scholarly journals Voluntary Sustainability Certification and State Regulations: Paths to Promote the Conservation of Ecosystem Services? Experiences in Indonesia

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 503
Author(s):  
Intan Kurniati Ningsih ◽  
Verina Ingram ◽  
Sini Savilaakso

The Forest Stewardship Council initiated a Forest Certification for Ecosystem Services (ForCES) project from 2011 to 2017 to improve and promote sustainable forest management addressing a range of ecosystem services. Three sites in Indonesia were included in the pilot. Whilst the development of the certification standard was largely the result of a partnership between the certification standard organization, civil society and research organizations, implementation and monitoring of the impact of this sustainability standard will entail interactions with state regulations. This study examined how voluntary certification, other market-based approaches and state regulations concerning ecosystem services in Indonesia interplay, particularly in the agenda setting and negotiation stage. Using the conceptual lenses of transition theory and state and non-state market-based governance, interrelationships between ecosystem services certification and regulations were found to be complementary and antagonistic. The majority of interrelations were complementary and supporting. However, antagonism exists where regulations do not address multiple land uses and when there are contradictions in how state regulations define ecosystem services. There was limited state involvement in developing the ecosystem services certification standard, with no substitution between the voluntary standard and regulations occurring. To scale and transition this innovatory standard from a niche to a sociotechnical regime level, it is recommended that market-driven governance arrangements at farm, forest concession and landscape level are developed in collaboration with national and local governments. Collaboration can create synergies to incentivize the acceptance, adoption and effectiveness of non-state market driven instruments to positively enhance the conservation of ecosystem services.

Author(s):  
Intan Kurniati Ningsih ◽  
Verina Ingram ◽  
Sini Savilaakso

The Forest Stewardship Council initiated a pilot Forest Certification for Ecosystem Services (ForCES) project from 2011 to 2017 to improve and promote sustainable forest management addressing a range of ecosystem services. Three sites in Indonesia were studied in the pilot. Whilst the development of the certification standard was largely by a partnership between the certification standard organization, civil society and research organisations, implementation and monitoring of the impact of this voluntary sustainability standard will entail interaction with state regulations. This study sought to understand how certification and state regulations concerning ecosystem services in Indonesia interplay, particularly in the agenda setting and negotiation stage. Using the conceptual lenses of transition theory and state and non-state market-based governance, the interrelationships between ecosystem services certification and regulations were found to be both complementary, supporting and antagonistic. The majority were complementary. Antagonism occurred where regulations do not accommodate land use issues and due to different contradictory state regulations. The voluntary instruments were developed largely in the absence of state involvement and without any substitution with regulatory standards. Given the increasing proliferation of voluntary market-driven initiatives at farm, forest concession and landscape level, stakeholders developing and managing voluntary standards need to collaborate with national and local governments to create synergy to enable their acceptance, adoption and effectiveness to positively enhance the conservation of ecosystem services through incentivizing market-based instruments.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-57
Author(s):  
Miroslav Hájek ◽  
Jan Lípa

Abstract Municipal forests primarily provide ecosystem services which are in demand by residents. If they are to meet the demands of Prague’s citizens, managers need good quality information and appropriate financial resources. One important piece of data is a valuation of all ecosystem services. The aim of this paper is to assess the current level of organisation and funding of forest management, estimate the value of forest functions and contribute to improvements in annual reporting by the Forests of the City of Prague. The results of the valuation could potentially be used for the improvement of decision making processes. The organisational structure (Centre of Forests, Watercourses and Reservoirs, Ornamental Nursery Management and Environmental Education) has been effective in delivering sustainable forest management in the City. In addition, forest management of the City of Prague has been independently certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International Standard since May 2007.


