Benefits of certification

Benefits of certification

Many forest-based companies in developing countries like
Indonesia have attacked forest certification as a market tool
used by their competitors in the industrialized markets to fight
against the comparative advantages tropical forests possess.

However, initial forest certification experiences in Indonesia
and many other countries in Asia and Latin America have shown
that independent assessment of forestry operations against
predetermined standards has produced a wide range of economic,
social and political benefits.

This is because certification involves the inspection of the
activities of forest-based companies to verify that the land is
being managed in accordance with social, environmental and
economic aspects of forest management, as described in the
predetermined standards.

First of all, certification will help ensure good forest
management and this, in turn, will secure a sustained supply of
timber, thereby minimizing the risk of investment in forest-based
enterprises being wasted due to a shortage of wood supply.

Business-wise, too, certification helps improve the
shareholder value of a forest-based company because good forest
management will minimize the risk of lawsuits and civil
liabilities arising from environmental damage, consequently
decreasing insurance premiums.

Illegal logging will be discouraged because, within the
certification process, the independent certifier will audit each
step forest products pass through, from harvest, primary and
secondary processing and manufacturing to distribution and sale.

This process, known as the chain of custody, is designed to
assure consumers that the certified products they buy were made
from wood originating in a certified forest area.

As the assessment process also involves dialog with local
communities and other local stakeholders on how the forests
should be managed, forest certification provides opportunities
for civil society groups, which have traditionally been
marginalized in the forest policy debate, to raise environmental
and community issues for negotiation. This, in turn, can become a
forum for resolving any land use conflicts.

As a forest certificate is valid only for a fixed period of
time and is subject to periodic evaluation, certification also
can serve as a supervisory and monitoring tool to ensure that
good management is sustained.

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