Trading in Credibility - Rainforest Foundation UK

2. FSC’s mission and objectives
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In this section we consider what FSC’s mission’ is, what its
specific objectives are, and whether it is succeeding in
achieving those objectives. We then consider some of the
problems related to the achievement of its objectives.
Specifically, the report considers whether the FSC is actually
upholding the P&C, whether it provides a credible
guarantee to timber consumers, and whether it is providing
an incentive for improved forest management. The report
then considers the appropriateness and implications of
FSC’s strategy of pursuing a rapid expansion of its activities.
2.1 Clear objectives?
The objectives of the FSC are not clearly defined in any
of the organisation’s basic documentation. According
to its Statutes, the first ‘purpose’ of the organisation is:
“to promote an adequate management of forests, providing
assistance required to achieve an environmentally appropriate
and economically viable exploitation of natural resources,
avoiding deterioration or affectation (sic) of such resources, or
the ecosystem or of the surrounding communities. To promote
a viable management of the forest resources and a forestry
production that preserves the environment” (FSC, 2000c).
Concerning what is generally assumed as being the
principal purpose of the FSC, the Statutes state only that
the FSC shall;
“promote the principles and criteria of an adequate
management of the world’s forests through a voluntary
accreditation programme”.
According to the FSC by-laws, the principle ‘mission’ of
the FSC is to:
“promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial
and economically viable management of the world’s forests”
(FSC, 2000d).
The ‘mission statement’ then goes on to broadly define
what the terms “environmentally appropriate, socially
beneficial and economically viable” actually imply.
Following this broad mission statement, the By-laws then
define three activities, the first of which is that
“FSC shall promote Principles and Criteria of Forest
Stewardship through a voluntary accreditation programme
for certification of forest management. FSC shall evaluate
and accredit Certification Bodies based upon adherence to
FSC Principles and adherence to FSC Guidelines for
Certification Bodies”.
The second and third of the ‘activities’ relate to the
carrying out of educational activities, particularly concerning
certification, and providing guidance on forest management
to policy makers.
It is important to note that, within the core organisational
documentation, including its legal statutes, there is no
statement of what the FSC’s specific objectives are. There
is a gap in the organisational policy framework between its
overall mission – which is extremely broad – and its activities,
which are relatively narrow, and it is thus not entirely
clear how the prescribed activities are intended to
contribute towards the overall ‘mission’. The only policy
process that came close to identifying specific objectives
was the 1998 Strategic Plan 12 . In practice, as will be seen
elsewhere in this report, the lack of definition of the specific
objectives has allowed for various interpretations, which
are not necessarily compatible, to be made by various
interest groups.
If the formal documentation is unclear about the specific
objectives, the basic model for the ‘FSC project’ is
described on the FSC’s website, which states that the FSC;
“is introducing an international labeling scheme for forest
products, which provides a credible guarantee that the
product comes from a well-managed forest. All forest
products carrying our logo have been independently
certified as coming from forests that meet the internationally
recognized FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest
Stewardship. In this way FSC provides an incentive in the
market place for good forest stewardship. The forest inspections
are carried out by a number of FSC accredited certification
bodies, which are evaluated and monitored to ensure
their competence and credibility”. (FSC, 2002)
On the basis of this we can say that the specific
objectives of the FSC are to:
● Ensure that the certifiers uphold the Principles and
Criteria (while the purpose of the certification bodies is
to ensure compliance of forest managers with the
Principles and Criteria);
● Provide a credible guarantee for consumers that forest
products come from ‘well managed forests’;
● Provide incentives in the market place for good forest
stewardship.
Each of these is considered in more detail below.