Sustainable Forestry Initiative Releases New Standard

Sustainable Forestry Initiative Releases New Standard
from WhatTheyThink Going Green -A Resource for Today’s Green Business by Gail Nickel-Kailing

Sustainable Forestry Initiative® released a new forest certification standard supporting sustainable forest management. The result of an 18-month public review, the new SFI 2010-2014 Standard includes revisions that:

* Improve conservation of biodiversity
* Address emerging issues such as climate change and bioenergy
* Strengthen fiber sourcing requirements to broaden the practice of
sustainable forestry and avoid controversial or illegal offshore
fiber sources
* Embrace the Lacey Act amendments to prevent illegal logging
* Expand requirements for logger training
* Expand requirement for support for trained loggers and certified
logger programs

The Standard is based on 14 core principles (5 more than the previous standard) that promote sustainable forest management, including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk, and forests with exceptional conservation value. The Standard also has 20 objectives, 39 performance measures, and 114 indicators.

Some of the revisions include:

* Illegal logging: Strengthens illegal logging provisions and
includes a definition of illegal logging consistent with
amendments to the Lacey Act in the US.
* Fiber sourcing: Strengthens fiber sourcing requirement. SFI
program must require the use of trained loggers and resource
professionals when fiber is sourced from lands in North America
that are not certified.
* Logger training: Has expanded logger training requirements to
address invasive exotic plants and animals, special sites, and
emerging technologies and markets such as carbon offsets and
bioenergy.
* Certified loggers: Recognizes the emergence of logger
certification programs, and requires, where possible, that program
participants promote and support these programs.
* International labor laws: Ensures that activities in SFI-certified
forests respect the rights of workers and labor representatives
according to the core conventions of the International Labour
Organization (ILO).
* Research: Expands the definition of relevant research to include
environmental and social benefits, and environmental performance
of forest products.
* Best Management Practices: Program participants must follow best
management practices, which means there are fewer issues around
water quality and soil disturbance.
* Forests with Exceptional Conservation Value: Clarifies the term
“Forests with Exceptional Conservation Value,” and makes it clear
they include areas with critically imperiled and imperiled species
and communities.
* Biodiversity: Promotes the conservation of biodiversity hotspots
and high-biodiversity wilderness areas as defined by Conservation
International.
* Emerging Topics: Recognizes that sustainable forestry makes an
important contribution to addressing climate change and adapting
to changing ecosystems.
* Biotechnology: Addresses the use of genetically modified trees
under the research objective, because genetically modified trees
are not commercially grown or available in North America.
* Public Reporting: Requirements for public reporting have become a
new objective for greater emphasis and transparency.

The SFI 2010-2014 Standard took effect on January 1, 2010 and participants have up to one year to implement the changes. The review process was launched in June 2008 and included two public comment periods and seven regional workshops.

Kimberly-Clark to source fiber for tissue products from sustainably grown forests.

Kimberly-Clark has agreed to source fiber for tissue products from sustainably grown forests. Read the article and then be sure to watch the video for a chuckle.

Since 2004, Greenpeace and countless activists have asked Kimberly-Clark to save the Boreal forest. The company that makes Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle announced a new policy that places it among the industry leaders in sustainability.

Today Greenpeace announced the successful end of its Kleercut campaign!

Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fiber for its products — including its flagship brand, Kleenex — from environmentally responsible sources. By the end of 2011, the company will no longer use any pulp from the Boreal Forest unless it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified. The policy also prevents the company from cutting endangered forests, and increases the company’s use of FSC-certified pulp and recycled fiber globally.

With this announcement, Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue company in the world, becomes a sustainability leader. Now it’s time for Georgia-Pacific and Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark’s main competitors, to create their own policies to protect ancient forests.