Talks begin on forest standard

By PAULA OLIVER

Talks have begun between environmental groups and forestry stakeholders to devise a national forest certification standard, to ensure that our exported timber continues to be accepted by the United States market.

Big retailers in the US, such as Home Depot, have announced that from 2002 they will buy only certified wood products coming from well-managed, sustainable forests.

Pressure from the Mexican-based environmental group Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has resulted in several countries adopting certification standards in recent years, some of which lead to an FSC logo being stamped on passed timber.

The standards set out to protect wildlife habitats, the rights of indigenous people and safe working practices. They ensure local consultation and avoid soil depletion in forests.

Forest Industries Council chief executive James Griffiths said certification had become a big issue since the mid 1990s, and he felt pressure to develop a local standard quickly.

"We're holding multi-stakeholder negotiations now, and we hope to have a draft document by the end of the year," he said.

"The missing ingredient in the New Zealand process was getting industry agreement, but we've got that now."

Mr Griffiths said several overseas countries had rejected the FSC standard, opting instead to develop their own national standard.

New Zealand's would be a national standard providing for any kind of verification by third party auditors - including the FSC - that a company might need.

Many countries opted for their own standard because their conditions and forestry practices were unique, Mr Griffiths said.

Carter Holt Harvey environmental manager Murray Parrish said pressure was on all companies to look at certification.

"We are very actively involved in the process going on now, although we haven't yet decided what standard we will go for," he said.

"While the large Asian markets are not demanding it yet, we're not resting on our laurels, because many Asian customers will be selling the wood products on to the US."

Mr Griffiths said Fletcher Forests was already well down the road towards receiving FSC certification, and several other forest holders in the country had interim certification of some kind.

Green groups involved in the talks include Greenpeace, Forest and Bird and the World Wildlife Fund.