On September 24, 2012, the FSC International Board of Directors passed a motion to extend the cut-off date for company risk assessments until December 31, 2014. The decision was based on the Controlled Wood Working Group’s recommendation to align indicators with the revised Principles & Criteria for making risk designations and to develop a new procedure for developing National Risk Assessments to increase their rigour, consistency and value.
In order to ensure a globally consistent and rigorous approach to assessing risk associated with forest management, FSC is revising the Procedure for the development of National Risk Assessments (FSC-PRO-60-002) and developing the National Risk Assessment Framework, a procedure for determining risk, (FSC-PRO-60-002b) to resolve concerns about the current content of the Controlled Wood standard FSC-STD-40-005 and difficulties in interpretation of requirements for risk assessments.
Submit your Comments
Please note, where the Controlled Wood Technical Committee did not reach consensus, questions have been posed to stakeholders for consultation. The main goal associated with the consultation is to seek stakeholder feedback on these questions. Feedback will be carefully analysed and incorporated in subsequent drafts with the aim of meeting stakeholder expectations and further improvement of the Controlled Wood system.
Please provide your comments using the comment form (below) and send them to Joanna Nowakowska at j.nowakowska@fsc.org by September 15, 2013.
Participate in a Webinar
FSC Canada will be hosting 3 webinars to introduce the two Procedures and the speculated impacts of these changes in Canada.
September 5, 2013
2:00pm EST
WEBINAR - Controlled Wood, review of draft materials and public consultation period
Register Here..
August 13, 2013
2-3pm EST
WEBINAR - Controlled Wood, review of draft materials and public consultation period.
August 14, 2013
2-3pm EST
WEBINAR - Controlled Wood, review of draft materials and public consultation period.
FSC International Webinars
FSC International will also host webinars on the proposed materials and the public consultation. These webinars will include members of the Controlled Wood Technical Group from all three chambers (Social, Environmental, Economic) and will provide an opportunity to ask questions of the representatives.
September 4, 2013
11:00am CEST
Register Here.
August 1, 2013
14:00 – 15:00 CEST (UTC/GMT + 2) or 7:00am -8:00am EST
Noted changes introduced by the draft documents
- Introduction of the framework for detailed National Risk Assessments (NRAs)
- Introduction of the category of “specified risk” and the capacity for NRA developers to designate “control measures” for risk mitigation in areas of specified risk.
- Standardization of National Risk Assessments through the new National Risk Assessment Framework (FSC-PRO-60-002b)
- Revised Criteria, guidance, information sources, and suggested control measures for each Controlled Wood Category
- Addresses Conversion through existing and functional legal structures prohibiting conversion instead of trends in forestland cover.
- Addresses HCVs through detailed analyses of existing HCVs and level of protection associated with potential HCV areas.
- New option for the development of National Risk Assessments in countries without FSC Network Partners
- Elimination of the company-developed risk assessments (Annex 2 of FSC-STD-40-005)
Background
At the 2011 FSC General Assembly, the highest decision making body of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the FSC Membership passed Policy Motion 51 to ‘Strengthen the Controlled Wood System’. The motion includes a revision of the Controlled Wood Standard (FSC-STD-40-003), an evaluation of existing risk assessments, the phase-out of company developed Risk Assessments and the development of FSC National Controlled Wood Risk Assessments.