Pride in PEFC

Summary
• Mike Clark was elected chairman of the board of the PEFC Council in 2006.
• He is a senior executive within M-Real Corporation.
• His first job was with Unilever.
• He once played rugby with Idi Amin.

“I am an example of a salesman who expressed an interest in something, and I suppose I then got what I deserved!"

Approaching the 65-year mark, Mike Clark probably feels he can get away with a comment like this, seriously underplaying the importance of the roles he has had since 2004 within the PEFC forest certification organisation, culminating in his appointment as chairman of the board of the PEFC Council in 2006. Mr Clark also maintains his job as a senior executive within the M-real Corporation’s consumer packaging business area.

Mr Clark’s career started at Unilever as a general management trainee, which included a four-year stint in Africa. Eighteen years at Unilever was followed by four years at AB Foods, before joining Finnboard, which became part of M-real, part of the Metsäliitto Group.

Running a major paper and sales distribution com-pany in the UK inevitably brought Mr Clark into contact with the issues of the environment and sustainability. "We have strong links with the DIY sector and in the early 1990s I became involved with the WWF 95+ Group, in which B&Q took a particularly active part. Since it was critical for our business, then as it still is now, I took an interest in the whole issue of forest certification."

Mr Clark notes that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) was developed as a top down process to deliver sustainable management forest practices in areas of the world where there were no laws and no commercial infrastructures. In the mid-1990s FSC sought to bring its certification process to Europe, where it found conditions very different from those in South-east Asia. There were legal and commercial infrastructures and, perhaps more importantly, ownership was more fragmented. Industry was also far more alive to issues such as WTO regulations and EU competition laws.

Private forestry sector

“In countries such as Austria, Germany, France and Finland there were very credible infrastructures already in place,” said Mr Clark. “Also, at that time, FSC had not developed any group certification process and this proved to be an insurmountable hurdle for the six million or so small private forest owners engaged in the commercial forestry sector. PEFC was born out of this. The private forestry sector recognised that they needed certification and to improve their sustainability performance, but they could not see how they could use the FSC system in the form that prevailed at that time.”

PEFC was finally born in 1999. The acronym initially stood for the Pan European Forest Certification system, a name which was to pose problems when the scheme eventually became successful on a global basis. “Initially, there was no expectation within PEFC to develop outside Europe, but the process struck a chord with the forestry industries in many other countries and as the scheme became global, so we had to change our name to Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification.”

Mr Clark first became engaged with PEFC as chairman of the board of PEFC UK Ltd in 2004 and since then has been faced with a number of major issues, not least of which was CPET ratification of forest certification schemes. “This was clearly a very difficult time for us, with very many small forest owners critically dependent on the outcome. In the end we were able to justify the faith they placed in us and PEFC was able to adapt to meet CPET’s very stringent requirements.”

Since 1999, PEFC’s global reach has grown dramatically to include the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia and now Africa and Asia. “The board of the PEFC Council much better reflects this new diversity, being made up of 12 people representing NGOs, organised labour, industry, forest owners and academia.”

In addition to the independent national certification schemes, which form the basis of PEFC’s membership, there are 12 extraordinary members representing industry and trade associations. Mr Clark pointed out that he is always slightly annoyed by the persistent assertion that PEFC is “the industry scheme”. “PEFC was started as a community-based scheme to focus on the interests of small forest owners. Whilst the national certification schemes which make up PEFC membership (over 30 members with 25 endorsed schemes) now represent a wider range of interests, the community forest sector remains the core of PEFC’s raison d'être.”

Strategic planning

Since being elected PEFC Council chairman, Mr Clark has seen the continuation of PEFC’s transition to a global player take more solid form. “As we move into new territories, China, Central America and Russia for example, we face new problems. If we are to make a difference in those areas we will need to look to funding from external sources. In 2007 we started a major strategic planning exercise, which has included a governance review, in which we have engaged with external stakeholders.”

Mr Clark sees the head office move from Luxembourg to Geneva as a critical step in the development of the new PEFC strategy and in its transition to a global player. “It’s time for PEFC to grow up. We will always be thankful to our founders and to our roots in Europe, but it is now time to move on,” he said.

Outside his work with the PEFC Mr Clark devotes his time to his wife, four children and four grandchildren, his allotment and a little horse racing (“Goodwood’s May meeting is always my favourite!”). Rugby is another great interest, and he played at various levels over a period of 30 years. “I played for Kampala against Jinja when I lived in Uganda. One of Jinja’s star players was a certain army officer called Idi Amin!”