1

FSC Certification in India

T R Manoharan FSC National Representative for India

10 May 2014

Mid Career Training for IFS Officers at IGNFA Dehradun organised by TERI

Forest Certification

Chain of Custody certificate (CoC)

is a process of tracking wood products From the certified forest

to the point of sale to ensure that

product originated from a certified forest.

Forest Certification refers to two separate processes:

forest management unit certification

is a process that leads to the issuing of a certificate by an independent party,

which verifies that an area of forest/plantation

is managed to a defined standard

• FSC is an international organization that provides a system for voluntary accreditation and independent third-party certification. This system allows certificate holders to market their products and services as the result of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management.

• The FSC also sets standards for the development and approval of FSC Stewardship Standards which are based on the FSC Principles and Criteria. In addition, FSC sets standards for the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies (also known as certification bodies) that certify compliance with FSC’s standards.

• Based on these standards, FSC provides a system for certification for organizations seeking to market their products as FSC certified.

• Established in 1993

Foest Stewardship Council ®

© FSC A.C. All rights reserved

Forest Stewardship Council ®

4

Mission

The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) shall promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests.

From forests to stores with FSC

Forest Management

certification

Chain of Custody (COC) certification

Forest

Retailer

Processor

Foest Stewardship Council ®

© FSC A.C. All rights reserved

Forest Stewardship Council ®

6

Comply with international, national and local laws and FSC Principles

Comply with tenure and use rights and responsibilities

Respect Indigenous Peoples rights

Maintain community relations and workers rights

Generate multiple

benefits from the

forest

Manage and limit environmental impact

Compile and follow a management plan

Monitor and assess forest management impact

Maintain High Conservation Value forests

Ensure that plantations comply with FSC principles

The 10 FSC Principles

1. Compliance with Laws

2. Workers’ Rights and Employment Conditions

3. Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

4. Community Relations

5. Benefits from the Forest

6. Environmental Values and Impacts

7. Management Planning

8. Monitoring and Assessment

9. High Conservation Values

10. Implementation of Management Activities

FSC 10 Principles – (Revised 2012)

Forest Management (FM) certificate

• An internationally recognized forest management standard

• Applicable to all types of forests worldwide, including natural forests and plantations

• 10 Principles and 56 Criteria, with locally developed indicators

• Forest operators following the FSC requirements with the certificate can sell their products as FSC-certified

Forest

Chain of Custody (COC) certificate

• Confirm the FSC materials are kept segregated and document system is properly maintained

• Audited annually by independent certification bodies

• Required for all organizations that have legal ownership of the FSC certified products who want to:

– Process or transform FSC certified products

– Affix FSC Product Label to show its FSC status

– Pass on the FSC claim to the subsequent buyers through sales and delivery documents (i.e. the buyers who further process, or want to make FSC claims about their purchases)

Why FSC has an international standard ?

FSC Principles and Criteria

• Provide an internationally recognized standard for responsible forest

management

• Harmonizing framework for addition of indicators implemented at the forest

management unit (FMU) level

• FSC Principles and Criteria plus a set of local indicators constitute an FSC

Forest Stewardship Standard

• Avoid Technical Barriers to Trade rules and meet WTO agreements.

How to pass down the FSC claim

• Upon obtaining FSC COC certification, each certificate holder will receive two codes:

1. FSC Trademark License Code

• This code grants the license for using FSC trademark. It is used on FSC Product Label or Promotional Panel

2. FSC COC Certificate Number

• This code refers to the certificate obtained by the companies. The COC Certificate Number has to be written on the sales document (e.g. invoice / delivery document) to pass down the FSC claim

FSC Product Labels

• Affixed by Certificate Holders on products to illustrate the FSC status of the forest-based content

• Allow end consumer to distinguish products from FSC sources

(1) FSC 100%

All materials are from FSC-certified sources

(2) FSC MIX

The materials contain a mix of FSC-certified sources and eligible recycled fibre, and from FSC Controlled Wood.

(3) FSC Recycled

The product is made from recycled materials

Maintaining an unbroken supply chain

• FSC claim can only be passed down from a Certificate Holder to its buyers

• If any company along the supply chain is not certified, the FSC claim terminates at this company, no matter the product has the FSC Product Label or not

Forest

(Certified) (Certified) (Certified) (Not certified) (Not certified)

In this case, the Printing House is not certified. Even the Printing House

purchased FSC paper for printing, their productions has lost the FSC

Claim. Hence, the bookshop cannot claims their books are FSC certified

FSC Support from Business and NGOs

Foest Stewardship Council ®

© FSC A.C. All rights reserved 2012

Forest Stewardship Council ®

15

FSC Certification in India

Description

2007

2014*

No of Chain of custody Certificates

5 369

FSC Certified Forest Management Areas (Ha)

