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

forest certification in guatemala
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have rejected certification as long as real market possibilities still appear tenuous. To
date there are only seven chain of custody certificates in Guatemala, three of which
are held by the industrial concessions. The majority of private forest owners is
unaware of the certification process. Nevertheless, interest in certification is mounting,
principally by plantation forestry owners.
Associations
The Association of Community Forests of Petén (ACOFOP), a second-tier organization
consisting of 22 organizations from 30 local communities, has been recognized
for the good forest management practiced by its associates, which came to light
through forest certification. ACOFOP, at the same time as expressing negative opinions
regarding mandatory certification, is also proud of the various prizes received for
its achievements. ACOFOP also views certification as an opportunity to obtain external
technical and financial support for the community forestry process.
Most of the members of the Forestry Board (Gremial Forestal) have poor knowledge
of the certification process. Recently, however, they showed increased interest in
the certification of forest plantations and conifer forests.
Current Status of Forestland Certification
Forest certification in Guatemala is relatively recent, with the first forest having been
certified in 1998. By the start of April 2004, this had risen to 18 FSC certified forest
management units (515,023 ha), of which 16 are natural forest (511,661 ha) and two
plantations (3,362 ha). All the certified natural forests are located in Petén, where community
forestry predominates with 14 certified units (380,334 ha), and only two industrial
management units (131,327 ha). SmartWood has recently taken the decision to suspend
the certificates of two community management units (La Pasadita and Bethel)
due to poor management and non-compliance with conditions. The fact that two
community certificates have been suspended owes to serious administrative deficiencies
on part of new community leaders in one case, and failed implementation of the
management plan (abandonment of timber extraction) in case of the other (Table 4).
Of the 18 certified management units, 17 were assessed by SmartWood and one tree
plantation by SGS. The owners of the latter, however, have recently opted for
SmartWood to conduct the certification audits.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies