News Release

November 23, 2005: Accreditation of landmark B.C. standards for forest management

B.C.

News Release

Forest Stewardship Council of Canada

400-70 The Esplanade, Toronto, ON, M5E 1R2

T: 416-778-5568, Fax: 416-778-0044, info@fsccanada.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Accreditation of landmark B.C. standards for forest management

Toronto, ON Nov. 23, 2005 - The Board of Directors of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) of Canada is proud to announce the accreditation of the B.C. forest management standards for large industrial forests and small operators. This announcement represents an unprecedented consensus among the B.C. forest industry, First Nations, environmentalists, forest communities and workers.

"Bringing together such a diverse group of interests to collectively develop and agree upon the B.C. standards is a major achievement and all participants should be very proud of their accomplishment," said Brent Rabik, Chair of the FSC Canada Board of Directors and Strategic Projects Director for Alberta- Pacific Forest Industries Inc. "Forest companies now have a made-in-BC international FSC-accredited certification to demonstrate to customers globally that their forests are responsibly managed to the highest standards."

The newly accredited standards allow B.C. forest managers to join those across the country and globally in demonstrating to the public their commitment to, and achievement of, responsible forest management.

"These standards are revisions of those preliminarily approved in 2003, and are the result of thousands of hours of consultation with interested parties from across the province. The revised standard is significantly less complex to implement, while maintaining the same high levels of environmental, social and economic performance that are the hallmarks of FSC certification," said Martin von Mirbach, Vice President of FSC Canada. The revised standard builds on some of the distinctive features of the FSC National Boreal Standard, especially with regard to the treatment of high conservation value forests.

The FSC is a global, non-profit organization that promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests through forest certification. Forest certification is a voluntary process whereby forest management areas are independently evaluated against rigorous environmental and social standards to determine whether responsible harvesting is practiced. Under the FSC system, all producers and manufacturers along the supply chain must also undergo a chain-ofcustody certification to ensure that the final forest product originated from an FSC certified forest.

This announcement comes just as domestic market demand for FSC wood and paper products is experiencing rapid growth, within Canada and globally. "The exploding demand for FSC-certified wood products is fuelled by LEEDTM green building projects and strong commitments by the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the City of Vancouver, Public Works and Government Services Canada and others," says Cam Brewer, President, Eco-Lumber Co-op. These commitments mark an opportunity not just in construction, but also in B.C."s forests as companies respond to market demand for demonstrably sustainable forest practices.

"The Forest Stewardship Council-BC Chapter has demonstrated that with dedication, hard work and creativity even the traditionally polarized foes of BC’s timber wars can forge consensus on standards for responsible forest management," said Lisa Matthaus, Sierra Club of Canada-B.C. Chapter.

"The FSC-BC Standards recognize First Nations resource governance rights and require important protections for forest ecosystems. To meet the growing demand for FSC wood products, companies will need to build and to strengthen relationships with First Nations based on FSC's consent requirement," said Chief Mike Retasket, member of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Executive, and FSC-BC Steering Committee representative.

 

"The accreditation of the revised FSC BC Standards is great news for local jobs and the health of forests. We are proud to support FSC and to encourage all forest management companies to adopt the values that FSC represents," said Jim King, President of the Pulp, Paper & Woodworkers of Canada. For copies of the standards and other reference documents, please visit www.fsc-bc.org or www.fsccanada.org.

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For more information, contact:

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Canada

Maia Becker, Manager of Communications & Client Services

T: 416-778-5568 x25, mbecker@fsccanada.org

FSC-BC Steering Committee

Jessica Clogg, Co-Chair

T: 604-601-2501, jessica_Clogg@wcel.org

FSC-BC Steering Committee

Troy Hromadnik, Co-Chair

T: 250-426-9246, troy.hromadnik@tembec.com

Topic(s): Forestry News, Healthy Communities News, More Enviro News, parks and wilderness news, Sustainable Business

Posted By EcoBC

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