Certification impact questions asked following new EC study

The report, "Impact of EU consumption on deforestation", says just 200,000ha of total global deforestation of 232 million ha in 1990-2008 was attributed to EU imports of wood products. This compared to 8.7 million ha attributed to EU imports of agricultural cash crops and livestock products.

Rupert Oliver, of Forest Industries Intelligence Ltd, posting his views on PEFC International's LinkedIn group, said the report also showed that only a small proportion of products worldwide with significant "embodied deforestation" actually entered international trade.

"To me this highlights the limitations of trade instruments, particularly those focused only on forest products, to tackle deforestation - although that's not to say certification isn't worthwhile for other reasons," Mr Oliver said.

"Maybe we need to be much more bullish about forest certification being a positive demonstration of leadership by an essentially green industry and to start focusing on ensuring other industries, particularly agriculture, are held to the same standard."

In a statement to TTJ, certification body FSC International defended the value of its role and the impact of its work but admitted there was little it could do by itself to influence the main drivers of deforestation - agriculture and oil palm plantations.

It said FSC's main impact had been to ensure areas certified under FSC rules were responsibly managed, stopping forest degradation, with some anecdotal evidence that it has also helped reduce deforestation.

FSC said it had been successful in convincing forest owners covering 182 million ha - around 10% of the world's managed forests - to manage their forest responsibly, with the area growing daily.

"But it is a voluntary scheme," a spokesperson told TTJ. "When a forester is not interested, and rather converts his forest into an oil palm plantation, FSC cannot prevent that.

"It cannot by itself take away the big pressures coming from agriculture and oil palm sectors. For that we need government intervention and consumers action."

FSC agreed questions needed to be asked about sustainable use of existing farmlands, sustainability of meat consumption and the use of biomass for energy production.

FSC pointed out that the EC report does not cover the issue of forest degradation.