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

forest certification in guatemala
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Costs of complying with (pre-)conditions may be significantly higher than direct
assessment costs. Exact information regarding these costs is not readily available. A
project executed by WWF, though, can serve as a point of reference: it invested
around US$110,000 to assist six management units in complying with conditions
arising from the certification assessment (WWF 2004). According to Soza (2003), the
annual cost of complying with conditions can be as high as US$12,000. In view of the
large variability of the conditions in different management units and the general
dearth of pertinent studies, it is difficult to determine the exact amount of indirect
certification costs. Annual indirect costs of US$5,000 as presented in Table 7 are considered
a conservative estimate.
Predominance of Small Producers Outside the MBR
The predominance of small producers, who generally face difficulties in covering the
cost of certification and complying with its rigid standards, is a considerable challenge
for the future of forest certification in Guatemala. Large forest management units are
concentrated in the MBR, with their majority being certified or in the process of certification.
Outside the MBR, however, most of the forests are managed by small producers
without access to viable mechanisms, such as group certification, strategic
alliances between small producers and processing companies, preferential purchase
policies by the government, among others. Small producers outside the MBR thus
constitute the most disadvantaged group in Guatemala’s certification process.
Lacking Access to International Niche Markets for Certified Wood
To date, demand for certified wood products has largely been concentrated in
industrialized countries. The corresponding niche markets require high product
quality, minimum volumes and timely delivery. However, the current conditions in
Guatemala permit only a small minority of enterprises to comply with these
requirements. A major obstacle is poor product quality due to limited technical skills,
obsolete production technologies and financial constraints to invest in these.
The domestic market for certified wood products is still in its infancy. To date, the
public sector has not given any preference to wood originating from certified sources
in Guatemala. As a result, most certified wood is being exported to USA, Mexico, and,
to a lesser extent, Europe. One of the few domestic companies purchasing certified
wood is CAOBA S.A. This company, however, obtains most of its certified wood
supplies from the USA. Curiously, timber imports include not only temperate wood
species but also tropical timber such as mahogany. This exemplifies a general
dilemma facing domestic wood manufacturers interested in certified wood: working
with the community concessions in the Petén which have problems with timely
delivery of the qualities and volumes needed, or importing high-grade mahogany
originating from Brazil with on-time delivery ensured by U.S.-based import-export
companies.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies