Socio-economic Aspects of FSC certification

A seminar on “FSC certification in the Komi Republic: socio-economic aspects” for the managers and specialists of the enterprises belonging to the timber industry and wood processing industry was held on 18 November at the congress hall of the Finno-Ugric ethno-park in the village Yb. The seminar was organized by the Ministry of Industrial Development and Transport of the Komi Republic, Ministry of Economic Development of the Komi Republic, and Komi Regional Non-Profit Foundation “Silver Taiga”. It was attended by more than thirty representatives of the industry and administrations of the forest districts of the republic. FSC specialists of the certifying companies, Silver Taiga Foundation, and representatives of the enterprises holding a FSC certificate acted as teachers.

Opening the event, the First Deputy Minister of Industrial Development and Transport of the Komi Republic Alexandr Gibezh stressed the relevance of the seminar topic, recalling that at the meeting of the Presidium of the RF State Council, initiated by the President in April of 2013, the constituent entities of the Federation had been recommended to encourage the forest users to conduct the voluntary forest certification. In spite of the fact that currently above 3.5 million ha. of forest territories of the Komi Republic are certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) scheme and the republic is among the advanced constituent entities of the RF in respect of the certified forest areas, we still have enough forestry companies with no certificate, but willing to get one. Actually, the companies already owning the certificate also need to permanently perfect themselves; considering the changing situation and new challenges, they need to confirm the compliance to the certificate requirements on an annual basis. In addition, the information on the FSC certification peculiarities and experience of the companies holding a certificate is relevant not only for the business users, but also for the forest districts of the Komi Republic having a socio-economic cooperation with big business in the framework of FSC certification.

The history of the FSC certification development in the world, in Russia, and in the Komi Republic was presented by the seminar participant, Chairman of the Coordination Council of FSC Russia, Director of the Komi Regional Non-Profit Foundation “Silver Taiga” Yury Pautov. The Head of the Forest certification and environment group, Forest Management department of OJSC “Mondi Syktyvkar”, member of the Coordination Council of FSC Russia Denis Popov has shared a practical experience in getting the FSC certificate, implementation and annual confirmation of the compliance to the certification requirements.

An independent expert Elena Popova has introduced the seminar participants to an interesting presentation on the developments in the world of green markets and certified products marketing. She has talked about the permanently changing customer requirements for purchased goods and growing demand for the environmentally friendly products, produced without harm to nature, meaning that today’s investment in the sustainable forest use development will be generously repaid in the future.

Bringing the audience back to the conversation about the specific FSC certification procedures, Yury Pautov reminded them about the participants of this process in the Komi Republic, and gave a detailed description of the certification stages, which any company willing to get a FSC certificate, needs to go through. There are several such stages. This is a preliminary preparation of the company by its own efforts or with the involvement of consultants, a preliminary audit, and elimination of the remarks of the auditor (fulfillment of preconditions), and, finally, the main audit, resulting in getting or not getting a certificate. The Deputy Director of the audit company NEPCon Alexey Klochikhin has presented the stages of the leased forest areas and forestry products chain-of-custody certification in accordance with the FSC scheme in more detail and with account of various nuances.

What are the things an entrepreneur should pay attention to? What are the most frequent noncompliances with the FSC standard requirements fixed by auditors? What is the approximate cost of an audit? The audience had an opportunity to get the answers to these and other questions of interest to them directly from a practicing auditor and not only in the course of the presentation, but also during the coffee-breaks and at the end of the official part of the seminar.

A separate unit of the educational seminar was devoted to the social aspects of FSC certification. The presentation of Valentina Semyаshkinа, Deputy Director of the Silver Taiga Foundation, reminded the seminar participants about the social functions of the forest and the necessity to consider the long-term interests of the local communities during the planning and execution of the forest use. On the basis of the examples from the “Silver Taiga” work experience in the Priluzje, Udora, Kortkeros, and other districts of the republic, the participants got acquainted with possible mechanisms for taking into account the interests of the local population, existing practice of these mechanisms adaptation for our conditions and results of their application. The practical part of the social unit was continued with the presentation of the leading engineer of the Forest certification and environment group, Forest Management department of OJSC “Mondi Syktyvkar” Marina Severenchuk on socio-economic partnership with the forest districts of the Komi Republic.

Judging by the questions from the floor, the suggested topic and its gradual comprehensive overview attracted the interest of the participants: many questions were purely practical and the inquirers “linked” them to specific situations, particular districts and enterprises. It only remains to note, that the educational seminar “FSC certification in the Komi Republic: socio-economic aspects” has been held on the initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Transport of the Komi Republic in the framework of the Presidential program – “Organization of the training for managers under the program, considering the priority fields of the industry development” section. And for the Komi Republic implementation of the sustainable forest management and forest cluster development still remain one of the top priorities of the economic development.

The presentations submitted at the workshop, which are listed below, are available for downloading in PDF format on the Silver Taiga Foundation website and the site of the Ministry of Industrial Development and Transport of the Komi Republic http://minprоm.rkоmi.ru.

• A.N. Klochikhin “Leased forest areas and forestry products chain-of-custody certification in accordance with the FSC scheme: the things an entrepreneur should pay attention to. Estimated costs associated with the audits” – 18.11.14 (RUS)
• Y.A. Pautov “FSC development in the world, in Russia, and in Komi 18.11.2014 (RUS)
• Y.A. Pautov “Participants of the FSC certification process in the Komi Republic” – 18.11.14 (RUS)
• D.A. Popov “Certification development experience at Mondi Syktyvkar” – 18.11.14 (RUS)
• E.A. Popova “Green markets and certified products marketing,consumer ecologization trends” – 18.11.14 (RUS)
  
• M.P. Severenchuk “Socio-economic partnership with the forest districts of the Komi Republic” – 18.11.14 (RUS)
• V.T. Semyаshkinа “Social aspects of FSC certification” – 18.11.14 (RUS)

Valentina Semyаshkinа,
The photo is made by Sergey Davydov
Translated by Irina Sokolova

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