688 463172.50

* as on 10 May 2014

FSC Forest Management Unit Certificates in India

Certificate Holder Area (Ha) Species State Year

New Ambadi Estate (P) Ltd

688 (Rubber) Tamil Nadu

2007 and

12 Sept 2012

Patneswari Agri. Co-Operative

Ltd. (PACL) 2304

Eucalyptus camaldulensis; Acacia

mangium; Eucalyptus tereticornis Orissa 3 Nov 2011

Society for Afforestation,

Research And Allied Works

(SARA)

15091

Eucalyptus tereticornis; Eucalyptus

spp; Acacia harpophylla; Eucalyptus

pellita; Dalbergia sissoo; Leucaena

leucocephala; Eucalyptus urophylla;

Eucalyptus urograndis Karnataka 13 Dec 2011

ITC Limited - PSPD Unit

Bhadrachalam 8028 Eucalyptus spp;

Andhra

Pradesh 22 Feb 2012

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and

Papers Limited

15304

Eucalyptus spp; Gmelina arborea

Roxb.; Dalbergia sissoo; Acacia

mangium; Melia azedarach L. Tamil Nadu 6 July 2012

Bhamaragarh Forest Division,

Maharashtra Forest

Department (Government of

Maharashtra State) 378170

Tectona grandis;Terminalia

spp.;Bombax ceiba L; Dalbergia

sissoo; Pterocarpus marsupium

Roxb.; Dendrocalamus strictus Maharashtra 12 Dec 2012

Lok vaniki Kisan Samiti

175.08

Dalbergia sissoo; Tectona grandis;

Terminalia sppDendrocalamus strictus

Madhya

Pradesh 17 Oct 2013

International Paper APPM

Ltd,Andhra Pradesh 28635.80 Casurina equisentifolia Andhra Pradesh 28 March 2014

Total 463172.50

Foest Stewardship Council ® Forest Stewardship Council ®

16

62 International Board Meeting FSC at Periyar Tiger Reserve, Thekkady, Kerala 11-13 March 2013

Stakeholder consultation and Seminar New Delhi 15 March 2013

Benefits from carbon markets ITC Model of farm forestry and forest certification of small farmers

Dr HD Kulkarni, ITC-PSPD

2007 New Ambady Estate FSC Certificate Renewed In 2012 FSC Certified Rubber plantation

FSC Standard Development Group India Period: 2012-2015

Social Economic Environment

Expert Group Mr Suneel Pandey,

Dr H D Kulkarni Mr Sanjay Upadhyay

Mr Sudhir Pande, Mr Sachin Raj Jain

Others

Stake holder forum

Chair (Dr Ram Prasad )

FSC International Centre Policy and Standard Unit

FSC National Representative for India (Dr TR Manoharan)

Special Invitees Observers

Dr D P S Verma

Mr Krishna Kumar Singh (Lokvaniki KisanSamiti)

OISCA International India SARA

Dr Manmohan Yadav (Indian Institute of Forest

Management) Member**

Confederation of Indian

Industry(CII) Export Promotion Council for

Handicrafts (EPCH) Indian Paper Manufacturers

Association (IPMA) Mr. Ajay Abrol

Quality Council of India (QCI) Member**

WWF India

Ministry of Environment and Forests*(MoEF)

Prof P Bhattacharya (GGS IP University)

Prof Asis Majumdar (Jadvapur University)

Dr E V Anoop (Forestry College, KAU)

Mr A M Singh IFS**

Foest Stewardship Council ® Forest Stewardship Council ®

20

Preliminary meeting to formulate FSC national working group in India 29 May 2009, Kozhikode Kerala

Stakeholder meeting to formulate FSC SDG India 24 November 2011, at WWF India

SDG Meeting 04 May 2013 GGS IP University, New Delhi

SDG Meeting 10 August 2013 GGS IP University, New Delhi

FSC Standard Development Group India meetings

Initiatives on Forest Certification by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI

2005

2008

2010

2011

2013

Govt is considering

forest certification Forest Certification

Committee Report Submitted

Stakeholder consultation and preparation of a

framework to establish

Indian Forest Certification Council

Forest certification committee established.

National Working Group on Forest Certification

to frame the policy guidelines on

forest certification for timber & NTFPs 3 committees and TORs formulated:

•Certification Criteria • Certification Processes • Accreditation Criteria & Processes

22

FSC FRIDAY 2010 Visit of FSC stakeholder representatives to MoEF and presenting a FSC certified wooden picture frame to Dr Dilip Kumar, DGF

23

Cost of Certification to SMEs and Small Holders

Lack of awareness on the benefits of FSC certification

Coordinating with different government agencies

Challenges

24

Green Public Procurement

FDI in retail sector by MNCs (many of them have committed to FSC globally)

Legality requirements in International Markets: (eg.US Lacey Act, EU Timber Regulation )

Linking with programmes and projects (both Govt and Corporate) to support sustainable standards

Opportunities

uncil ®

25

•Policy guidelines on Forest Certification on Government

Forests/plantations.

•Incentives for forest certification, support to small holders, farm

forestry/social forestry schemes at various levels

•Promote Green Public Procurement to generate demand in the

domestic market

•Create awareness on the benefits of certification

Suggestions

26

Thank you