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

forest certification in gabon
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Future Development
The FSC has now established a regional office in the neighbouring Cameroon, which
may bring about changes during the coming years in Gabon and the Central Africa
sub-region. The FSC office established in Cameroon aims at promoting FSC
certification in the Central Africa sub-region (which includes Gabon) by establishing
a network of contact persons, setting FSC national working groups in countries such
as Gabon and improving its communication strategy (Boetekees 2002). It is likely that
during the coming five years, some of the logging companies will enter the FSC
certification system, but in the mid-term these will still be a minority.
Logging companies that have long-established experience in logging operations in
Gabon, as well as forestry administrations, local NGOs and forest management
service companies, are advocating for the development of a regional forest
certification system in Africa. The regional forest certification system would be called
the Pan African Forest Certification (PAFC), and logging companies operating in
Gabon are very much supportive of such an initiative. A feasibility study for the
establishment of such a system was conducted in 2002 (INDUFOR 2002) with the
financial assistance of the French government. Although the ATO is very active in
promoting the establishment of an operational PAFC (which has not yet occurred) it
is not clear what the role of ATO within the PAFC would be. Would the role of ATO
be limited to standard setting or would the organisation be more involved in the
institutional framework of such a system? The PEFC may also establish cooperative
links with the eventual PAFC, which would be designed following the PEFC’s
institutional design. It is possible that the PAFC could become operational during the
coming five years, but the credibility of such a system would be low in European
markets compared to the FSC. Nevertheless, if formal links are established between
the PAFC and the PEFC, there will be a better acceptance of the PAFC at the
international level.
Stakeholders also tend to favour phased approaches to forest certification, which
consist of dividing full compliance with the standard into a series of phases, making
it possible to focus on one or two tasks at a time, instead of trying to begin all the
necessary activities at once.
Future Research
Future research that could improve the understanding of forest certification, its
impacts and its potentials in Gabon and the Congo Basin can be identified as follows:
●
Forest policy approaches in Gabon and the Congo Basin. Sustainable forest
management and the success of forest certification depend to a great extent
on forest policy approaches. Unfortunately there have not been important
research efforts to improve the understanding of forest policy approaches
in Gabon and the Congo Basin. What are the dynamics in decision-making
concerning forest management? How is power over the management
of forest resources balanced between the state, private profit-seeking enterprises,
the local populations and the donor community?
yale school of forestry & environmental studies