Stakeholder involvement

A key part of the project activities focuses on stakeholder involvement.

Certified Wood Update: How do the projects seek to improve stakeholder involvement?

“There’s a lack of user-friendly materials about the FSC system for stakeholders with limited resources – many NGOs have concerns but do not understand properly how the system works. Our projects are working on that issue in a targeted way”, explains Uwe Sayer, Director of FSC Germany.

“It is in the nature of certification schemes that things will sometimes go wrong on the ground. Stakeholders of responsible forestry will notice non-compliance with the FSC rules and start to complain. Formally, there is a requirement for certification bodies to involve stakeholders and to address their complaints, but this is not always done in a proper way. The problem is that the stakeholder feels excluded at this point because he doesn’t know where or how to further address his complaint”, says Sayer.

“Recognizing this key problem, we felt that there was a need for a simple paper which could be handed out to stakeholders, saying “this is what you have to do”. Our first project developed a guide for stakeholders on how to participate in the FSC system, including guidance on how to use the FSC complaints system”.
 

Feedback to FSC

CWU: How do the results of these projects feed into the FSC system?

“We have organized two workshops for NGOs, resulting in a long list of suggestions for improving stakeholder involvement in the FSC system. The list was submitted as input to the FSC governance review, and it is my impression that these inputs are being taken very seriously by FSC”, says Sayer. “Besides, FSC and ASI are already becoming much stricter with certification bodies. It may not be so visible yet to many NGOs, but the past 2-3 years have seen a lot of improvement in the control and enforcement of a higher CB performance level”.

Sayer adds: “Without the NGOs, the FSC system will lose in the long term. It is vital for the system’s credibility that the NGOs play their NGO cards at local level in each country”.

You can view and download the leaflet “Stakeholder involvement in FSC certification" in six language versions at  www.stakeholder-involvement.org. It can also be ordered in a printed version.
 

About the projects

The Baltic I-III projects are jointly implemented by the FSC National Initiatives around the Baltic Sea, led by FSC Germany. The process started in 2005 with harmonization of the national forest management standards and then continued with focus on stakeholder involvement. Donations to these successful projects have been made by Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, WWF Sweden, the Grass root Foundation, Germany and SIDA Baltic Sea Unit, Sweden.