2005 - 06 - 10
*Progress and Certification, Communication and Promotion
AUSTRIA
National Secretary Meeting – Lissabon 2005
PEFC Austria Key Facts 2004/05
Progress and Certification
Communication and Promotion __________________________________________________________________
Progress and certification:
- Certified forest area: 3.96 million hectares of forest (meaning the total of Austria’s forest area), separated in 9 climatic regions;
- Total of 286 Chain of Custody certificates;
- Active Logo usage: Total 140 (119 CoC, 12 forest owners and 9 regions) logo usage contracts.
Activities in the past:
- PEFC online guide for products and purchase (“PEFC Shopping guide”);
- PEFC Folder for logo usage published
- Green Week 2004 (“Woche des Waldes 2004”): A tree house made of PEFC-larch is sponsored as the first prize in a children’s contest;
- Seedlings are spread amongst members and representatives of the European Parliament organized by the Federal Association of Farm- and Forest Owner’s Austria;
- TV: Interview in a consumer’s special programme about timber with Christian Brawenz;
- TV: documentation about carinthia’s timber tradition, pointing out the importance of certification in the range of strong export activities to Italy and African countries.
Current activities:
- Focused on completing the chain of custody from forests to consumers;
- Papermeeting: Workshop-based information event, aimed at exchange of experiences and lessons learned, so PEFC can get together with CEOs and decision makers for constructive discussions and communication;
- Starting to promote PEFC paper in the range of publishers, printers and writers;
- Green Week 2005 (“Woche des Waldes 2005”) – together with Federal Association of Farm- and Forest Owners Austria and Ministry for forests, Austria
- Harvesting Festival in Vienna;
- Exhibition (running for 6 months) in the Museum For Wood (“Holzmuseum”) in St. Ruprecht, Styria;
- Several Open Houses of member companies where PEFC explicitely is promoted, Austria.
Regular press:
- Pressinformation (national and international);
- Newsletter (national and international);
- Reports in newspapers and journals.
Regular PR
- Increasing cooperation with PEFC companies (common PR projects);
- Increasing cooperation with media;
- Homepage;
- PEFC-Promoting contacts to non-certified companies.
AUSTRALIA
By way of introduction, a number of significant events have occurred in Australia in terms of both AFS Limited (the National Governing Body) and the Australian Forest Certification Scheme (AFCS).
Firstly, in October 2004, the AFCS received its Certificate of Endorsement from the PEFC Council to provide our scheme with mutual recognition under the PEFC framework. Our two delegates were extremely pleased to receive the certificate and immensely proud of our achievements over the past four years.
Secondly, the company appointed an independent Chair – Mr Geoff Gorrie – whom many of you met in Santiago de Chile. Geoff comes from a natural resource management background in Federal Government and has many links to related primary industry fields, both Government and private industry.
Thirdly, in November 2004, the AFCS took centre stage at one of Australia’s premier forest industry conferences in Sydney to be congratulated by Australia’s forest and timber industry. This provided tangible evidence in Australia of the international recognition of the AFCS.
Onto other matters of interest over the past year since our Roma meeting –
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The AFS Technical Reference Committee (AFS TRC) is currently reviewing the AFS with an intention to seek its recognition as a full Australian Standard in June/July 2005. The process commenced in September 2004 for the 20 stakeholders on the AFS TRC and presently version 4 of the reviewed AFS is to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the AFS TRC.
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AFS Technical Committee will soon convene to review the CoC Standard following its implementation from March 2004 and to ensure its compatibility with PEFC’s Annex 4. It is expected that the reviewed CoC Standard will be recognised as a full Australian Standard in early 2006.
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Australia’s current area of certified forest under the AFCS is 1 839 963 hectares from five organisations. Most State based forest management agencies are seeking or moving towards AFS certification along with several private companies mainly growing hardwood or softwood plantations.
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Our labelling scheme for both the AFS and PEFC logos has been endorsed by Australia’s trademark organisation, IP Australia, and the PEFC Board respectively. Two organisations have been granted licences for both logos and others are expressing an interest which usually relates to AFS or CoC certification of an organisation.
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A new web site is expected to be launched before June 2005 which will target all sectors along the supply chain with specific information on what they can expect and gain from the AFCS.
