森林认证3

gnificance of forest certification: reform imposing restrictive and controlled regulations and norms, and when fulfilling the new law requirements the FSC deforestation persists unabated. Therefore, it appears that major roles of the FSC certification have been (i) regulation- oriented verification of compliance with already established norms and (ii) creation of a forum for consensus formation between dominating policy formulating actors. Higher prices, in the range of 5–51%, were paid for the majority of exported certified timber products. There are indications that the price premiums exceed the direct operational costs of certification, but this excess profit will presumably disappear when the market develops. However, the substantial support not based on private initiative that has been given to the certification development restricts the interpretation of the concept as a successful market- based forest policy instrument. The dominance of large enterprises in certification confirms the fear that this tool distorts the conditions of forest production at the national level—small-scale and community based enterprises had difficulties in getting certified. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Forest certification; FSC; Tropical natural forest management; Economic significance; Bolivia principles and criteria are largely met. Only little improvement was obtained through certification in itself. Furthermore, the case of FSC in Bolivia Gustav Nebela,*, Lincoln Quevedob, Jette Bredahl Jacobsena, Finn Hellesa aDepartment of Economics and Natural Resources, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark bUniversidad Auto´noma Gabriel Rene´ Moreno, Carrera de Ingenierı´a Forestal, Km. 8.5 al Norte, Casilla 6025, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia Received 30 August 2002; received in revised form 11 April 2003; accepted 23 April 2003 Abstract Certification receives major attention in the debate about sustainable forest management, and in Bolivia a relatively wide experience exists regarding Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of natural tropical forests. The present paper studies the conditions imposed on forest operators for getting certified, and the export prices of certified vs. non-certified timber products. This provides a basis for assessing aspects of the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of certification. Effectiveness in terms of certified area has been modest: almost 1 million ha of natural forests, or 14% of the area with management plans, dominated by only five large companies that probably are among the best performing. The conditions for certification are a proxy of its impact, and they mainly regarded documentation, monitoring and environmental issues that might immediately be complied with. Forest management in Bolivia has developed on the basis of an external supported law Development and economic si www.elsevier.com/locate/forpol Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186 1389-9341/$ - see front matter D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1389-9341(03)00030-3 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: gne@kvl.dk (G. Nebel). 1. Introduction Bolivia is one of the tropical countries where most natural forest resources have been certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) scheme, at present comprising approximately 1 million ha (Fig. 1). Forest certification as a means to enhance sustainable man- agement is an issue receiving major attention (e.g. Elliott, 2000; Bass et al., 2001; Elliott and Schlaepfer, 2001) and the Bolivian experiences may be of interest to a large audience. Therefore, this study presents characteristics of the Bolivian development of FSC certification, which is a performance certification where companies/enterprises must comply with pre- defined objectives, in contrast to process certifications like ISO where certain production processes are applied to meet objectives set by the company (e.g. Baharuddin, 1995; Bass, 1998; Bass and Simula, 1999; Bass et al., 2001; FAO, 2001). Among the fundamental assumptions about forest certification are the following: (i) responsible and aware consumers can use the market forces to effec- tively complement and develop forest policy and (ii) producers behaving according to predefined objec- tives or processes can be compensated, whereas ignorant producers can be excluded from beneficial G. Nebel et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186176 market options. Potential benefits are considered to include ecological, economic and social aspects, i.e. ‘sustainability’ in the most widely accepted sense. The Fig. 1. Area of FSC certified forests in the world compared to that of Bolivia (FSC, 2002). costs to producers are (i) those directly connected with certification (approval and monitoring) and (ii) incre- mental costs