FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature

Forest Stewardship Council
dressed to other forest certification schemes with less prominent criteria for social impact.
However, often FSC is measured against standards which were not set by FSC and which are
not within the scope of FSC’s mission and responsibility. There are a number of topics, where
the FSC – groups of its members and groups of stakeholders, the FSC Board of Directors and
the Secretariat – are still debating to define where FSC’s scope starts and ends.
1.3.1 The three-chamber system and the concept of outsiders
One of the reasons that there are so many different ideas about what FSC should do and
what it should not, and that it takes FSC often years to come to a decision on where in specific
cases its mandate lies, is based on one of FSC specialties, the three-chamber system.
James E. Quinn, President, CEO of The Collins Companies explains the origin of the threechamber
system with “the concept of outsiders”:
That these outsiders are “inspecting the activities of forestry professionals has been controversial
in the economic and governmental sectors from day one. It was this concern that
led the founders of the Forest Stewardship Council to develop a three-chambered organization:
Environmental, Social, and Economic. It is also the reason that the certification
process is divided into three overview categories: renewability, biological diversity, and socio-economic
benefits. Although this trilateral certification process is designed to achieve
the best possible balance, it will never be perfect from the solitary perspectives of any of
the three disciplines.” (James E. Quinn, CEO Collins Company, 2000) 10 .
There are some diverse – and hot – discussed topics on FSC’s open agenda:
1.3.2 Equitable access to certification – North/South
FSC’s observers are asking the critical poverty-related question: To what extent does FSC
provide positive impact on poverty alleviation in the Global South, compared to the stronger
distribution of FSC-certified areas in the Global North, where social and environmental forest
management standards as well as the socio-economic conditions are already higher than in
global average? One of the broadest critiques of FSC was that its greatest success occurs not
in the tropical regions, but rather in the Global North with its temperate and boreal forests
(Philipp Pattberg 2006 11 , Michael Conroy, 2007 12 ).
10 Quinn, James E. (2000): Foreword of “Forest Certification in Sustainable Development: Healing the Landscape”,
by Walter Smith and Chris Maser, CRC Press.
11 Pattberg, Philipp H. (2006): Private governance and the South: lessons from global forest politics. Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam - Institute for Environmental Studies
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