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The following is an exerpt from a
Working Paper prepared for the World
Bank
Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy
Author:
Stig Hagner
FAO Consultant,
Forestry Policy and Planning Division, Rome
July 1999
Title:
Forest management in temperate and boreal forests:
current practices and the scope for implementing sustainable
forest management
For the complete text, go to the FAO
Corporate Document Repository
4.3.1
Forest
certification and sustainable forest management in Canada
In Canada, a group comprising
many different stakeholders developed national standards
for sustainable forest management during the 1990´s.
The result of this was the Canadian Standards Association
sustainable forest management system (CSA 808 and CSA 809).
Any organisation seeking to register a defined forest
area under this system must be periodically audited
by certified third party auditors, who will assess whether:
- _ the sustainable forest management
system in place in the forest has been established
with public participation;
- _ the sustainable forest management
system is being implemented according to the plan
and the sustainable forest management objectives agreed
for area;
- _ progress towards achieving
the sustainable forest management objectives is being
monitored and new knowledge is being used to continually
improve the sustainable forest management system;
and
- _ the sustainable forest management
system is achieving any performance indicators that
have been set for the defined area.
An example of one forest management
system following this approach follows.
Extract from a "Forestry Green Balance Sheet"
produced by STORA, Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, Canada
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This environmental policy
states that, in maintaining an environmental
management system, the company through its employees
shall:
- commit itself to
a continuos improvement in forestry methods;
- sustain the long-term
production of valuable wood;
- commit itself to
pollution prevention, soil conservation and
waste reduction;
- utilise long-term
landscape ecosystem planning, appropriate
silviculture systems and operating practices
that conserve biodiversity;
- provide appropriate
training to company employees and contractors
in relevant environmental aspects of their
work;
- encourage private
wood suppliers to comply with forest stewardship
and the company's environmental standards;
- develop and use emergency
response plans for environmental emergencies;
- meet or surpass the
requirements of applicable regulations and
legal obligations; and
- regularly report
on environmental performance and status to
the public.
Management activities
are based on the principle of landscape ecosystem
management, appropriate silvicultural treatments
and special conservation measures to protect
wildlife habitat, social culture and scenic
values. Depending on the different ecosystems
present in the managed forest, the wood harvest
is carried out in the form of:
- partial cutting in
birch and balsam fir forest;
- clear cutting in
fire adapted forests; and
- thinning and partial
cutting to regenerate red spruce ecosystems.
The management practices
also consider nature conservation including
forest stand level attributes, such as riparian
buffers, wildlife corridors, residual tree clumps,
coarse woody debris retention, correct forest
road construction and careful stream crossing
techniques. The nature conservation goal is
to preserve the natural occurring plant and
animal species in the forest landscapes. The
approach is:
- to maintain connectivity
of ecosystems with a system of interconnecting
corridors and regionally protected areas,
at a landscape or eco-district level;
- to provide a variety
of habitats, forest age class, forest stand
shapes and size classes;
- to employ silviculture
management systems that are appropriate considering
the natural ecological development sequence
of each site; and
- to employ day to
day management practices that protect ecosystem
functions at the forest stand level.
Ecological landscape
planning is carried out to maintain connectivity
of ecosystems and provide a variety of landscape
elements through:
- assessing how the
landscape currently functions with regard
to matrix patches, corridors and pathways,
unique habitats, protected areas and genetic
flow;
- describing the natural
history of the landscape (natural disturbance,
human agents, succession);
- determining integrated
management objectives based on landscape parameters,
industrial interests, public interest and
other demands from the forest and legislation;
and
- using discretion
in the use of non-native tree species.
Every year a "Green
Audit" is completed, which comprises a
5% random inventory of the current year's harvest
areas. Department of Natural Resources employees
(two forestry personnel and two biologists)
conduct this audit.
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To better judge the industry's
views about the current state of sustainable forest
management in Canada, a questionnaire was sent to several
large Canadian forest product corporations and forest
leaseholders. Their opinions about the present sustainable
forest management process in Canada are summarised below:
Opinions about the current
policy:
_ Legislation and government
policy towards sustainable forest management tends
only to be focused on forest management for timber
production.
_ It is important to consider
the demands of First Nations tribes and local communities,
but their demands often lie outside the boundaries
of forest operations.
_ It is very difficult to obtain
public participation because of the wide range of
levels of understanding of the concept of sustainable
forest management amongst the different stakeholders.
Impact on operations:
_ Reductions in the area of
production forest expected to occur as a result of
the impact of sustainable forest management varies
between 5 and 16%.
_ A big problem is the demand
for extensive documentation, public participation
and extensive requirements to measure biodiversity
under sustainable forest management systems.
_ Respondents were cautious
about the effect of the implementation of sustainable
forest management on wood harvest. They suggested
that, generally, cutting levels may be reduced by
15% and production costs will be higher but, hopefully,
there will then be fewer critics of forest operations.
_ Clearfelling is generally
practised, but is sometimes modified to protect the
soil and regeneration and more closely emulate natural
disturbance patterns.
_ There is however, more and
more use of partial cutting systems (e.g. shelterwood,
thinning and irregular shelterwood systems) in order
to simulate natural forest development processes.
_ The use of reforestation
methods needed to maintain stand productivity has
been reduced.
_ Managers now tend to leave
more structural features in the forest such as: snags;
patches of trees burned by wildfire; and woody debris.
_ Topics considered when implementing
sustainable forest management systems include: biodiversity,
fish and wildlife resources, recreation values, forest
health, and landscape ecosystem management.
Challenges for the future:
_ There is an inadequate understanding
about the concept of sustainable forest management
amongst private woodland owners.
_ There is still a need for
a broader discussion about sustainable forest management
involving the government, local stakeholders and the
general public.
_ There is still a general
lack of understanding about forestry amongst the general
public, particularly in urban areas (that tend to
have the most political influence).
Another source of information
about the current implementation of sustainable forest
management in Canada is the study on private woodland
owners in the Maritime Provinces,
recently published by the National Round Table of Environment
and Economy (NRTEE). The conclusions of the report can
be summarised as follows:
_ the main forest management
problems in forests that are privately owned, concern
the overharvesting of what is becoming a declining
resource and a lack of interest in long-term forest
stewardship practices;
_ these problems arise partly
due to a lack of understanding about the principles
of sustainable forest management and the desire to
make "fast money"; and
_ there is a lack of silvicultural
programs and government planning to address these
problems.
To overcome these problems, the
report proposes a number of steps towards achieving
sustainability including: increasing co-operation; better
education and training for forest contractors and owners;
and incentives for sustainable management. In summary,
it suggests that tax reform, research and development,
greater co-operative efforts, better training, a forest
certification system and codes of forest practice, are
needed.
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