The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a non-profit organization based in Bonn, Germany. The Council's stated mission is "to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests". It carries out this role by certifying sustainably managed forestry operations, and tracking their timber through the supply chain to the end product, which can then carry the FSC ecolabel, giving consumers the chance to choose to buy sustainable timber products over unsustainably harvested alternatives. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Historic Town Hall of Bonn (view from the market square). ... Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ... Classes Psilotopsida Equisetopsida Marattiopsida Pteridopsida (Polypodiopsida) this dnt make sense A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. ... The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. ... To conserve habitat for wild species and prevent their extinction or reduction in range is a priority of a great many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology. ... For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... A non-profit organization (abbreviated NPO, or non-profit or not-for-profit) is an organization whose primary objective is to support an issue or matter of private interest or public concern for non-commercial purposes, without concern for monetary profit. ... An organisation (or organization — see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment. ... Historic Town Hall of Bonn (view from the market square). ... This article is about the natural environment. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... For other uses, see World (disambiguation). ... This article is about a community of trees. ... A decidous beech forest in Slovenia. ... A supply chain, logistics network, or supply network is a coordinated system of organizations, people, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service in physical or virtual manner from supplier to customer. ... Ecolabel is a labelling system for consumer products (including foods) that are made in fashion to avoid detrimental effects on the environment. ...

History

This membership association was founded in 1993 and is funded by various businesses, governments and foundations, as well as by accreditation fees through a stakeholder owned system. It is endorsed and supported by environmental organizations such as FERN, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. 6,000 companies around the world now participate in the FSC scheme, and over 730,000 square kilometers in more than 72 countries have been certified according to FSC standards. Major decisions are taken in a General Assembly, which meets every three years. Through consultative processes, FSC develops standards and policy for sustainable management of forests, and accredits certification bodies to assess candidate forests for certification. In economics, a business is a legally-recognized organizational entity existing within an economically free country designed to sell goods and/or services to consumers, usually in an effort to generate profit. ... Classes Psilotopsida Equisetopsida Marattiopsida Pteridopsida (Polypodiopsida) this dnt make sense A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. ... Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ... The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. ... This article is about the US organization called The Nature Conservancy. ... The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. ...

Certification process

Any timber company or other organization that wishes to become FSC-certified and bear their logo must first contact an accredited third party certification body. The FSC does not directly certify forests but certifies the auditors that do. Certification representatives inspect the forestry practices to determine whether it complies with FSC standards. The timber products are tracked through the supply chain from source to sale using mobile GPS technology developed by Helveta. This guarantees that the products bearing the FSC logo are from the certified forests. Helveta are a supplier of systems for tracing products through supply chains. ...

Consumers interested in the sustainable consumption of timber, lumber, paper or other forest products can seek to acquire FSC-certified products. FSC certification is also sometimes used to demonstrate sustainable management of forest for carbon sequestration purposes. The Earth Day flag includes a NASA photo. ... In economics, consumption refers to the final use of goods and services to provide utility. ... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction or wood... Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill Lumber or Timber is a term used to describe wood, either standing or that has been processed for use—from the time trees are felled, to its end product as a material suitable for industrial use—as structural material for construction... For other uses, see Paper (disambiguation). ... Certified wood is timber products extracted from forests that are sustainably managed. ... Carbon sequestration from a fossil-fuel power station A carbon dioxide sink or CO2 sink is a carbon reservoir that is increasing in size, and is the opposite of a carbon source. The main sinks are the oceans and growing vegetation. ...

Response

Jared Diamond's Collapse praises FSC as a collaboration of environmentalists and business for a sustainable economy and compares it to similar organizations created by timber business that, in his opinion, do not keep their standards so high. The Marine Stewardship Council is a similar organization covering sustainable fishery. It has attracted less commercial and consumer support, though. Jared Mason Diamond (b. ... Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed cover Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a 2005 English-language book by University of California, Los Angeles geography professor Jared M. Diamond. ... The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an independent non-profit organization that aims to promote sustainable fishery practices. ...

Competing forest certification system

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is the main competing forest certification system, established by the forest industry in response to the creation and increasing popularity of FSC. The PEFC is currently not supported by any environmental NGOs, and has been criticised for lack of transparency, lower environmental standards, and lack of unit level certification or third party authentication.^[1] The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC) is a system that tries to ensure the sustainability of wood products. ...

References

External links

Official FSC sites

• Forest Stewardship Council
• Maps and statistics on certified forest
• Chain of custody certificates
• Forest Stewardship Council of Canada
• Forest Stewardship Council-United States

Assessments

• Footprints in the Forests: A FERN's assessment of 8 forest certification schemes (2004)
• Behind the Logo: A FERN's environmental and social assessment of four forest certification schemes - the FSC, PEFC, SFI and CSA (2001)
• FERN's site on certification

Classes Psilotopsida Equisetopsida Marattiopsida Pteridopsida (Polypodiopsida) this dnt make sense A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. ... Classes Psilotopsida Equisetopsida Marattiopsida Pteridopsida (Polypodiopsida) this dnt make sense A fern is any one of a group of about 20,000 species of plants classified in the phylum or division Pteridophyta, also known as Filicophyta. ...

Critics

• Tage Klingberg, University of Gävle, A European view of forest certification issues for consideration. Why the organization of family forest owners in Europe turned away from FSC.
• a Newsletter published by a logging industry association, the NAFI
• Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman (a norwegian consumer watchdog group)