due to sustainable management practice, although in previously under-performing enterprises the costs may be lowered through improved efficiency (e.g. Bach and Gram, 1996; Baharuddin, 1995; Bass and Simula, 1999; Bass et al., 2001; Rametsteiner and Simula, 2001). On these premises, the performance certification under FSC has been pushed by influential NGOs as a means to promote concrete actions regard- ing forest management, a platform for stating forest policy principles and values, and an effective way to gain publicity. According to Bass and Simula (1999) and Bass et al. (2001), certification should be adopted if it gen- erates advantages and is the more effective, efficient, equitable and credible forest policy tool. Effective- ness of the certification implies that large areas are influenced, either directly or through demonstration and spill-over effects. Potential problems are that only the anyway best performing operators become certified and that concerns about biodiversity at landscape level cannot be properly addressed using approaches operating at the management unit level (Bennett, 2001; Cauley et al., 2001; Ghazoul, 2001; Putz and Romero, 2001). Moreover, tropical defor- estation is driven by conversion to other land-uses (e.g. FAO, 1997, 2001) and will therefore be little immediately influenced by certification focusing on forest management. The efficiency of certification relates to the benefit/ cost ratios of monetary and non-monetary values from the points of view of producers, consumers and society. Producers may benefit economically from the certification, e.g. through more efficient produc- tion systems, easier market access and price premi- ums. On the other hand, production costs increase, cf. above. Consumers benefit from knowing that they buy products from enterprises applying certain standards or procedures, and may be willing to pay additional price and/or give preference in the demand. It has been much discussed to what extent the markets for forest products are sensitive to eco-labelling (e.g. Murray and Abt, 2001; Schwarzbauer and Ramet- steiner, 2001). To society, certification may be pre- ferred to or complement governmental regulation, but at the potential expense of public control of the forest sector. share of the value created for consumers. These issues may result in the exclusion of small-scale G. Nebel et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186 177 producers and community forestry enterprises, and generally work against producers in tropical and developing countries (Bass and Simula, 1999; Bass et al., 2001). Credibility regarding sustainable forest management based on certification implies that the certification process should be reliable, without con- flicts of interest, transparent and acceptable to stake- holders (Bass and Simula, 1999). Nittler and Nash (1999) describe general aspects of the FSC certification development in Bolivia and Sandoval (2000) analyses the reasons for certified companies to enter the scheme. The present paper studies the Bolivian case in more detail, focusing on (i) structural characteristics of the certification devel- opment, (ii) the conditions for getting the forest certificate and (iii) differences in export prices of certified and non-certified forest products. 2. Materials and methods Bolivia holds one of the world’s largest forest areas—approximately 53 million ha of mainly tropical lowland forest, corresponding to 49% of the country’s surface (FAO, 2001). A range of tropical forest types are found, from evergreen rainforest to dry deciduous forests, conditional on the precipitation, which is 2500 mm/year in the Northern part of the country belonging to the Amazon basin, and decreasing to less than 500 mm/year in the Southern part of the lowlands. On the slopes of the Andes, cloud forests dominate (Montes de Oca, 1997; Beck, 1999; Hanagarth and Szwargr- Equity impacts of certification may operate at national as well as international levels. Many certif- ication costs are fixed, and therefore large producers may through economics of scale obtain extra advant- age over their smaller-scale competitors. Competitive advantages may be experienced by enterprises that are well organised and have a long management tradition, or where the ecological, socio-economic and political complexity is low. Furthermore, the predominance of eco-labelling markets in the Western developed economies implies that producers in devel- oping countries may face entrance difficulties and may fall prey to market imperfections eroding their zak, 1999; Ibisch, 1999). A decade ago the Bolivian forest sector was characterised by highly selective creaming-off logging in the tropical lowland forests and little timber pro- cessing. Today, relatively well-planned felling takes place on smaller proportions of the potentially pro- ductive area, and there is a comparatively high degree