PEFC Strengthens Collaboration in South America

The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) fully supports the Forest Bioeconomy Framework launched today by Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM). “The Forest Bioeconomy Framework builds on our sector’s world-leading sustainability practices and our focus on finding environmental and economic value for every part of the tree. It will help position Canada’s forest sector as a solutions provider in our move to a lower-carbon economy,” said FPAC CEO Derek Nighbor. “This framework is a significant move forward to position forestry as a key player in the bioeconomy, will support the creation of new jobs and help us meet Canada’s climate change commitments,” Nighbor added. The Forest Bioeconomy Framework establishes a path that will result in a forest bioeconomy that identifies sustainable bio-based materials from healthy forests available for high added-value manufacturing. The framework highlights innovation, collaboration, and investment and opens the door to further enhancing the sustainability of the forest sector through research, innovation and strong public policy. Click Read More below for more of the story.

On Thursday 15 August, an environmental incident was discovered at a Stora Enso harvesting site in Kainuu, Finland, and the incident is being investigated as an aggravated nature conservation offence. Forestry machinery has crossed a river where there is a population of the highly endangered freshwater pearl mussel. Stora Enso takes the matter extremely seriously. The authorities and the company have strict responsibility requirements and comprehensive guidelines for the consideration of freshwater pearl mussel in harvesting operations. Stora Enso is cooperating with the police and other authorities to find out what happened at Hukkajoki. As a result of this and our own investigation, our guidelines and procedures will be refined to ensure that everyone involved in harvesting in valuable natural areas is aware of them in the future. This applies both to Stora Enso employees and to our partners, such as contractors and forest owners.

The standard becomes effective on 01 July 2022. This standard is for the use in plantations by smallholders in Indonesia (Management Units smaller than 20 ha) and applies to rough wood and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP). The standard has been written in simple language and provides realistic and achievable indicators relevant to the circumstances of smallholders in Indonesia. The Regional Forest Stewardship Standard (RFSS) in Indonesia is an adaptation of the approved RFSS for Asia Pacific for Smallholders in Indonesia, India, Thailand and Vietnam. The national adaptation for Indonesia has been developed and published to pilot test the indicators developed for specific circumstances in Indonesia. For more details on the scope, please refer to sections 1.3, 1.4 and 3.1 of the standard.