1970 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pem N Kandel

In early 2005, 10,045 ha Community Forests (CFs) were certified in Bajhang and Dolakha districts of Nepal by using the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme. After two years of forest certification, subsequent questions are being asked such as: What benefits have certification brought for the Forest Users Groups (FUGs)? What tangible differences are there in forest management system because of forest certification? and What lessons have been learnt from the certified forests? In an attempt to answer these questions, a study was carried out in April 2007 in Dolakha district where 11 (2,182 ha) community managed forests were certified in 2005. On the basis of field study from two certified forests (Vitteripakha and Suspa) of the district, this paper analyzes the effects of forest certification and its implications for enhancing Sustainable Community Forestry (SCF) in Nepal. Key words: Sustainable forest management, forest certification, community forestry Banko Janakari: A journal of forestry information for Nepal Vol.17(1) 2007 pp.11-16


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1357
Author(s):  
Hsing-Chih Chen ◽  
Tien-Pai Tseng ◽  
Kun Cheng ◽  
Supasit Sriarkarin ◽  
Wanyun Xu ◽  
...  

We established an evaluation framework for sustainable forest management (SFM) development based on locals’ perspectives using the importance-performance analysis (IPA) method in a rural area of Taiwan. It identified the factors that affected local people’s participation in and awareness of SFM based on local demographics, development factors of SFM, and perceptions of SFM, through the logistic regression method (LRM). Both the levels of importance and performance (I-P) of the SFM indicators were rated by the local residents and the differences between importance–performance among indigenous and non-indigenous people were examined. The factors that affected differentiation of local people’s participation in the SFM program were: (1) forestry workers, (2) indigenous people, and (3) SFM development factors. The findings provide both theoretical constructs and policy implications for SFM mechanisms for the forest stewardship council (FSC) and sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a sustainable rural development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMMA L. GREEN ◽  
FELIX EIGENBROD ◽  
KATE SCHRECKENBERG ◽  
SIMON WILLCOCK

SUMMARYMiombo woodlands supply ecosystem services to support livelihoods in southern Africa, however, rapid deforestation has necessitated greater knowledge of tree growth and off-take rates to understand the sustainability of miombo exploitation. We established 48 tree inventory plots within four villages in southern Malawi, interviewed representatives in these same villages about tree management practices and investigated the impact of climate on vegetation dynamics in the region using the ecosystem modelling framework LPJ-GUESS. Combining our data with the forest yield model MYRLIN revealed considerable variation in growth rates across different land uses; forested lands showed the highest growth rates (1639 [95% confidence interval 1594–1684] kg ha–1 year–1), followed by settlement areas (1453 [95% confidence interval 1376–1530] kg ha–1 year–1). Based on the modelled MYRLIN results, we found that 50% of the villages had insufficient growth rates to meet estimated off-take. Furthermore, the results from LPJ-GUESS indicated that sustainable off-take approaches zero in drought years. Local people have recognized the unsustainable use of natural resources and have begun planting activities in order to ensure that ecosystem services derived from miombo woodlands are available for future generations. Future models should incorporate the impacts of human disturbance and climatic variation on vegetation dynamics; such models should be used to support the development and implementation of sustainable forest management.


1998 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Duinker ◽  
Reino E. Pulkki

In June 1997, we visited the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme (MCF), a community forest in the Alps of northern Italy. We have prepared this article to help broaden the perspectives of Forestry Chronicle readers on community forests and what they mean in various parts of the world. We first describe the area and its forests, and then give a brief history of the MCF. Then we review the forest-management strategies used in this Norway spruce forest, and summarize the logging and wood-processing activities of the enterprise. We continue with a comparison of this community forest with three community forests in Canada, concluding that generalization on what makes a community forest successful is dangerous — each situation is unique. Finally, given that the MCF recently won permission to use the eco-label of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), we discuss our perceptions of how the MCF operation does and does not meet the FSC's Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship. Despite several shortcomings, we believe that the MCF is in most respects a sound example of sustainable forest management.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Kill

