National Risk Assessment

© Forest Stewardship Council A.C.At the 2011 FSC General Assembly, 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-40-005), an evaluation of existing risk assessments, the phase-out of company developed Risk Assessments and the development of FSC National Controlled Wood Risk Assessments.

Development of a National Risk Assessment (NRA) provides a consistent application of our Standards and Policies and helps our Certificate Holders better avoid products from: Illegally harvested forests; Forests harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights; Forests in which high conservation values are threatened; Forests that are being converted to plantations or nonforest use; or Forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.

Update 

Feb 5, 2016 -FSC International recently approved FSC Canada’s National Risk Assessment (NRA) proposal and work is commencing now. FSC Canada’s NRA Working Group will utilize and build upon FSC’s Centralized National Risk Assessment (CNRA) for Canada, which is conducted by consultants hired by FSC International. To date, the assessments in the CNRA have been completed for controlled wood categories 1, 2, and 5 and can be downloaded here.

The category 4 assessment is being reviewed by FSC International and a Canadian consultant has been chosen to complete the category 3 assessment, with work expected to start within the next month.

The NRA Working Group is meant to ensure that proactive input is received from stakeholders with the ultimate goal of achieving consensus for each category. FSC Canada intends to have a 60-day public consultation in early 2017 and complete National Risk Assessment by December 31st, 2017. A detailed NRA work plan and timeline will follow soon.

Development & Timeline

Below is a summary of the process FSC Canada will take to develop a National Risk Assessment.

Working Group Members