of processing. This development is to a wide extent caused by the introduction of a new forest manage- ment model based on compliance with restrictive regulations and norms aiming at assuring the best possible performance, given current knowledge and capacities. This new model origin is a profound reform in the mid-nineties of the legal and adminis- trative framework for forest management (e.g. Con- treras-Hermosilla and Vargas, 2002; MDSP, 2002). The 1996 Forest Act plays an essential role in creating a firm legal basis, and the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Planning and the Superintendencia Forestal are important institutional players. A massive technical and financial support has assisted the con- trolled implementation, in particular provided by American and Swedish donors. Some of the main achievements of the new forest management model is the creation of a basis for (i) issuing forest conces- sions for 40-year extendable periods, (ii) introduction of an area-based forest fee system with a minimum payment of US$ 1 per hectare per year, (iii) demand for elaboration and approval of general forest manage- ment plans, (iv) obligation for presentation and appro- val of relatively detailed annual operational logging plans and (v) introduction of logging control mecha- nisms that to a certain extent are decoupled from the institutions authorising the logging operations. Sup- port was for many years mainly provided to the development of the traditional commercial enterprise branch of the forestry sector. However, partially due to criticism of an almost exclusive focus on the larger plants and the limited social impacts of this strategy, a more recent trend is a facilitation of the development of the community forestry branch of the forestry sector, which is formally recognised by the legal- administrative framework. In this study, the structural development of forest certification in Bolivia (areas, volumes, agents, etc.) was analysed on the basis of statistics reported by the FSC (FSC, 2002) and the Smartwood Rainforest Alliance Programme (SmartWood, 2002) as well as general information on the forest sector. To identify the most common obstacles to obtain- ing FSC certification, the 255 conditions imposed on forest operators were analysed, applying the Bolivian adaptation of the FSC principles and criteria (CFV, 2000) and interpreting the publicly available reports (SmartWood, 2002), i.e. on the basis of a subjective classification, the frequency with which the conditions referred to principles and criteria were assessed. Export prices of timber products from certified forests were compared to those from non-certified forests, for a main forest region—Santa Cruz Depart- ment in the eastern lowland. The information was retrieved from the statistics databases of the Bolivian forest industry chamber (Ca´mara Forestal de Bolivia) and consisted of single registrations of all exports in 2000 and 2001: export registration number, product group, tree species, price at border in US$ and volume. In total, there were 379 registrations of certified and 315 non-certified products, correspond- ing to 6526 and 9405 m3, respectively. (Fig. 2) started in 1996 with a communally owned forest management unit. The certified area developed rapidly from 1998 onwards with more than 200 000 ha per year on the average until covering today’s 927 263 ha. This corresponds to 14% of the area with management plans, but represents only 2% of the plans approved by the forest authorities (SIF, 2001). Two units have lost their certificates, and the remain- ing eight units represent only five large companies, holding forests under a concession system (four) or as private property (one). According to the Bolivian SmartWood certification programme, additional 480 968 ha are in the process of being certified, including 108 985 ha of community forest belonging to indigenous groups. In the case of success, the proportion of certified area with management plans will rise to 21%. The development over time of both the annual allowable cutting area and volume of the forest management units holding FSC certificate as of 2002 follow steep and rather constant trends, now comprising 366 000 m3/year to be cut from 34 000 ha G. Nebel et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186178 3. Results The development of FSC certification in Bolivia Fig. 2. Development of the total certified forest are (Fig. 3). This implies a relatively low yield, on the average 11 m3/ha, in silvicultural systems with cutting cycles planned to be 20–30 years. The conditions imposed on forest operations of the ten certified management units are most frequently related to FSC principles 4–8: documentation, mon- itoring and environmental issues (Table 1). The FSC a in Bolivia (FSC, 2002; SmartWood, 2002). e (left er 200 G. Nebel et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186 