Trading in Credibility - The Myth and Reality of the Forest Stewardship Council

Abstract

This report analyses the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) certification programme for wood produced from environmentally and socially sustainable forest sources. It argues that the FSC label is being misused and that their auditing system is not working, because of fundamental organisational flaws within the council.The report is divided into four main parts:a review of the evolution of certificationa consideration of the main objectives of the FSCan analysis of the main interests involved in the FSC, as well as issues of democracy and accountability of the organisationnine case studies illustrating some of the problematic issues raised in the preceding sectionsThe authors make a number of recommendations for change in the FSC, notably:accreditation of independent certifiers should be abandoned'fast growth' means that standards get overlooked, standards should come before growth of the schemethe certification process should apply to the entire supply chain, and the supply chain should be transparent to consumersthe Council needs to become more democratic and transparent in all of it dealings

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