Forest Certification in Malaysia - Yale University

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forest certification in developing and transitioning countries
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A request that the chair or facilitator of the National Steering Committee,
Regional and National Consultations sessions, and associated meetings be
an independent person to allow for balanced and neutral participation;
A request for funding to facilitate travel and administration to ensure a
wider participation by indigenous people and NGOs.
Owing to the inability of the MTCC certification scheme to meet their demands,
indigenous people fear that their tribal lands may be signed off to logging concessions
without their consent. They want their right to prior informed consent and to be able
to use their customary laws. To them ‘prior informed consent’ means being told–with
consent obtained – before national governments move in to delineate protected areas
around sacred lands. They feel that they must do whatever is necessary to protect
their resources at the local level, as they are not going to be recognised at the state,
national or international level. The modern laws and competing private sector interests
are alien to their traditional ways (Loh 2004a, 2004b)
Forest Owners
PITC, whose interests are to produce certified timber that is accepted internationally,
have begun to seek additional certification other than MTCC. FSC program seems to
be alternative certification program being sought after. PITC is also seeking ISO
14000 environmental management system standards.
NGOs
Despite the encouraging interest shown by the Malaysian Government and Malaysian
companies in certification, NGOs reception is less encouraging. Environmental and
social NGOs and community-based groups in Malaysia and abroad have argued that
the MTCC certified ‘sustainably managed’ status of most of the states in Peninsular
Malaysia is not credible. The FSC certified concessions are exempted from this concern.
According to WWF Malaysia (2003a), there are many different problems with the
MTCC scheme, but the main concerns are:
Industry
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It does not give due recognition and acceptance of customary land rights,
tenures and user rights of indigenous peoples and local forest communities;
It was not developed through a due consultation process, and emphasizes
economic considerations while failing to adequately safeguard social values
and environmental conservation.
Because of the stalemate in getting recognition of FSC for MC&I, the Sarawak Timber
Association (STA) began working on an initiative since the middle of 2003 to generate
an interim chain-of-custody verification scheme. This initiative involves placing a
mark on the timber and timber products of Sarawak. This mark is tentatively called
yale school of forestry & environmental studies