Risk assessment for the UK
Companies manufacturing FSC Mixed Sources products will now find it less burdensome to control their non-certified timber when sourcing from UK forests.
This breakthrough is owed to the approval of a national FSC Controlled Wood Risk Assessment.
“This will be a great relief for companies in the UK and abroad”, states David Hadley, Certification Services Manager at NEPCon UK, “and it should help to get the FSC label out to more consumers”. It will also make it easier for smallholders in the UK to supply Controlled Wood.
On 1 March 2011, the FSC International Centre gave the green light for the UK Controlled Wood risk assessment – it is only the fifth in the world to be adopted.
FSC UK Executive Director Charles Thwaites states, “Approval of the Controlled Wood risk assessment has demonstrated in a very thorough manner that there is a low risk of poor forest management across the board”.
Great Britain, England and UK – what’s the difference?
Many people are unsure of the difference between UK, England and Great Britain, and often use these terms interchangeably. But the difference is an important one when looking at the newly approved risk assessment, which gauges risk related to legality, civil rights, conservation, conversion and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
The risk assessment covers all four countries within the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
All three countries in Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales – are deemed as low risk for all five Controlled Wood categories. Companies sourcing from these countries are no longer required to carry out their own Controlled Wood (CW) risk assessments and can simply refer to the newly approved UK risk assessment.
But due to a lack of requirements for felling licenses in Northern Ireland, the country is classed as “unspecified risk” for legality. It does however pass as “low risk” for all four other categories, making the process simpler, only requiring companies to demonstrate proof of legal harvesting.
Mr. Thwaites continues, “Our expectation is that the felling licence situation in Northern Ireland will be resolved soon. We will update the risk assessment to reflect any change as early as possible.”
Use the Global Forest Registry to stay updated
The Global Forest Registry has been updated to reflect the new national risk assessment. The Global Forest Registry is a free online resource incorporating available data on the risk of sourcing wood from unacceptable sources. The database is developed and managed by NEPCon in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance and FSC. You can use this resource at any time to stay updated on the risk of sourcing wood from most countries of the world.
