New Zealand Timber and Wood Products Procurement Policy (TWPP)
Certification and other means of identifying legal and sustainable timber products
Full certification
With forest certification, an independent organization develops standards of good forest management, and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operations that comply with those standards. This certification verifies that forests are well-managed—as defined by a particular standard—and ensures that certain wood and paper products come from responsibly managed forests.1
This rise of certification has led to the emergence of several different systems throughout the world. As a result, there is no single accepted forest management standard worldwide, and each system takes a somewhat different approach in defining standards for sustainable forest management. Timber and timber products from certified forests generally carry a label so that consumers can identify them. Examples of some certification schemes are listed below. The Timber and Wood Products Procurement Policy does not endorse any one scheme over another.
Step-wise certification
In some cases, the capacity of wood producers to meet advanced sustainability standards under a full certification programme is limited. A step-wise approach might be employed where the forest manager or supplier works towards full certification. There are also organisations that have a strong procurement policy in place in which members agree to actively seek and sell legal and sustainable timber and wood products. Some examples are listed below.
Proof of legality
Some operators might choose to gain reputable third party or government-endorsed proof of legality certification for their forest management, harvesting, processing or export operations. Some examples are listed below.
New Zealand products
Timber from New Zealand planted and indigenous forests may be considered sustainably produced where shown to have been legally harvested in terms of applicable legislation, including the Resource Management Act 1991 or, in the case of indigenous timber, the sustainable forest management provisions of the Forests Act 1949. The New Zealand forestry industry has developed a National Standard for Environmental Certification of well-managed Plantation Forests in New Zealand, which is intended to be compatible with FSC criteria.
Examples of full certification schemes
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, non- governmental, organisation supporting a scheme for forest products, which provides a credible guarantee that the product comes from a well-managed forest. FSC certification applies to significant areas of forest internationally, including over 40 percent of New Zealand’s planted forest estate, and some of our indigenous forest.
Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is an independent, non-governmental organisation, which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification. It is an international umbrella organisation for the assessment and mutual recognition of its members’ national forest certification schemes. Significant areas of forest internationally are certified under PEFC-affiliated schemes.
American Tree Farm System® (ATFS) is a program of the American Forest Foundation and certifies tree farms within United States.
Canadian Standards Association (CSA) National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management covers six criteria (key environmental, economic and social values) and indicators associated with sustainable forest management. It incorporates a management process which is consistent with the ISO 14004 Environmental Management System standard described in the Note below. (Web-site for further information:)
Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) based in the United States covers sustainable forestry programs for forests in North America developed by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA).
The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) is an independent organisation established to develop and operate a voluntary national timber certification scheme in Malaysia, in order to provide independent assessments of forest management practices as well as to meet the demand for certified timber products.
Step-wise approach to full certification
Many smaller operators and those in developing countries do not have the capacity to achieve full certification of forests and/or timber and wood processing and production. In these cases some operators have taken a step-wise approach to certification.
Example of a step-wise certification scheme
The Tropical Forest Trust (TFT) was established in March 1999 by companies trading in tropical wood products. The TFT helps its members to implement responsible wood procurement policies. The TFT helps its members to manage and monitor their supply chains and the forests that anchor those supply chains to move towards FSC certification.
Organisations with a procurement policy
The Imported Tropical Timber Group (ITTG) is made up of about 80% of New Zealand timber importers. The group comprises members from New Zealand timber importers and retailers and from environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace International. The ITTG aims to ensure that members import timber in accordance with a charter of understanding including a requirement that members actively seek to import timber from sustainable sources. Not all New Zealand timber importers belong to ITTG. Products labelled with the ITTG ECO timber label are endorsed by the New Zealand Imported Tropical Timber Group. The Charter of Understanding can be found at:
http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/pdfs/nzittg.pdf
Proof of legality
All the full and stepwise certification schemes above include legality as a requirement of meeting the conditions of their certification programme.
Some operators may offer a certificate of legality on their products from an accredited certification organisation. It is important to make sure that any proof of legality includes proof of legal harvesting of the forest where the product came from.
Example of a legality validation scheme
SGS offers a Timber Legality & Traceability Verification (TLTV), Voluntary Legal Timber Validation (VLTV) and Mandatory Legal Timber Validation (MLTV) to validate legality. These certificates incorporate regular auditing, or continuous monitoring and verification of a company’s wood production and tracking information.
Ecolabels
For the purposes of these guidelines, office paper can be considered legal and sustainable if it has a third-party audited ecolabel which shows that at least 70 percent of the fibre content of the paper comes from recycled and/or certified sources.
Example of an ecolabel scheme: Environmental Choice New Zealand
To earn an Environmental Choice label under Environmental Choice's standard for Office Papers/Printer Papers (EC-26-04), a brand of copy paper must be made from more than 30 percent post-consumer recycled fibre, with at least 50 percent of the remainder to be from plantations licensed under the Forest Stewardship Council or equivalent schemes.
Other ecolabels which have similar standards are Good Environmental Choice (Australia), Nordic Swan, EU Flower or Blue Angel (Europe) EcoMark, (Japan), Thailand Green label or China EcoLabel.
ISO standards
Some companies cite the “International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14000 Standard - Environmental Management System (EMS)”. This process standard applies to a broader range of activities such as an organisations products, services, operations, facilities and transportation. Unlike the other certification schemes listed above it does not result in a label. An ISO 14000 series certification tells you the company is measuring its impact on the environment and seeking improvements in performance, but does not tell you about actual environmental impacts or whether they are acceptable. Thus an ISO 14000 certification can not be used to confirm legality. Assuming legality is proven by another means ISO 14000 certification can be used to distinguish between companies if none of the tenderers can provide forest product certification. but should not be considered a replacement for an equivalent to certified sustainable forest management schemes.
1The Forest Certification Resource Center has further information on certification that may be useful. It website can be found at: http://www.certifiedwoodsearch.org/
Contact for Enquiries
Senior Policy Analyst
International Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0650
Fax: +64 4 894 0742
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