Voluntary certification schemes have grown in popularity since the late 1980s. Today, a large number of consumer items from coffee and chocolate to oil palm and soya products carry labels that supposedly attest their contribution to promoting fair trade or a reduction of negative environmental impacts. Many printed books, magazines and other paper products carry a label promising 'environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable' management of the tree plantations that deliver the raw material for the pulp and paper from which these products are made. This article explores the role that one such voluntary certification scheme used by the pulp and paper sector plays in maintaining ecologically unequal exchange. Would ecologically unequal exchange in a certified product cease to exist if the voluntary certification schemes available for pulp and paper products were to become the norm, instead of just catering to a niche market? If the answer to that hypothetical question is 'no' – which it is – then the question that arises is: what role does the voluntary certification scheme play in upholding ecologically unequal exchange? This article explores the role of one particular voluntary certification scheme – by the Forest Stewardship Council – in maintaining ecologically unequal exchange in the trade of pulp products between industrialised countries with a relatively high per-capital consumption of pulp and paper products and the global South, in this case Brazil. It shows how, from the perspective of communities who bear the ecological, social and economic cost of industrial tree plantations and who oppose further expansion of these plantations, voluntary certification schemes have (inadvertently?) helped tilt the balance of power even further in favour of corporate interests for expansion. An unacknowledged imbalance of power between corporations and the certification schemes, on the one hand, and communities and their allies, on the other, has become manifest and aids further expansion of industrial tree plantations for production of pulp for export, thus contributing to maintaining ecologically unequal exchange.Key words: certification; commodity chains; conflicts; consumption; ecologically unequal exchange; environmental justice; Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), industrial tree plantations; pulp and paper; resistance struggles


1996 ◽  
Vol 72 (6) ◽  
pp. 599-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Wood

Sustainable forest management is the goal of most foresters and of the informed public and it is the main mission of the Commonwealth Forestry Association. Certification of forest products is a recent market phenomenon, driven partly by Non-Government Organizations and partly by retailers; it is largely a western initiative with parallels in agricultural and pharmaceutical products. Certification does not guarantee sustainability—it only defines what the buyer demands, like lumber dimensions. Environmental or social certification is a contractual specification and the European market seems currently to be the furthest forward with such schemes. Without such market pull, interest in certification would collapse. There are now many initiatives world wide; the Forest Stewardship Council began as an accrediter of independent certifiers, but countries are now developing their own criteria and especially seeking approaches through the International Standards Organization (ISO), an ISO 14000 or ISO 9000 approach. The relevance of certification to many smaller tropical Commonwealth countries is limited, since international trade is of little concern, and many newcomers to the international market have not yet adopted certification requirements. The challenge for the future is to find norms of country-specific good forest stewardship and certifiers are now turning their attention to other objects of trade.


Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 705
Author(s):  
Antonio Sánchez-Almendro ◽  
Pablo Hidalgo ◽  
Rosario Galán ◽  
José Carrasco ◽  
Javier López-Tirado

(1) Biodiversity, sustainable development and nature conservation are fundamental issues nowadays. All companies, administrations, governments and international organisations take these issues into consideration. Sustainable forest management always requires a compromise between profitability and conservation and in this fragile equilibrium, forest certification plays a key scheme. This sustainable management is of great importance in the European Union (EU), with the Forest Stewardship Council playing a fundamental role in forest certification. This certification forms the basis of the ecosystem conservation and improvement strategy in Ence, Energía y Celulosa, the leading company dedicated to the production of eucalyptus in Spain; (2) A three-phase protocol (identification of High Conservation Values, assessment of conservation areas and monitoring program), has been developed, providing clear, objective criteria, particularly concerning FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Principle 9, the primary goal being the development and application of these objective criteria in the Ence conservation areas in the province of Huelva (Spain). One of the main criteria for habitat classification was correspondence with the habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive. The compatibility between forest exploitation management and conservation proposed by the Natura 2000 network encouraged us to use this methodology for the identification, classification and assessment of High Conservation Values considered in FSC forest certification: Principle 9; (3) The study encompasses 183 forest management units covering 52,022 ha, with a total of 11,847.45 ha being identified as High Conservation Value Areas. Through the identification and assessment of the conservation areas, the described methodology played a crucial role in demonstrating the positive impact of Ence’s certified forest management on the conservation of biological diversity; (4) This study demonstrates that an objective and reliable identification, assessment and monitoring methodology, with a proven high degree of accuracy in the location and characterisation of interesting and representative habitats in the region, can be implemented. Due to its objectivity, this strategy can be easily applied to other European sustainable forest management sites and possibly to other countries outside the EU.


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