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

forest certification in papua new guinea
131
On the other hand, and notwithstanding these small successes, certification appears
to be in a stalemate in PNG, neither moving forwards nor backwards. While community
groups like Madang Forest Resource Owners Association and similar community
groups around the country seem to be interested in certification, they do not have the
financial, technical, and resource capacity to move forward.
At present, certification is marginalised under a business-as-usual traditional
forestry paradigm in which foreign owned companies collaborate with an indifferent
government. What could make a significant difference is the adoption of certification
by a major logging company. This would make a major impact and could turn the tide.
The Forest Industry Association (FIA) is working on a step-wise certification system
that can be adopted in PNG apart from the commonly supported FSC certification
scheme, and ITTO and PNG stakeholders are developing Criteria and Indicators for
Forest Management Units and National Standards.
Future Developments
For forest certification to make an impact in PNG, the international bodies need to
continue to make the consumers aware of the need to purchase timber from credible
sources and especially from sources where communities are managing it. This is
important for tropical countries and especially important for countries like PNG
where 97 percent of the land and forest resources are customary owned. For the international
countries buying timber from PNG, special consideration needs to be taken
as well of the uniqueness of PNG's situation and to be able to give incentives and or
special attention so that it stands apart from the conventional way of doing things.
The down side of international involvement is that donor funding heavily subsidizes
the certified operations, including most of those community forestry programmes.
The challenge will be whether work will continue after funding has stopped.
The other issue is whether premiums are being received from the sale of certified forest
products. Currently in community forestry operations, the landowners are getting
a better price for their products. If things develop and if a logging company gets certified,
will they get premiums for the certified products? This question is still important.
Future Research
Research is needed in PNG to carefully analyze the effects of certification –
specifically, its social and economic impacts. An independent assessment of forest
certification through a participatory approach is needed. Especially urgent is research
to determine why it is taking so long for forest certification to move forward in PNG,
unlike other industrialised and neighbouring states like Indonesia and Malaysia.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies