No show and no go in 2011

Social issues in the supply chain; adaptation to climate change; and small forest holdings: these are all topics that were either low on members’ radar or outright voted down.
Preparing for the reality of a changing climate

While climate change remains high on the agenda this year, motions and Forest Conference speakers focused on FSC’s engagement in forest carbon initiatives. The issue of responding to the inevitable impact on forests resulting from a changing climate has not received much attention.

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects an increase between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. This will soon be a reality for forest owners. And some species are simply not able to adapt. This sparks the interesting paradox, since the FSC standards requires forest owners to use local genes for re-forestation.

Opening the discussion of species composition is a delicate matter, as it is intimately linked with the conservation of biodiversity. For FSC, it offers the opportunity to lend its organisational framework to foster a process to the development of a balanced adaptation strategy.
Smallholder presence

There are some important motions this year that are hoped to address some of the issues around smallholder access. It is also clear that not many small forest owners are actually present at the event. Given the importance of the GA as the highest decision making body in FSC, and the opportunities it presents to thrash out underlying challenges, a poor turnout could further exacerbate the disparity between access by small and large scale managers. According to several participants, this is likely due to a lack of strong organisation
among these forest owners and the high costs of attending.
Social issues in the supply chain

In Cape Town GA, a motion was approved for looking into the feasibility of including core ILO conventions to apply to Chain of Custody certification to exclude, at a minimum, the “worst of the worst” from the FSC supply chain – including child labour, hazardous work, bonded labour and a number of other basic ILO requirements.

The topic has not been particularly discussed at this General Assembly. Its core issues are addressed within the FSC Policy of Association, a document approved in 2009 which will be accompanied by the implementation procedures currently awaiting development. The question is when that will actually happen.