证面临的潜在障碍

人工林在中国林业发展中占据了重要地位, 但由于其带来的各种问题迫切要求实现可持续经营。FSC森林可持续经营认证充分考虑了经济效益、生态效益和社会效益的协调, 有助于人工林经营向着可持续的方向发展, 对于解决人工林经营中存在的问题有积极意义。但中国的人工林经营在遵守FSC认证的要求时可能存在一些障碍。针对FSC森林经营认证的具体标准或指标, 列出了中国人工林经营存在的一些潜在的不符合项, 并提出了建议。     

Is forest certification delivering on First Nation issues? The effectiveness of the FSC standard in advancing First Nations' rights in the boreal forests of Ontario and Quebec,Canada

Forest certification has become a key driver in efforts towards sustainable forest management. Certification processes include commitments to respect the rights of Aboriginal peoples. However, there has been little investigation into the relationship between certification and Aboriginal rights. This paper examines the effectiveness of certification in addressing a range of First Nation concerns, taking the example of FSC's National Boreal Standard, applied in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. This is done through documentary analysis of audit reports for all public land certificates in this region, with particular attention paid to ‘conditions’ (required changes) issued as part of the audit process. Results indicate that 86% of FSC certifications led to at least one condition relating to First Nations' rights, but that most were deemed minor. The two most common issues flagged by conditions were: agreement for the management plan and the evaluation and protection of First Nations' resources and sites. Analysis of subsequent reports revealed that all conditions were resolved within the allotted time period. A qualitative analysis of conditions revealed a tendency for auditors to accept partial conformance when evaluating compliance. We conclude that FSC certification is pushing forest managers to make progress on a wide variety of fronts, but through a lens of ‘continual improvement’ rather than strict conformance with the standard.     

高保护价值森林的判定标准研究进展

高保护价值森林（HCVF）首次是在1999年森林管理委员会（FSC）上提出的,它作为森林认证的原则之一,包含了6种高保护价值,涵盖了生物多样性、生态服务价值和社会与文化价值3个方面。本文主要从高保护价值森林的定义、评判标准、及其经营措施等几个方面展开论述,旨在促进森林可持续性经营的积极开展。     

How does forest certification contribute to boreal biodiversity conservation? Standards and outcomes in Sweden and NW Russia

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is one of the leading forest certification schemes. While many studies concern political aspects and social outcomes of FSC, little is known about the contribution of certification to biodiversity conservation. In Europe, the Russian Federation and Sweden have the largest areas of FSC-certified forest. We assessed the potential of FSC certification for boreal biodiversity conservation in terms of standard content, and outcomes as habitat area set aside and habitat network functionality. First, we compared the biodiversity conservation indicators at different spatial scales in Swedish and Russian FSC standards. Second, focusing on one large state forest management unit in each country, we compared the areas of formally and voluntarily set aside forests for biodiversity conservation. Third, we evaluated the structural habitat connectivity by applying morphological spatial pattern analysis, and potential functional connectivity by using habitat suitability index modelling for virtual species. The Russian standard included indicators for all spatial scales of biodiversity conservation, from tree and stand to landscape and ecoregions. The Swedish standard focused mainly on stand and tree scales. The area of voluntary set-asides for FSC was similar in Sweden and Russia, while formal protection in the Russian case study was three times higher than in the Swedish one. Swedish set-aside core areas were two orders of magnitude smaller, had much lower structural and potential functional connectivity and were located in a fragmented forestland holding. We conclude that to understand the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation both the standard content, and its implementation on the ground, need to be assessed. We discuss the potential of FSC certification for biodiversity conservation with different levels of ambition. We stress the need for developing rapid assessment tools to evaluate outcomes of FSC for biodiversity conservation on the ground, which could be used by forest managers and FSC-auditors toward adaptive governance and management.     

FSC森林经营认证的启示和思考——基于对4家森林认证单位的森林经营方案和认证报告的分析

对4家森林认证管理委员会(FSC)认证单位的森林经营方案和森林认证报告进行分析研究,总结开展森林经营认证的特点:经营目标多样性;重视环境和社会影响评价;关注高保护价值森林;森林监测全面深入。对国内开展森林认证存在的问题进行思考:经营目标单一,且分解过细;未开展环境和社会影响评价;对高保护价值森林关注不够;对森林监测不全面。藉此,提出了相应对策。     

森林认证实施现状与趋势分析

森林认证自提出以来便在全球获得了快速发展, 其中以森林管理委员会的FSC体系和森林认证认可计划(PEFC)影响最大。文中在分析主要森林认证体系的基础上, 通过研究FSC和PEFC的实施情况, 指出目前森林认证在全球范围内的发展趋势:森林认证的实施集中在发达国家, 之后在向发展中国家转移过程中出现了减缓甚至停滞的趋势。     

Does forest certification enhance livelihood conditions? Empirical evidence from forest management in Kilwa District,Tanzania

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management certification standards have been promoted to contribute to community livelihood conditions. However, little has been done to evaluate it quantitatively. Employing theory of change, this study assesses and compares empirical evidence of the influence of the FSC forest management certification approach to enhance livelihood conditions in Kilwa, Tanzania, by using economic valuation methods and governance indicators. This is achieved through a comparative study of villages with certified community forests (FSC) under community based forest management and those without (non-FSC). Results show that annual average household forest income from FSC-certified forests is significantly higher than that of households in non-FSC-certified forests. With reference to rule compliance as an indicator of good governance, implementation of forest bylaws in villages managing FSC-certified forests is significantly more effective than villages in non-FSC-certified forests. These findings provide an insight into the influence of forest certification in enhancing livelihood conditions and that the incorporation of FSC standards into forest policies may lead to more enhancement of livelihood conditions. These findings serve as a baseline for further research on the effects of forest certification at both spatial and temporal scales.     

The effect of expertise on the quality of forest standards implementation: The case of FSC forest certification in Russia

The central question of the paper is how differences in expertise affect the implementation of voluntary environmental standards in the forestry sector. Specifically we analyze the experience of two large forest companies in Russia that certified their forest management under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification program. Drawing on the literature on financial auditing we show that specific outcomes of forest management standards implementation are shaped by the differences in forest management auditors' knowledge, skills and attitudes.     

基于森林认证的环境影响评估应用指南研究

近年来森林认证在我国取得了较大进展,逐步成为我国森林资源管理制度的有益补充。森林认证的要求主要涉及环境、经济和社会等方面。现有的环境影响评估指南或操作规范主要针对建设项目,我国森林经营单位在开展森林认证的过程中,普遍面临着对环境影响评估的步骤、方法不了解和缺乏实践操作指南的问题。文中以国际、国内森林认证标准关于森林经营环境影响评估的具体要求为出发点,认为森林经营单位的日常环境影响评估包括总体评估和针对特定经营活动的评估,阐述了2类评估的具体内容及应评估的要素,指出在评估时应考虑的问题,在此基础上提出减缓负面环境影响的措施建议,以期为我国森林经营单位开展营林活动环境影响快速评估提供可操作的应用技术指南。