TCT dismayed at Norske Skog’s quick and dirty Forest Stewardship Council certificate

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust today expressed dismay at the announcement that Smartwood has issued a Forest Stewardship Council forest management certificate to Norske Skog despite outstanding environmental concerns over how the controversial issue of native forest clearing should be dealt with in the certification process.

“If this FSC certification, based on what we regard as inadequate and improper process is allowed to stand, the FSC ‘brand’ is going to be seriously damaged,” TCT Director Peter McGlone said.

“The TCT thought we had started a conversation with Norske Skog to deal with issues such as forest clearing and protection of native forests and without our knowledge they have finished the consultation.”

“The TCT supported Norske Skog in deciding to seek FSC certification but we have not even had the opportunity to endorse their forest management systems” Mr McGlone said.

Mr McGlone said that the contrast with the exemplary manner in which private landholder, Peter Downie, had gone about getting FSC certification for his ‘Lagoon of Islands’ property could not be starker. “The key issue is whether landholders are genuinely committed to adopting best practice conservation management of their properties or just looking for a fashionable ‘green tick’,” Mr McGlone said.

Mr McGlone said that the TCT would be writing to FSC Australia and FSC International urging them to stop allowing accredited certifiers to use ‘interim standards’ as the basis for issuing certificates in the absence of a national standard. “The crucial difference that makes the FSC a brand worth dealing with is that it requires a national standard for certification to be formally adopted by a national process requiring explicit assent from all industry, social and environmental stakeholders. In the absence of such a standard, indifferent certifiers and cynical landholders can deliver ‘quick and dirty’ certification. This must stop!,” Mr McGlone concluded.