AENOR's Forest Management Systems Certification
Introduction
The preservation of the Natural Patrimony of the Humanity is at present getting on through as a fundamental concept in the new environmental culture of the society.
Forests are an important part of this natural patrimony, and appropriately managed, are an inexhaustible source of ecological and natural raw material for our industry.
But still more important than their economic aspect is the fact that forests are the most important natural oxygen reservoirs of the planet, besides that they act as hydrologic regulators and avoid natural catastrophes, such as floods and dangerous landslides.
Thus we see the fundamental importance for the planet to assure that the forest's exploitation is carried out in a sustainable way. That is, to take advantage of and use the forests and mountains in such a way and measure that they maintain their bio-diversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to comply, now and in the future, with ecological, economic and social relevant functions, to a local, global and national scale, without causing damage to other ecosystems (Helsinki Ministerial Conference, 1993).
It is fundamental that the persons in charge of the management operations of the forests and mountains undertake to plan their exploitation in a sustainable way, so that the future generations know our planet, at least just as now we know it.
This commitment is only possible if society demands a reliable proof that the performance of the producers is directed to sustainability. And this proof is at present only demonstrable through the certification by independent third part. In countries such as Finland, Germany or France, the demand of the society is so big that practically all the forest and mountain hectares are already certified. In Spain, this demand is increasing rapidly, giving the Sustainable Forest Management label a greater added value for the user.
Background
Within the EU, the worry for the establishment of a Sustainable Forest Management has been constant. Both in the ministerial conference of Helsinki (1993) and in the one of Lisbon (1998) about the protection of the European forests, the general guidelines for the Sustainable Forest Management are established and forest owners are urged to adapt their Forest Management methods to these guidelines.
It is recognised that, given the structure of the European forest property, - 65% of the private forests are in the hands of some 12.000.000 owners - they should be the ones that in some way promote and adapt the Sustainable Forest Management. The objective of the European Ministerial Conferences is to promote the co-operation in matter of protection and sustainable management of the forests in Europe.
In particular, in the third ministerial conference of Lisbon of 1998, 36 countries and the European Union, with the aid of observers of the main ecologist organisations, established the criteria and indicators to measure reports on the progress of the Sustainable Forest Management of the European forests. The practical application of this resolution is left in the hands of each state, being its application voluntary.
By initiative of the Confederation of European Private Owners (CEPF), the Pan-European Forest Certification System (PEFC) was created in Paris, in June 1999, by means of which certifications of different European countries are developed and adapted to the characteristics of their own mountains and are mutually recognised. It is, definitively, the Sustainable Forest Management Certification of the European forest sector, using the criteria and indicators approved in the ministerial conference of Lisbon, which will give answers to the division of the European forest property by means of the systematic use of the grouped Certification.
AENOR, as the only Body recognised by the administration to carry out Standardisation tasks, was entrusted with the mission to adapt the Pan-European criteria and indicators to the singularity of the Spanish forest sector, acting also as certification body, in order to assure to the consumers of wood based products, that in Spain not only our forest patrimony is preserved, but also that the sustainability is extended to greater surfaces, and this without stopping to take advantage of the raw materials that it offers to us.
Sustainable forest management pefc mark for forest products
The special characteristics of the PEFC Mark are:
- The Mark is an exclusive property of PEFC.
- PEFC - Spain owns a license of use of said Mark and is authorised exclusively to sublicense it in Spain.
- The Mark proofs that the product that holds it comes from forests managed in a sustainable way in compliance with the criteria and indicators of the UNE Standards for Sustainable Forest Management and the Sustainable Forest Management Certificate, having been included in the corresponding Registers.
- The logo of the Mark is listed and specified in the "PEFC Logo Use Rules" - Annex 5 of the Technical Document of the Pan-European Forest Certification Framework.
In case of a Sustainable Forest Management regional or group applicant entity, all the attached organisations will be able to request the use of the PEFC Mark, according to what is stated in the "PEFC Logo Use Rules" - Annex 5 of the Technical Document of the Pan-European Forest Certification Framework, in PEFC Spain.
International recognition
AENOR is the first certification body recognised as forest certification entity in Spain and for the performance of the forest audits. The sustainable forest management certificate issued by AENOR gives the right to the forest manager to request the license of use of the sustainable forest management PEFC Mark, internationally recognised in 18 PEFCC assigned countries.
At present several national associations in Europe and America, that include more than 100 million hectares and a production of some 280 million m3, are included in the Forest Certification Pan-European plan;
- Countries such as Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, etc., have approved their National System of Forest Certification.
- In Canada and the United States there is a mutual recognition of their respective forest certification systems.
- In the near future new countries will be incorporated.
Benefits and objectives of the sustainable forest management certification
With the Sustainable Forest Management Certification the following potential benefits associated with the implementation of a Forest Management system are foreseen:
Benefits for the image of the organisation or forest owner:
Once a forest owner or manager has been certified, he guarantees his care concerning the problems of preservation of the Spanish forest patrimony. Thus, the forest manager can communicate by means of the use of the PEFC mark, to clients, investors, employees, insurance companies, opinion leaders, communication media, local authorities, lawmakers and ecologist groups, its commitment with the preservation of the natural bio-diversity of the Spanish forests.
Economic Benefits:
An adequate Forest Management provides some economic benefits that can be quantified by means of the rationalisation of the forest exploitation process, and also some intangible benefits derived from the fact of the establishment of the system and its subsequent certification:
- Better exploitation of the resources
- Optimisation of the forest raw material management
- Costs reduction
- Increase forest products added value
- Expense control
- Reduction of possible infractions
The compliance with the forest and environmental legislation makes the administration maintain a friendly position towards the forest manager. Also, in future, the administration could consider taking into account the forest management certification in public contests and for obtaining subsidies and fiscal tax exemptions.
Anticipation to future legislation requirements
With the forest certification of the management units the following objectives are intended:
- to help to achieve the preservation, improvement and increase of the Spanish forest patrimony, of its bio-diversity and its natural richness
- to promote the sustainable management of the forest surfaces
- to guarantee the users and clients that the products with the PEFC Mark come from forests managed in a sustainable way
- to strengthen and improve the positive image of the forest surfaces and the wood as renewable raw material
- to divulge sustainable forest management as economically viable, environmentally appropriate and socially positive
- to use it as promotion instrument for the commercialisation of wood and products made of wood obtained in sustainable forest surfaces.
- to obtain the sustainable Forest Management PEFC Mark, which is synonymous of leadership for an organisation or forest manager, which can obtain a profitable position in the market
Luis Miguel SANZ VILLOREJO
Development Assistant Manager
Division of System Certification
Quality, Safety and Environment - AENOR