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There are three certification bodies accredited for the AFS and one body for CoC at present. JAS-ANZ, our national accreditation body, is also reviewing the accreditation programme for forest management certification in parallel with the AFS review by the AFS TRC – continual improvement in practice!
Finally, I would personally like to congratulate Italy, Chile & Canada who have been endorsed by the PEFC Council along with us since the last NS meeting. Many other members are in the pipeline and I wish them all the best for the evaluation of their schemes.
Mark Edwards
Executive Officer, Australian Forestry Standard Limited
PEFC National Secretary for Australia
BRAZIL
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PEFC NATIONAL SECRETARIES MEETING 2005
PROGRESS REPORT MAY 2005 |
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BRAZILIAN PROGRAM OF FOREST CERTIFICATION - CERFLOR |
Cerflor is a forest certification program developed by the Brazilian System of Conformity Assessment which is managed by the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality – Inmetro.
Standard Basis
The Cerflor standards were elaborated in the national forum of standardization, which is the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards - ABNT. The Cerflor contemplates six standards, of which five were published in February, 2002 and one in April, 2004, and the C-o-C standard was revised last December,2004. They are:
- NBR 14789 – Principles, criteria and indicators for planted forests
- NBR 14790 – Chain of custody
- NBR 14791 – Directives for forest audit – General principles
- NBR 14792 – Audit procedures – Forest management audit
- NBR 14793 – Audit procedures – Qualification criteria for forest auditors
- NBR 15789 - Principles, criteria and indicators for native forests
A pilot test with the PEFC international standard of C-o-C is being prepared to be held in 2005 May, 09 to 13, at a Brazilian Pulp and Paper Company.
Accredited Bodies
Regarding accreditation of forest management certification bodies, Cerflor has one Forest Management certification body - OCF accredited (BVQI do Brasil Sociedade Certificadora Ltda) and four in process of accreditation (SGS ICS Certificadora Ltda, Instituto de Tecnologia do Paraná – TECPAR, BRTÜV Avaliações da Qualidade Ltda. S/C and TÜV Rheinland Brasil).
With regard to accreditation of a chain of custody certification body, the Cerflor has two certification bodies accredited (BVQI do Brasil Sociedade Certificadora Ltda and SGS ICS Certificadora Ltda).
Forests Certified by Cerflor
In the present moment, the Cerflor counts on 216 thousands hectares of certified planted forests (International Paper in State of Paraná and Aracruz Celulose, in State of Bahia), and also 468 thousands hectares of planted forests in process of certification (Aracruz Celulose in State of Espírito Santo, Veracel in State of Bahia, Rigesa in State of Paraná and Santa Catarina, Cenibra in State of Minas Gerais).
Formation Activities
The Cerflor is aware of the importance of the competence of its appraisers/auditors, and recognizes that the forest auditor formation is essential in this regard. Cerflor has developed the following training programs, with inclusion of native forests management certification:
- In 2004 - four training programs (40 hours each) for auditors’ formation, with formation of more than 100 forest auditors.
- In 2005, January and February - three training programs (40 hours each) for profissionals on the procedures established by the NBR 15789 the “Use of the Manual for Application of National Standards of Brazilian Tropical Forests Management” with formation of more than 100 profissionals .
Process for the Mutual Recognition of Cerflor under the PEFC System
The Brazilian Program of Forest Certification – CERFLOR is undergoing evaluation by ITS Global Consultantes on Global Issues (Australian). All the Cerflor documentation was delivered to PEFC in October,2004 and it is available in the PEFC Website for public consultation since 2nd of April. The ITS Global has been appointed by the PEFC Council to independently assess the compliance of the Cerflor with PEFC requirements. As part of the evaluation, a field visit has been planned by ITS Global team to meet a range of stakeholders of Cerflor in 2005, May, 2nd to 06. Our expectation is that a final report could be send to PEFC Council Director Board meeting in July, 2005 and consequently, be able to receive the recognition of Cerflor during the 9a General Assembly of PEFC Council.
Promotion and Communication Activities on Cerflor and PEFC Systems in Brazil
Activities on promotion of PEFC have been done in conjunction with all the activities of Cerflor. A hard work of sensibilization of the importance and the benefices of the forest management certification and the tracebility of the forests products have been done by the partners of Cerflor in Brazil during their participation in events, on training programs, on theirs bulletins, etc.
