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

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forest certification in developing and transitioning countries
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facilitating dialogue and cooperation between consuming and producing
countries, and educating stakeholders and the general public about the
principles and complexities of sustainable forest management and the
certification of natural and planted forests;
promoting enabling conditions for sustainable forest management and its
certification in its member countries;
supporting research to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of
alternative sets of indicators for satisfying specific certification criteria and
clarifying the impact of certification on sustainable forest management;
keeping its members informed on initiatives related to international
frameworks for mutual recognition between certification systems; and
providing support to regional certification and related organizations in the
tropical regions.
In Gabon specifically, the ITTO has organised a training session on the
development of Principles, Criteria and Indicators (PCI) that can be used in forest
certification, as well as holding a regional workshop on phased approaches to forest
certification (Simula et al. 2003). All these events have contributed to raising
awareness about forest certification, particularly at the level of government
institutions.
Another key external source of influence in the development of certification in
Gabon has been provided by the Keurhout Foundation. The Keurhout Foundation was
created as an Act of the Dutch parliament specifically designed for timber products
exported to the Netherlands. It defines the minimum requirements for the certification
of wood products and sustainable forest exploitation. The Keurhout Foundation
approves certificates and declarations made by accredited certification bodies if it is the
opinion of its panel of experts that these fulfil its own criteria. The minimum
requirements of the Keurhout Foundation draw on the ITTO’s definition of
sustainable forest management, the Forest Principles (UNCED), and the FSC
principles.
Finally, a fourth source of influence is found at the intergovernmental arenas
where a heightened interest in moving toward forest certification has occurred. One
example is the 1999 sub-regional initiative of the Heads of State from Central Africa
(Cameroon, The Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African
Republic, The Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad), which held a summit in
Yaoundé, Cameroon on the conservation and sustainable management of tropical
forests (COMIFAC 2003). In their final declaration (now often referred to as the
“Yaoundé Declaration”), the Heads of State committed their countries to adopting
harmonised national forest policies and accelerating the implementation of forest
management tools. They specifically noted the need to have the states of Central
Africa approve and promote the development of internationally recognized,
harmonised forest certification systems, and to provide resources for their
implementation. Even though it was not clear whether this declaration envisioned
yale school of forestry & environmental studies