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

forest certification in gabon
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Keurhout
Keurhout uses four general minimum requirements:
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forest management should demonstrate that enough attention is given to
the integrity of ecological functions and to the continuity of economic,
social and cultural functions of the forest based on intrinsic criteria and
indictors;
the forest managing enterprises should have an appropriate management
system;
the certification body is independent and meets international guidelines
related to organisation and monitoring procedures, and professional
competence in forest management;
procedures followed in the transportation of timber products concerning
the separation of products from different sources should be reliable and
transparent.
The first general requirement is further subdivided into principles (3), criteria (3
for each principle) and indicators that are not numbered (www.stichtingkeurhout.nl.
2002.)
ATO/ITTO PCI
In addition to the FSC and Keurhout, it is important to note that a third system of
sustainable forestry standards, known as the ATO/ITTO process, has emerged. This
system was designed to address tropical forestry operations in Africa, and permits,
rather than requires, companies to be audited for compliance. These standards depart
from the FSC and Keurhout in that governmental agencies were heavily involved in
their creation and development. The ATO/ITTO Principles and Criteria merged from
two distinct processes. The first originated from the African Timber Organization,
which is an organisation of 15 countries within tropical Africa, including Gabon.
Based in Libreville 8 , the main objective of ATO is to harmonise forest policies
within its member countries. ATO was supported financially by the EU and
technically by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), and applied
CIFOR methodologies in standard setting (Prabhu et al. 1998). These methodologies
consisted of using existing standards established by other organisations, and then
selecting and reformulating these based on the results of field tests. Initial tests were
conducted in Côte d’Ivoire (1995), Cameroon (1996), Gabon (1998), the Central
African Republic (1998) and Ghana (1999-2000). The tests consist of a panel of
international, regional and national experts conducting a field assessment and
auditing logging companies’ forest practices according to the pre-established criteria.
The results are then discussed during workshops with a broad participation of
representatives of forest management stakeholders (ATO 1999).
Recognizing that both ITTO (see introductory chapter to this volume) and ATO
have adopted similar strategies in promoting sustainable forest management through
8 The capital city of Gabon
yale school of forestry & environmental studies