ROBIN WOOD leaves FSC-International

Membership with FSC Working Group Germany will remain

The environmental organization ROBIN WOOD has terminated after more than twelve years its membership in the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the international certification organization for forest management, and will confine itself in future to the active co-operation in the FSC’s national working group. The reason for this step is above all, that industrial monocultures like eucalyptus plantations also receive the FSC-seal. Nevertheless, ROBIN WOOD recognizes that FSC by no means contributes to improving the forestry practice.

ROBIN WOOD doesn’t feel it is justifiable that huge eucalyptus and pine cultures in countries of the global south like Brazil, South Africa or Uruguay should carry the FSC- seal. The expansion of these plantations often displaces the local population from its traditional living spaces, which in turn leads to significant social conflicts. Moreover, these monocultures are cultivated with agrochemicals and chemical fertilizer. Therefore they are from the point of view of ROBIN WOOD neither ecologically compatible nor socially just. “We no longer want to bear the joint responsibility for the fact that industrial monocultures receive a ‘green fig leaf’ by the FSC“, explains Peter Gerhardt, responsible for tropical forests with ROBIN WOOD. “The revision process currently going on inside of the FSC unfortunately does not show that in future tree plantations certified by the FSC will develop towards fairly cultivated tree plantations with a high natural diversity of species.

But from FSC also emanate many positive impulses for more responsible forest management and better forest policy. “Whether with the problem of the land rights of the indigenous people of Sweden (Sami) or with the recently revised standard for the German forest practice - FSC sets standards that neither politics nor forest industry can ignore“, says ROBIN WOOD responsible for forests Rudolf Fenner. “Furthermore, FSC is characterized by its high transparency and equally represented participation of social and ecological pressure groups. Therefore it ranges from the point of view of ROBIN WOOD also in future clearly ahead of other forest certification systems as e.g. the PEFC (Progamme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes), that serve unilaterally the interest of the forest industry.“

ROBIN WOOD belongs to the founding members of the FSC Working Group Germany and was represented in its board from 2004 to 2008.

The joint declaration of the ROBIN WOOD working groups on forests and tropical forests on the withdrawal from FSC-International can be found under www.robinwood.de/fsc-declaration.pdf

 

For further information:

Peter Gerhardt, tropical forests, tel.: +49 (0)1577 / 7828825, tropenwald@robinwod.de

Rudolf Fenner, temperate & boreal forests, tel.: +49 (0)40 / 380 892-11, wald@robinwod.de

 

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