The Cerflor, its representation in PEFC Council and its search for PEFC recognition are presented on numerous important events and fairs where the National Secretary and partners of Cerflor have been participating.
The Inmetro/Cerflor’s homepage is linked on some partners homepages, and news about Cerflor and PEFC appears frequently in important sectorial bulletins.
The Cerflor folder was published last year and a book of National Standards were edited and distributed in several training programs, also 5 thousands of the Manual “Use of the Manual for Application of National Standards of Brazilian Tropical Forests Management” were published and are been distributed to Cerflor stakeholders. These two last publications were supported by ITTO project.
Last October, a meeting with the representative of Asia PEFC happened in the Brazilian Society Silviculture office’s.
We are starting the translation of PEFC technical documentation to promote its rules in Brazil, and the first work was on the International Standard of Chain of Custody which will be submitted to PEFC to be approved.
Contact:
Mrs. Maria Teresa Rodrigues Rezende
Secretary – Executive of Brazilian Program of Forest Certification - Cerflor, National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality – Inmetro
SEPN Quadra 511, Edifício Bittar III - 4 º andar – Asa Norte – CEP: 70750-542
Brasília - DF – Brazil
Tel: 55 61 340 2211
Fax: 55 61 347 3284
E-mail: mtrezende@inmetro.gov.br
DENMARK
Progress report from PEFC Denmark 2005
2004/2005 was third year for PEFC Denmark with an endorsed standard. The biggest challenge for PEFC Denmark is still the financing of the secretariat. The budget is held at a minimum. For 2004 the total budget was around 26.700 Euro, which primarily covers salary, travel expenses and subscription to PEFC Council.
Certified forest area:
- A total of 13.618 ha are certified, which are about 3% of Denmark’s total forest area.
- 3.784 ha are individual certification
- 9.834 ha are group certification
Just before Christmas the Danish minister of environment decided that the Danish State forests are going to be certified. The Minister has confirmed that he will not discriminate against the two forest certification systems PEFC and FSC. In a first step, two state forest districts will be certified according to both the PEFC and the FSC forest standard.
Following the Minister’s announcement on the certification of state forests, the two biggest forest administration companies, Hedeselskabet and Skovdyrkerforeningen, have decided to establish umbrella organisations for group certification as available through the PEFC Denmark guidelines. Hedeselskabet and Skovdyrkerforeningen manage forests on behalf of small forest owners, which now will get the possibility to have their forest certified through group certification
It is expected that the Danish certified forest area will at least double in year 2005.
Chain of custody certification:
There have been issued 4 CoC certificates:
- 1 sawmill
- 1 manufacture
- 2 timber traders
The new international CoC standard has been translated to Danish and implemented in the Danish PEFC system. As the demand for documentation of legality and sustainability is growing PEFC Denmark is expecting a raise in the number CoC certificates issued in Denmark
Political situation:
In 2003 the Danish government’s public procurement policy for tropical timber came into force. The policy is voluntary, but make recommendations on how to procure tropical timber. An inquiry shows that hardly no public institutions follows the procurement policy. Therefore on of parties in the Opposition, requested by the ENGO’s, has suggested making the procurement policy obligatory and that it not only should cover tropical timber, but all timber.
Promotion:
PEFC Denmark in collaboration with the other Nordic PEFC organisations and PEFC Council held a pilot seminar about Chain of custody in November 2004. The seminar was aimed primarily for companies and other actors in the timber chain. More than 70 representatives from a wide range of companies attended the seminar. The feedback from the seminar has been good – but unfortunately it hasn’t been possible to see any effect in issuance of CoC certificates yet.
Besides a follow up on the seminar PEFC Denmark at the moment haven’t got any plans for promotion due to lack of money.
ESTONIA
Progress in Estonia
Estonian Private Forest Union, Estonian Forest Industry Association, State Forest Management Center and Estonian Agricultural University founded Estonian Forest Certification Council (EMSN) on 29th of October in 2001.
The EMSN formed two working groups for elaboration of certification model in 2001: one for developing the standard for sustainable forest management and the other one for creation of certification procedure requirements, rules for chain of custody of wood and for other relevant parts of the scheme.
EMSN became a member on 22nd of November in 2002.
An active work started in developing certification scheme in 2002.
Number of EMSN members has been increased up to 18 members since 2002.
The scheme was tested in practice in summer and autumn 2002.
The scheme was amended in the beginning of 2003.
