The ink is hardly dry on the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement CBFA, and already proponents of the various certification factions are claiming victory for their favored schemes.
All the hoopla whirls around a covenant in the CBFA that the parties industry and ENGOs will join together to develop ecosystem-based management guidelines for more than 72 million hectares of forestland, including nearly 30 million hectares of critical caribou habitat. The initiative’s official homepage states that the signatories are committed to “implement world-leading, on-the-ground sustainable forest management practices”. Independent third-party auditing will be implemented to verify compliance on the ground.
The deal is important to printers and publishers in the US – Canadian pulp goes into much of the paper used in this country and, as we all have seen, ENGO pressure on US paper consumers such as Limited Brands’ Victoria’s Secret, Scholastic, and Kimberly-Clark, and has resulted in their adoption of more “responsible” paper procurement policies. While industry and ENGOs work toward mutually acceptable management guidelines, there also will be joint efforts to secure market recognition for forest products from the area – and the signatory ENGOs have agreed to suspend “do-not-buy” market campaigns against signatory companies while the wheels are in motion.
The landmark agreement seems to have stirred the posturing pot among certification organizations and pundits alike.
See full article at: Which Certification Scheme Will Win in the Boreal Agreement? – Going Green.
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