Measure also increases competition with inclusion of forests in Asia
13/10/2022 8:45PM Updated 20 hours ago
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Brazil has close to 10 million hectares of planted forests, of which almost 5 million are FSC certified — Foto: Divulgação
After 11 years of negotiations, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) approved Thursday the possibility of including new forests in its certifications, under strict conditions. The decision was made at a global meeting held in Bali, Indonesia, and will certainly have an impact on the planted forest sector in Brazil.
FSC was created in 1994, aggregating several “green seal” initiatives around the world and creating an international, non-governmental, independent forest certification system based on environmental, social, and economic viability criteria.
Until now, a rule of thumb in the FSC system has prevented certification for forests planted on deforested areas after 1994. The Bali meeting has changed this rule, paving the way for certification of areas that were converted between 1994 and the end of 2020, provided that strict compensation criteria are met.
In other words, companies will have to pay the price. If a company is directly responsible for the deforestation and planted a forest later, it will have to compensate each deforested hectare with a recovered hectare. In the case of indirect responsibility – that is, the company bought a property from someone who deforested it –, it will have to restore 30% of the area.
In addition, the company that wants certification for its products will have to repair any social damage, regardless of direct or indirect liability.
Rafael Benke, CEO of Proactiva Results, a consulting company in ESG and human rights, who is taking part in the global meeting in Indonesia, said that the change in FSC’s rule “is a milestone not only for the forestry segment, but for sustainable development.”
“There are hundreds of millions of hectares that will be able to integrate the FSC system through socio-environmental compensation,” he said. “It will be a commercial stimulus for the integration of these areas which, consequently, will generate a positive socio-environmental impact with the compensations.”
Lineu Siqueira Junior, a co-founder of FSC and a member of its Policy and Standards Committee, emphasized that the measure does not mean an incentive to deforestation, but a standardization of conversion issues (deforested areas converted into forest plantations), with strict principles and rules.
Brazil has close to 10 million hectares of planted forests, of which almost 5 million are FSC certified. And with the seal, recalls Mr. Siqueira Junior, Brazilian industries of paper and pulp, wood panels, boards and floors, among others, have gained a lot of market abroad.
In this context, he acknowledged that there was a strong resistance from the segment in the country to the change in the FSC rule, due to the greater competition that will be generated.
Large Asian companies, which were out of the market due to lack of certification, are expected to start to compete for market if they meet all the criteria. Investors, especially from the United States and Europe, are also fostering plantations in Africa.
But Brazil is well positioned when it comes to technologies and customers, said Mr. Siqueira Junior, and will also be able to profit. There are many companies in the country that can use the new rule.
The decision made by the FSC after more than a decade of discussions falls within the “United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030),” created by the United Nations General Assembly, following a proposal by 70 countries concerned about the loss of biodiversity and the impact of climate change on nature and living beings.
Led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this initiative is considered crucial: today, only 1% of climate funding is dedicated to forest restoration, while restoring 30% of priority ecosystems would prevent 70% of species extinctions, according to a study published in 2020 by “Nature.”
*By Assis Moreira — Geneva
Source: Valor International