New SFI Standards for Forest Certification

From the March 2010 Forest2Mill newsletter.
By: Lina Jenkins

After an exhaustive 18-month review process, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Inc. has released its 2010-2014 Standard. In an effort to clarify and augment the scope of the 2005-2009 Standard, the SFI expanded upon the previous standard by increasing its principles from nine to fourteen and adding seven objectives, four performance measures and twelve indicators. Currently, SFI certifies 181 million acres of North American forests, making it the single largest forest certification standard in the world.

To further the use of best management practices on forested lands, the new standard added or revised several key tenets that encourage or require better adherence to these practices. The new standards clarify exceptions to average clearcut sizes in order to meet legal requirements. In addition, program participants are required to:

  • Calculate sustainable harvest levels using only areas available for harvest
  • Minimize impacts from log skidding activities
  • Consider economic, environmental and social factors during residue management
  • Report annually on their reforestation activities and their involvement in regional regeneration assessments
  • Consider ecological impacts when planting trees on previously non-forested land
  • Use certified loggers on lands they own or control

Because only 10 percent of the world’s forests are certified, and because program participants source fiber from uncertified lands as well as certified ones, the new SFI standards set a series of requirements to help ensure responsible forest management. The standard requires that trained loggers be used when sourcing fiber from non-certified lands and that all fiber-sourcing contracts include requirements for use of best management practices. As part of their outreach efforts, participants are required to promote and support logger certification programs and to develop and distribute information about best management practices, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, endangered species, water quality and reforestation to landowners. The standard also expands the sources of information on conservation of biodiversity to include the  Alliance for Zero Extinction, the World Wildlife Fund, the World Resources Institute and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The new standards also identify sources of fiber that cannot be used by program participants, including fiber from illegal logging operations and forest operations in which social laws—like worker’s health and safety regulations, fair labor practices, indigenous peoples’ rights and anti-discrimination laws—are violated. Fiber from forests with exceptional conservation value is also off limits, including areas with critically imperiled and imperiled species and communities.

The 2010-2014 standard specifically aligns itself with current national and international laws. The standard has multiple revisions that seek to recognize U.S. and Canadian interests, laws and regulations, social issues and terminology. The SFI also made alterations to the standard’s section on illegal logging that brings it in line with the 2008 amendments to the U.S. Lacey Act. In regards to labor laws, any business conducted on SFI-certified forestlands must uphold the intent of the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s core conventions.

Finally, the new standard recognizes both carbon management and bioenergy feedstocks as emerging issues. The standards make it clear, however, that the same performance measures, objectives and indicators for forest management be met, whether the final products of harvests are solid wood, paper, carbon credits or bioenergy feedstocks.

To sum up the changes, Kathy Abusow, president and CEO of SFI, wrote: “Our new standard improves conservation of biodiversity, recognizes emerging issues such as climate change and bioenergy, and expands logger training in North America. It has made our fiber sourcing requirements stronger, and complements SFI activities aimed at avoiding controversial or illegal offshore fiber sources. Our new standard, our expanded partnerships and our growth mean we are in a great position to keep leading the push for improved forest practices and more certified forests. This puts us in a position of responsibility that we take very seriously. We may not certify forests outside North America but our work definitely has a global reach, and a global impact.”

While the SFI 2010-2014 Standard took effect on January 1, 2010, program participants will be given until January 1, 2011 to comply with the changes.

SFI Inc. is a non-profit charitable organization who is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative program. More than 180 million acres are certified to the SFI forest management standard across North America, making it the largest single standard in the world. SFI, Inc is governed by a three-chamber board of directors representing environmental, social and economic sectors equally.

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