Environmentalists and industry praise Canada's forest management practices

2009-10-01

Canada’s forestry industry is vital to the country’s economy. With 10 per cent of the world’s forests, Canada is the globe’s largest exporter of forestry products. In 2008, the industry accounted for about three per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

But climate change is negatively affecting Canada’s forests, according to a newly released study titled Climate Change and Canada’s Forests, prepared by the Alberta-based Sustainable Forest Management Network and Natural Resources Canada / Canadian Forest Service. 

Written before the devastating British Columbia fires in the summer of 2009, the study states: “…unprecedented events include the severe 2003 and 2004 fire seasons in British Columbia and the Yukon, the recent national drought, the mountain pine beetle epidemic, and reduced winter harvest opportunities [due to melting of frozen winter access roads] being experienced in many areas. … Forest managers will experience the impacts first-hand and they need the best information available on what climate change means to them so that they can develop and implement adaptation measures.”

It’s a fine line Canada must walk, between harvesting enough of its vast woodland area to meet economic demands while ensuring forests are sustainable for future generations to preserve the country’s ecosystems and climate. Fortunately, standards exist to help guide the federal government and forestry industry along that narrow path.

“The programs we have in place are there because we know how important Canada’s forests are,” said Stephen Cross, the acting director of Conformity Assessment at the Standards Council of Canada. “We want to ensure Canadians have the tools they need to keep our forests healthy and strong for centuries to come.”

Canada’s forests are not only sustainable; they are also certifiably sustainable. Currently, Canada has 1.43 million square kilometers of Canadian forests – an area larger than Peru – certified to three standards recognized world-wide.

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) accredits forest systems management certifiers that certify to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)’s standard ISO 14001 – often seen as the cornerstone standard of the ISO 14000 series – for forest management systems. This standard applies to the environmental aspects of an organization over which it has control and can be expected to have an influence. It is the only ISO 14000 standard against which it is currently possible to be certified by an external certification authority.

In addition, there are the Canadian Standards Association (CSA)’s Sustainable Forest Management: Requirements and Guidance (CAN/CSA Z809-02), and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®)’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard (SFIS 2005-2009).

Organizations accredited by the SCC that certify to ISO 14001, CAN/CSA Z809 and SFI 2005-2009, such as SAI Global Certification Services Pty Ltd., PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, KPMG Performance Registrars Inc., and Bureau de normalisation du Quebec are demonstrating their dedication to corporate social responsibility and sustainable forestry management.

In addition, independent, non-profit certification programs endorse these standards globally. For example, CSA and SFI are endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes. 

As well as evaluating forests against predetermined criteria, forest-based product certification programs follow the products from their origin through to the end of the manufacturing cycle. SCC offers this “Chain of Custody,” program, which it introduced in 2006 to address the origin of raw materials, and eco labels – the labels that appear on products that include raw material originating in certified forests. Companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Bureau de normalisation du Quebec, and retailers such as Hallmark Cards, Lowes Hardware, Office Depot and Staples recognize all three sustainable forestry management standards.

These standards encourage the sustainable harvesting of Canadian forests. Annually, Canada harvests 0.3 per cent of its commercial forest area, with 0.9 million hectares harvested in 2007. In 2006, companies planted 641 million seedlings over an estimated 449,696 hectares, seeding 18,204 hectares.
And, while nations have debated for years whether the Kyoto Protocol on climate change was even feasible, the Canadian pulp and paper manufacturing industry has gone ahead and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent based on 1990 levels – six times the Kyoto requirement. 

Canada’s forestry industry has also advanced its approach to sustainable forestry by ensuring that pulp and paper mills get 60 per cent of their energy supply from renewable fuels, usually clean, wood-based energy from plant waste. This trend received a boost with Natural Resources Canada’s July 2009 announcement of a billion-dollar green transformation program for the pulp and paper industry.
Together, these initiatives and programs are helping to ensure Canadians can breathe easy about the future of their forests.

“There’s no question about how crucial Canada’s forests are, whether you’re talking about their monetary value or their importance to the environment,” says Cross. “But with the standards and accredited certification programs that are in place, and the fact that all sides understand how important these programs are to help preserve the forests, they’re just helping everybody win.”

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This article first appeared in Volume 36 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2009.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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