Forest Certification in Developing and Transitioning ... - UTas ePrints

forest certification in papua new guinea
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forcert
A process has begun in PNG under the FSC system to make certification more accessible
to communities seeking forest certification. The process is called Forest
Management and Product Certification Service Ltd (FORCERT) (see Figure 5). It is
being established after a National Forest Certification Service (NFCS) feasibility study
that took place from August 2001 to June 2002, which demonstrated that there was a
clear interest from small scale producers and timber yards.
FORCERT is a partnership not-for-profit organization that aims to assist both
community-based, small-scale milling operations working on their own land and contractors
working on customary land under an agreement recognized by FORCERT as
certifiable according to FSC National Standards’ Principles and Criteria (Dam 2004).
The role of FORCERT is to guide the partner organizations in a collaborative manner,
based on a working agreement between the partner organization and FORCERT, so
that they can have access to certification. FORCERT was initiated to overcome the difficulties
experienced by many producers in obtaining access to certification.
FORCERT’s plans are to facilitate certification by surmounting the very high costs
of forest certification that can cripple a producer’s operation. At the same time, it aims
to identify premium timber markets that want to buy certified timber from PNG and
trade directly with them. The trend in PNG has been that certification is a donorfunded
activity and once the money runs out, certification ends. FORCERT aims to be
a self-funding entity that operates independently of external funding. The partner
organizations include service providers (like NGOs and research institutions), forest
resource owner organizations, timber producers, and company owners. FORCERT
will use just one forest management certification system that is easily understood by
all stakeholders who want their forests to be certified. They will apply to have a single
FSC-Group Certificate covering all members, which will be managed by FORCERT. Its
generic checklist for assisting producers to prepare for certification is derived from
PNG FSC National Standards. It plans to assist forest managers to prepare their forests
for certification. FORCERT will manage the group FSC-certificate when it is obtained
and member-producers will sell their products through it.
FORCERT currently has four members of staff who take care of the management
of the organization. Peter Dam is the Manager and is the key consultant who drafted
and directed the PNG FSC National Standards under coordination and assistance
from the authors. He works with three other foresters located in different regions.
FORCERT supporters believe that it can solve problems of forest certification being
faced by producers in PNG. The diagram below shows how FORCERT will operate its
service with the networking stakeholders.
Current Status of Forest Certification
Tables 5 and 6 set out the certified areas and community forestry programmes that
either are, or are ready to be, certified under the FSC system. The area to date is less
than one percent of the total production forest area. The main certified product is
sawn timber based upon the proper and controlled use of portable sawmills. The areas
yale school of forestry & environmental studies