Forestry companies can now also receive a sustainability label… if they repair their damage

The body that certifies environmentally friendly wood products will now also label logging companies. But then they have to restore all the forests they cut between 1994 and 2020. In order to get the coveted FSC label, they also have to compensate the communities that have suffered from deforestation.

Currently, companies that have cleared forests since 1994 cannot obtain green certification from the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC). It is the organization that certifies wood products, such as pulp and paper, that come from sustainable forestry. Because consumers more often consciously choose a product bearing the FSC label, this limits companies’ sales opportunities.

Enthusiasm

At a meeting of the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) in Indonesia last week, FSC members finally voted to certify these companies. As long as they restore the same amount of forest they destroyed between 1994 and 2020. After 2020, deforestation will no longer be allowed.

the #FSCGA22 passed Motion 37 yesterday. This means that the FSC principles and criteria will be modified to allow companies that have converted natural forests up to 2020 to be certified. It also means more transparency and forest restoration efforts, which will be closely monitored. pic.twitter.com/qsGiXY0QtD

— Aida Greenbury (@AidaGreenbury) October 14, 2022

The new program has been enthusiastically received by environmental organizations and forestry companies, especially in indonesiawhere they are very attached to FSC certification.

“There are more environmental and social benefits from it than risks of misuse,” said Grant Rosoman of Greenpeace New Zealand.

Natural forests have become plantations

Forest restoration is good news for the climate. According to a article in Nature Professor Simon Lewis and colleagues at University College London argue that “plantations are much less suitable for CO2 storage than natural forests” because wood from plantations releases CO2 when harvested.

A study in Science estimated, based on satellite imagery, that between 2001 and 2015, a quarter of deforestation was due to forestry – replacing natural forests with tree plantations. The rest of the deforestation was caused by agriculture or forest fires.

forest restoration

The restored forest should preferably be in the same place where the deforestation took place, or at least close to it. In order to continue as a “restored forest”, at least 30 percent of the trees must remain intact, with the remaining 70 percent able to be cleared.

Additionally, companies must provide social recovery measures for communities that were once damaged by land deforestation. This can take the form of land restitution, compensation payments, jobs or infrastructure.

Still a lot of unanswered questions

Aida Greenbury, a forestry consultant, supports the new measure, although she questions whether pulp and paper companies will actually do what it takes to achieve certification.

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Greenbury, a former director of sustainability for Indonesian logger Asia Pulp and Paper, says she worries some companies are just happy to be in the process of being certified, in order to green their credibility with potential customers.

A study of 2019 found that 1.2 million hectares of natural forest were destroyed in Indonesia between 2001 and 2016 in favor of timber plantations. It is an area the size of Jamaica.

“How can they restore a million hectares of forest? said Greenbury. “That is the question that still needs to be answered.”

This piece originally appeared at partner IPS Climate Home News.