General Information
(Creation Year & Reason)

1993
Reason:
Growing public concern about the destruction of the world's forests has provoked more and more people to demand products from well-managed forests. This, in turn, led to a proliferation of forest product certification systems and many dubious or false claims made on forest products. FSC aims to clear up the confusion by providing a truly independent, international and credible labeling scheme on timber and timber products. This will provide the consumer with a guarantee that the product has come from a forest, which has been evaluated and certified as being managed according to agreed social and environmental principles and criteria.

Initiator(s)

Founded by a diverse group of representatives from environmental and social groups, the timber trade and the forestry profession, indigenous people's organizations, community forestry groups and forest product certification organizations from around the world.

Objectives(s)

• The Forest Stewardship Council A.C. (FSC) shall promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forest's.

• Environmentally appropriate forest management ensures that the harvest of the timber and non-timber products maintains the forest's biodiversity, productivity, and ecological processes.

• Socially beneficial forest management helps both local people and society at large to enjoy long- term benefits and also provides strong incentives to local people to sustain the forest resources and adhere to long-term management plans.

• Economically viable forest management means that forest operations are structured and managed so as to be sufficiently profitable, without generating financial profit at the expense of the forest resource, the ecosystem, or affected communities. The tension between the need to generate adequate financial returns and the principles of responsible forest operations can be reduced through efforts to market forest production for their best value.

Timeframes and Milestones

Sept. 1993 - in Toronto 130 representatives from around the world came together to hold the Founding Assembly of the Forest Stewardship Council.

Oct. 1993 - agreement was reached to launch FSC, and by August 1994 - definitive set of Principles and Criteria, together with Statues for the Council, were agreed and approved by the votes of the Founding Members.

Implementation Process

The FSC's Principles and Criteria (P&C) apply to all tropical, temperate and boreal forests.

PRINCIPLE 1: Compliance With Laws And FCS Principles
PRINCIPLE 2: Tenure And Use Rights And Responsibilities
PRINCIPLE 3: Indigenous Peoples' Rights
PRINCIPLE 4: Community Relations And Worker's Rights
PRINCIPLE 5: Benefits From The Forest
PRINCIPLE 6: Environmental Impact
PRINCIPLE 7: Management Plan
PRINCIPLE 8: Monitoring And Assessment
PRINCIPLE 9: Maintenance Of Natural Forests
PRINCIPLE 10: Plantations

Monitoring Process & Parties

UNITED KINGDOM:
SGS Forestry QUALIFOR Programme
Contact: Ruth Nussbaum
Oxford Centre for Innovation
Mill Street, Oxford, OX2 0JX, UK
Tel: +44.1865.202 345
Fax: +44.1865.790 441
E-mail: forestry@sgsgroupcom

Soil Association Woodmark Scheme
Contact: Jim Sandom
86 Colston Street
Bristol, BS1 5BB, UK.
Tel: +44.117.929 0661
Fax: +44.117.925 2504.
E-mail: rnelson@soilassociation.org

UNITED STATES:
Rainforest Alliance SmartWood Program
65 Bleecker Street
New York, NY10012-2420, USA
Tel: +1 212 677 1900
Fax: +1 212 677 2187
E-mail: info@smartwood.org

Scientific Certification Systems Forest Conservation Program Park Plaza Building
1939 Harrison Street, Suite 400
Oakland, California, CA94612-3532, USA
Tel: +1 510 832 1415
Fax: +1 510 832 0359
E-mail: dhammel@scs1.com

NETHERLANDS:
J-W Heezen, Skal
Stationsplein 5
PO Box 384
NL-8000, AJ Zwolle, Netherlands
Tel: +31 38 4226 866
Fax: +31 38 4213 063
E-mail: Skal@euronet.nl

SWITZERLAND:
Dr. Rainer Bächi
Institut für Marktökologie (IMO)
Poststrasse 8
CH-8583 Sulgen, Switzerland.
Tel: +41.71.642 3616
Fax: +41.71.642 3663
E-mail: IMOCH@compuserve.com
Scope of accreditation: Switzerland and chain of custody.

Success in Achieving Stated Objectives

More than 15 million hectares have been certified.
Over 3,000 certified wooden products on sale in UK stores alone.

Public Education & Information Components

FSC shall conduct educational activities aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of improving forest management and the advantages of certification as a tool for this. Information on FSC and the benefits of certification is available from FSC's head office in Oaxaca, Mexico, particularly from its web-site: www.fscoax.org . There are also national offices in 15 countries across the world (Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States), able to give information to members of the public within their own countries.

Replication Potential

As a global scheme for the certification of all types of forest, replication is not applicable.

Mechanisms for Improvement

N/A

Contacts for Further Information

FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL, A.C.
Avenida Hidalgo 502, 68000 Oaxaca,
Mexico
Tel: ++52 951 46905, 63244
Fax & Tel: ++52 951 62110
E-mail: fscoax@fscoax.org
Website: http://www.fscoax.org

Sue Hulme, Information Officer
FSC-UK Working Group
Unit D, Station Building,
Llanidloes, Powys, ST18 6EB
Great Birtain
Tel: 01686 413916
Fax: 01686 412176
E-mail: sue@fsc-uk.demon.co.uk
Website: www.fsc-uk.demon.co.uk