Report: Local Control Saves Forests
NEW YORK - There will likely be fewer wildfires and more trees for future generations if loggers abide by a set of international rules on forest management, says a new study by independent environmentalists.
In releasing the 18-page study, the New York-based Rainforest Alliance said minimal deforestation and few wildfires occurred in areas managed according to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification standards.
Focusing their research on the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, the study’s authors said they found the tropical rainforest covered by FSC certification to be much safer than areas that were not covered by the certification.
“These findings confirm that communities will indeed manage their land responsibly rather than destroy it if it makes economic sense to do so,” said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance.
“In this case,” she added, “that incentive is a market for responsibly harvested timber and non-timber forest products.”
FSC certification indicates that a forest is responsibly managed. The certification process requires third-party auditing to ensure international standards are met for the rights of indigenous groups and workers, biodiversity conservation, the protection of ecologically important areas, and a range of other environmental, social, and economic criteria.
Much like the Fair Trade logo for coffee, chocolate, and other food products, the FSC logo on wood products — from toilet tissue to lumber — indicates to consumers that their purchases support the interests of forest-dwelling communities and the environment.
The Maya Reserve, an area of tropical forest in Guatemala’s northern Peten region, has been set aside by the government to conserve its unique natural and cultural assets.
The report, entitled “Impact of FSC Certification on Deforestation and the Incidence of Wildfires,” points out that last year fires affected only 0.1 percent of FSC-certified forest concessions in the Maya reserve, which is down from 6.5 percent in 1998. During the same period fires affected between 7 and 20 percent of the rest of the reserve, according to the report’s authors.
The researchers also found that in recent years the rate of deforestation in FSC-certified forest areas was 20 times lower than the deforestation rate within parts of the forest where logging was banned altogether.
The Rainforest Alliance said it pioneered the strategy of using market forces to conserve forests about 20 years ago, knowing that economic incentives are key to protecting biodiversity and curbing deforestation.
The report’s authors said local communities and companies in the reserve have created fire control and prevention plans, improved living and working conditions for workers, increased the use of safety equipment, and experienced less social conflict as a result of better land-use mapping.
The study’s findings seem to demonstrate that forests are more likely to be protected and well-managed when communities have a stake in the process and have alternatives to clearing land for cattle grazing, farming, and other less sustainable activities.
The study is based on data collected from the Wildlife Conservation Society, satellite imagery from the Guatemalan government’s National Council for Protected Areas, and information from the Rainforest Alliance’s forestry program.
The Maya Reserve is considered by scientists to be a rich source of biodiversity. Covering about 5 millions acres of land, the reserve is home to hundreds of species of animals including jaguars, brocket deer, scarlet macaws, and ocellated turkeys.
In 1990, the Guatemalan government classified about 40 percent of the area as fully protected — banning logging there entirely — and required other parts of the forest to earn FSC certification, following intense calls from environmental groups for a complete ban on logging throughout the entire reserve.
The Rainforest Alliance says today nearly 60 percent of the land where timber harvesting is allowed in the reserve has attained FSC certification.
The group’s activists have been working in the reserve for more than 11 years, training communities in responsible forest management, helping local communities build forest-friendly enterprises, and connecting their FSC-certified products to international markets.
“Communities are seeing their businesses grow and livelihoods improve as demand for certified wood and non-timber forest products grows,” Whelan said, adding that last year the forest supported about 2,500 jobs. Its products were sold worldwide for about $5 million.
Some of the certified wood from the area is bought by Gibson Musical Instruments, a Nashville-based company that makes guitars. The forests’ xate palms are bought by the Texas-based Continental Floral Greens for floral arrangements that are sold to churches for Palm Sunday.
“Certification is a real tool for the market and for conservation,” said Jose Roman Carrera, Central America coordinator for the Rainforest Alliance’s TREES program, which works with communities in the Peten. “FSC certification has helped strengthen business structures, fire prevention measures, and low-impact harvesting practices.”
© 2008 One World
how nice to read something hopeful for once.
Wow, good news for a change. Please post more good news stories here, this is my favorite website, but most days I just want to sit down and cry after reading articles here.
“These findings confirm that communities will indeed manage their land responsibly rather than destroy it if it makes economic sense to do so,”
We don’t really need another confirmation that greed capitalism leads people to do what makes economic sense.
