Rediscover the value of forest certification

Forest certification is an important tool to ensure that a product originated from a responsibly managed forest. Despite having many environmental, social and economic benefits for participants from forest owners to lumber and paper users, certification faces significant challenges in broadening its adoption—both internationally and in the United States. The participation costs, value proposition and a politically charged environment have been challenges to the market-driven strategy forest certification standards currently use to promote responsible forest management.

Statistics on forest certification depend on whether the measurement includes total forests or industrial “working” forests. Internationally, that number ranges from 10 to 25 percent, respectively. In the Unites States, the most often cited statistic is that 20 percent of timberland is certified. Regardless of the statistic or source, there are concerns that forest certification is impeded by a number of challenges that have kept it from broader adoption and use in the marketplace. Chief among these is access to an adequate supply of certified forest products, certification standard debates that have exhausted resources that could be spent on promoting use, a general lack of information and education among the public, and a business model that needs better incentives and is cost prohibitive for many small landowners.

Companies in GreenBlue’s Forest Certification Industry Leadership Committee (ILC) place tremendous value on the benefits of forest certification. As such, the ILC is engaged in a project to address the challenges to forest certification head-on using GreenBlue’s Value Innovation Process, a learn-by-doing engagement designed to tie innovation and sustainability together to create a roadmap to more sustainable solutions. The ILC includes 20 companies from across the forest products sector working to engage the entire supply chain to develop objective and science-based research solutions by asking, “What is the job that certification is hired to do? And how do we best deliver that value?” as opposed to, “What’s wrong with forest certification?” (as it’s often been framed in the past).

The ILC conducted phone interviews with supply chain members to start to answer the initial questions. It quickly became clear that the value of forest certification may be changing, or is slightly different than originally thought.

There were concerns, specific to the U.S., about whether there is a real need for certification when forestry practices meeting legal requirements should provide more than enough assurance of adequate management practices.

It also became clear that small private landowners need to become more engaged to move beyond 20 percent certified timberland in the U.S. Private landowners account for more than 56 percent of forest area in the U.S., and many of these landowners are families owning fewer than 2,000 acres. Family forest owners frequently have different priorities for their land than timber production or certification, such as aesthetics. Additionally, small landowners often cannot financially afford forest certification.

If certified forest area is to increase, what value would certification provide to the small landowner market? Are there incentives or market forces that would make certification more appealing to them? Is it worth the effort and investment to pursue certification for these landowners?

Beyond the small landowners, we also need a stronger understanding of certification’s “most important customer.” Is there a single customer or entity that is being served by forest certification or certified products, or does it vary by certification scheme and supply chain position? Looking at forest certification more broadly, is the U.S. too specific of a case, and how does that influence our results when the scope is expanded?

The ILC is continuing to work on these questions throughout the summer, in particular exploring the challenges around defining the value of certification for all parties and how that value can be delivered throughout the supply chain. A summary of the current research will be available to the public via the GreenBlue website, newsletters and press releases later this spring. More information about the ILC and ways to become a member of the working group can be found on the GreenBlue website (www.greenblue.org).

Author Tom Pollock is a senior manager for GreenBlue’s Forest Products Working Group and Sustainable Packaging Coalition. For more information about the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, visit www.sustainablepackaging.org.