WTO and Ethical Trade
In the forest sector two types of ethical trade are in operation. One is trade in timber from certified forests and the second is the various fair trade and conservation driven trade schemes focusing on products derived from nuts, honey or other non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Certification of NTFPs is also being considered. Ways in which labour standards might be improved in the forest sector are also being debated.
Whilst forest and timber certification do not concern trading per se, they have become a means of accessing certain markets, and a plethora of initiatives have come into being, some prompted by governments, some by industry, and some by NGOs There are two approaches to on trade in certified timber: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or the ISO 14000 series approaches.
Whilst these approaches share many principles with regards to forest management, they have two main differences in terms of how they are implemented and their methodologies. The ISO system relies on quasi-governmental bodies and has strong industry representation, whereas the FSC is a partnership of industry and NGOs that has led to the development of new bodies.
A further difference is that ISO 14001 is a management system, whereas FSC sets out actual standards for achievement. The ISO 14001 environmental management system originates from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It aims to develop uniform forest management systems and standards that companies or forest managers world wide can adopt voluntarily, and be certified against by certifiers recognised by existing national standards bodies. Forests and products evaluated under this system are awarded an ISO-endorsed label.
FSC has developed globally recognised principles for forest management that are designed to ensure that forests are managed in ways that are environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. Regional, national or other geographic entities, such as Smartwood and Woodmark, are accredited by FSC and use these principles as a basis for developing locally appropriate performance standards against which managed forests and wood products are assessed. Forests and products that meet the standards are awarded a label with the FSC logo. Assessment focuses on mechanisms required for high quality forest management rather than trying to measure the social or environmental impact of management in a particular forest area.
FSC certification and the ISO 14001 system are often presented as alternatives. However they are more properly regarded as complementary in that ISO14000 provides a framework for better environmental management systems, and the FSC offers the potential for independent third party certification to show that certain standards have been met.
National and local certification agencies are now emerging and are beginning to implement the standards set by the ISO and FSC within a national context; for example Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia, and Imaflora in Brazil.
For a more comprehensive discussion of forest certification and the relative merits of the FSC and ISO approaches see the following:
See the FSC website for details of principles and criteria:
http://www.fscoax.org/html/noframes/1-2.html
Bass, S (1997) Introducing Forest Certification, DG-VIII Forest Certification Advisory Group, FCAG Forest Certification Briefing Note 1.
Bass, S (1997) FSC and ISO approaches to forest certification: a comparison and suggested ways forward. DG-VIII Forest Certification Advisory Group, FCAG Forest Certification Briefing Note 2.
Both of these can be found on the European Forestry Institute web site
http://www.efi.fi/
Whilst forest certification initiatives have begun to investigate expanding their systems to cover NTFPs, ethical trade in NTFPs has mostly been through fair trade initiatives. Fair trade's prime concern is human well-being and criteria focus on the organisation of producer groups, the price paid and structure of the trade. Environmental criteria may be mentioned but are not a priority. Cocoa, tagua buttons and honey from Tabora are two examples of forest products that have been sourced through fair trade schemes (see NRET Working Paper 2 and other outputs from the FRP project).