Instead of that, we should enable people to cover all the senses, economic, social, environmental, civic, by aiding development of their independence/enlightenment. This enlightenment has two basic sources - individual experimentation and knowledge transfer, and is motivated by natural human needs. The great majority of people possess a natural balance among these needs but this balance is terribly upset by greed capitalism.
To understand how enlightenment propagates by both sources, observe the individual experimentation and knowledge transfer among the more independent societies which includes both “primitive” and “advanced” societies, and especially the smaller ones in more isolated areas. See the Danish administration of Greenland for a broad illustration. The independent advanced society aids the independent primitive society by preserving its independence.
Independence brings enlightenment which sustains independence. Dependence brings ignorance which sustains dependence. Those from capitalist societies who wish to contribute to people’s enlightenment should avoid developing people’s dependence on capitalist production, but instead assist experimentation and knowledge transfer that builds/sustains people’s independence.
“Communities are seeing their businesses grow and livelihoods improve as demand for certified wood and non-timber forest products grows,”
This is the standard capitalist doctrine that ultimately causes wealth transfer from people to capitalists. The sheer simplicity of the statement is a red herring evolved to distract people from demanding truly sustainable production and consumption.
Enlightened demands call first for sustenance production so that each individual achieves security, economic and otherwise, first. The sustenance economy should be highly developed, which will eliminate most human-induced problems. Beyond that, the luxury economy should be treated as the vice that it is and tightly limited.
Imagine that - people in control of their own dinner plate tend not to crap on it!
Notice how few comments there are in reference to this article. No one cares about the FSC. Where is the FSC logo, would you know it if you saw it?
I know what it looks like- but only b/c a colleague just defended his dissertation on Chile’s FSC program. One of his findings was that there is really no market for growing FSC wood! This is because the FSC is really driven by environmentalist organizations-NOT consumer demand. There is no higher price paid for FSC wood products! So there is no point to growing FSC economically. Are you going to ask for FSC wood when you buy furniture or repair your home? I can assure you the carpenter’s will not.
If we were to look at the “FSC forests” they would resemble a corn field with perfect rows, essentially nothing more than monoculture. (We have tree farms here in Georgia and they are not high in biodiversity). The point is no one who buys wood cares where it comes from and it does not increase biodiversity. Notice the rhetoric: “There will likely be fewer wildfires and more trees for future generations if loggers abide by a set of international rules on forest management, says a new study by independent environmentalists”. This statement is telling us that the “global north” that’s us can feel good about ourselves because we are able to control other people’s resources by imposing rules. We clear cut our forests, so lets go and protect other forests!
Notice all of the biodiversity mumbo-jumbo. Environmental conservation is almost always racist and it is always political. It keeps out the indigenous groups who used to live there and who impacted and shaped it over the last several hundred/thousand years so others can appreciate it! We have done that with every single national park I am aware of. That said, I am glad the forest is growing and I hope the population has a decent livelihood, but this article is environmental propaganda.
Here in Washington state we see a lot of fsc timber, virtually everything is fsc for the framer. I’m a carpenter. Fine wood distributors don’t care what is what. They don’t even know where anything comes from, and that, is the big shame. Home Despot carries fsc wood. It cant be all that great, they are known to not care and only go for cheap, even green, certified forest raped products. Heck its only fsc if the cover slip says so and I got a slip in the back of my truck. Meaning it might not mean much for the timbers.
Something is better than nothing, its about time to look at the world like its your cute little kitten. Its up to you! Pet it, care for it, love it, or crush its little head. You vote with your dollar!
Local rights are struggling against massive economic interests making unbelievably stupid mistakes.
This is from 2003, “Where the trees are a Desert” - think about it the next time you use paper products.This is an example of the economic model on which indigenous genocide is based.
http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=reports_ctw_trees
“Independence brings enlightenment which sustains independence. Dependence brings ignorance which sustains dependence. Those from capitalist societies who wish to contribute to people’s enlightenment should avoid developing people’s dependence on capitalist production, but instead assist experimentation and knowledge transfer that builds/sustains people’s independence.”
Societies other than Western societies have their histories and culture and do not need the imposition of Western lifeways upon them. After five hundred years of western dominance and exploitation, western knowledge transfer is not the answer. It is not the lack of knowledge that drives these people, it is the lack of necessities. Put back some of the stolen wealth without western strings attached and Indigenous populations will manage the forests quite well from their own beliefs and lifeways.
Maybe Californians should look into this!