179 criteria applied with a frequency exceeding 5% appear from Table 2. Table 2 also provides a summary of the substance of the conditions relating to the five most frequently applied criteria, illustrating big differences with regard to concretisation and difficulty of compliance. The Santa Cruz Department holds 90% of the certified forest area and is the major exporter of timber products. In the period 1998–2001, the Fig. 3. Development over time of the annual allowable cutting volum open squares) in certified forests in Bolivia holding certificates as p export value of certified timber products from this Department increased from 2.9 to 7.4 million US$/ year, corresponding to a volume increase from 1100 to 4900 m3/year (Fig. 4). In the same period, the total national timber exports value declined from 109 to 83 million US$, or in 2001 6.8% of the Table 1 Overview of frequencies of conditions imposed on forest operators accord No. Principle 1 Compliance with laws and FSC 2 User rights and responsibilities 3 Indigenous peoples user rights 4 Communal relations and worker 5 Forest benefits 6 Environmental impact 7 Management plan 8 Monitoring and evaluation 9 Maintenance of forest with high total export values (unpublished data from the Ca´mara Forestal de Bolivia, MDSP, 2002). The 2001 volume of exported certified timber products from the Santa Cruz Department amounted to only 1.3% of the allowable cut (compare Figs. 3 and 4, even though showing round and processed wood, respectively). Analysis of the exports from the Santa Cruz Department shows that for benches of Amburana axis, black circles) and the annual allowable cutting area (right axis, 2 (SmartWood, 2002). cearensis and groove-and-tongue boards of Phyl- lostylon spp. the prices were lower in the case of certification. For the remaining products, there was a price premium for certified products, sig- nificant at the 1% level for all but skirting boards of Cariniana spp. and Hura crepitans and ing to adapted Bolivian FSC principles Frequency (%) principles 4.3 3.5 5.9 rights 10.6 12.6 32.9 17.6 12.2 conservation value 0.4 ators, ritten prov city in the use of security equipment tter security equipment nd di nd m G. Nebel et al. / Forest Policy and Economics 7 (2005) 175–186180 Table 2 Overview of the substance of the conditions imposed on forest oper No. Criterion Frequency (%) Content 4.2 Compliance with 10 .Elaborate w laws and .Plan and im regulations of .Build capa workers rights .Acquire be 6.2 Protection of 11 .Elaborate a species and .Elaborate a resources . groove-and-tongue boards of Hymenaea courbaril (Fig. 5, Table 3). The average price premium range varied from 5 to 51% between products and species. For many products, the price differ- ence between 2000 and 2001 was significant, and so was the volume difference for most products. The least-square estimates in Fig. 5 are adjusted for these effects. For certified and non-certified products, the corre- lation between unit price per order and order size was analysed. Fig. 6 shows the results of linear regression. creation of Establish and im protected areas .Delimit physical .Increase the prot .Include certain a 6.5 Elaboration and 9 .Develop and im implementation before and after e of guides to .Cut lianas in log prevent avoid destruction environmental .Build capacity a impacts .Avoid obstructio .Map the waterw .Develop technic terrain sloping wi .Improve the con .Develop a plan 7.1 Specification of 11 .Elaborate maps the management identification of d plan .Provide data and .Mark seed trees .Establish norms .Make activities c .Define appropria .Define strategies 8.3 Chain of custody 6 .Design and impl .Pass through a n .Separate and ma .Maintain an iden stribute a list of fauna with indication of protection status ake available an action plan to protect threatened species and for the most frequently applied criteria labour contracts e work conditions In general, large orders obtained the lower price—this tendency being a little clearer for certified than for non-certified products. 4. Discussion In Bolivia, the FSC forest certification is often claimed to be an important driving and supporting force in the implementation of a new and more sustainable forest management model following the prove the fauna registration system ly on maps the location of protected areas ection area to 10% reas or ecosystems in the conservation zone plement written guidelines to mitigate the environmental impact xtraction ged trees and seed trees and make other pre-extraction works to of the regeneration mong workers n of waterways ays and other features al norms for construction of logging roads, including restrictions of th more than 15% struction of roads, including reduction of the width and drainage to prevent invasions and fires of the annual allowable cutting areas and plans with clear ifferent zones and their physical lim