Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

154 crossin, hayman, and taylorinternational agreements to which the country is a party, as well asspecific forest management plans. It also requires all prescribed fees,royalties, and taxes to be paid. Further, FSC Criterion 1.5 requiresthe forests under approved management to be protected from illegalharvesting, settlement, or other unauthorized activities. Also the FSC isthe only international certification scheme to require chain of custodyas an explicit component.The FSC logo provides consumers with assurance that the woodthey purchase is from sustainably and legally managed forests. Whilethe certification process does add to the cost of production, the impacton the selling price is small. FSC certification has received recognitionfrom major supply chains (first was U.K. 95+ Buyers Group) and acommitment to buying and selling of FSC-endorsed products. Themarketing and selling of FSC products in Europe have been successful,as the market in this region is sensitive to nonsustainably producedtimber. However, in Asia (particularly in Japan) consumers are not sodiscerning, and even in Europe and the United States demand for FSCproducts is not uniform. This problem can be addressed partly bybetter consumer education and information campaigns.Rival industry-based or quasi-government certification schemes havebeen created to fill a growing demand for certified timber products. It ispossible that the presence of other international certification processeswill weaken the hold of FSC or confuse the marketplace.Currently, there are more than 2,400 FSC-certified companies in66 countries, and FSC-certified forests cover some 71 million acresglobally. As impressive as the FSC scheme is, the majority of FSCcertifiedforests and companies are located in North America orEurope. The FSC scheme has little impact in Asia or Africa, wherethere are very few certified bodies—areas with the worst aggregaterecords for illegal and unsustainable forest management. Until thereis greater global consumer demand for certified timber products,other methods of control and tracking need to be implemented toaddress illegal logging. Regional agreements to control the timbertrade and schemes like the FSC are useful starting points, but to attacka global problem like illegal logging, a global solution is required.Policy RecommendationsPolicy recommendations fall into eight categories:• Greater transparency in global forestry operations. This is essentialto the prevention of illegal logging and should be applied to everystage of a logging operation. Allocation of concessions should be bycompetitive and technical tender, with the results widely publicized.