Forests have been dubbed the lungs of our planet, due to their role in absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide emissions produced by various economic activities. However, with deforestation becoming an increasingly critical issue due to climate change, there is a growing global focus on Forest Certification. This mechanism regulates forest-monitoring and the sale of forest-based products – a crucial aspect discussed at length during the Glasgow climate meeting in 2021.
Understanding Forest Certification
Contributing significantly to global warming control, forests are under immense pressure from destructive human activities. As a response, many nations, including Europe and the US, have implemented laws to regulate the entry and sale of forest-related products in their markets. This has led to the creation of Forest Certification – a monitoring, tracing, and labelling process for timber, wood, pulp products, and non-timber forest products.
The certification process assesses the quality of forest management from environmental, social, and economic perspectives, comparing it against a set of agreed standards. There are two internationally recognized standards for sustainable forest management: the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) created one and the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certifications (PEFC) created the other.
Despite being more expensive, FSC certification remains more sought after. Within the scope of Forest Certification exist two types of certifications – Forest Management (FM) that concerns the manner of managing forest, and Chain of Custody (CoC) that ensures traceability of a forest product like timber throughout the supply chain from origin to its market.
Forest Certification in India
India’s journey with the forest certification industry dates back 15 years. At present, only forests in Uttar Pradesh hold certification, with forty-one divisions of the UP-Forest Corporation (UPFC) being PEFC-certified. This means these divisions adhere to standards endorsed by PEFC. Although some other states managed to obtain certifications, they eventually let them lapse.
India’s involvement with forest certification remains in its initial stages, and the nation has yet to reap the full benefits that certification offers. An interesting aspect of India’s forest and forest-product industry is that it only allows the export of processed wood and not timber.
India’s Forest Standards
Timber harvested from Indian forests fails to meet the domestic demand for housing, furniture, and other products. The country’s forests yield approximately five million cubic meters of wood annually, with almost 85% of the wood and wood product demand being met by Trees Outside Forests (ToF), and about 10% imported. The annual bill for importing wood in India stands at Rs 50,000-60,000 crore.
Given the importance of ToF, new certification standards tailored towards their sustainable management are currently in development. While PEFC already has certification for TOF, FSC introduced India-specific standards that include certification for ToF in 2022. As a result, these efforts are contributing towards ensuring sustainable management of both forests and trees outside forests, thereby securing the future of the planet.
