THROUGH THE PRISM OF A VOLUNTARY FOREST CERTIFICATION

Silver Taiga specialists showed the forest landscapes of the Komi Republic to the representatives of the logging companies during the round table training course held in Silver Taiga office on March 14, 2018. The training course was devoted to the basic issues of the forest certification, planning and organization of a logging process according to the forest certification ecological requirements. Twelve representatives of logging companies from forest districts of Komi participated in the round table meeting.

The course was guided by Silver Taiga specialists Nikolay Shuktomov and Nikolay Shilov on request of Mondi Syktyvkar, which follow the requirements of a voluntary forest certification. The training courses prepared by Silver Taiga representatives are very popular nowadays not only among the certified logging companies but also among the companies, which have the obligations to follow the standards of so-called the controlled wood.

«Operators of the logging machines deal with the logging equipment in a skillful way, but they do not take into consideration the forest certification requirements during the logging process. We tried to show the negative consequences of such approach. Of course, it is better to conduct such training courses in the forest but we have collected already enough training documents and we can explain the material without leaving the office», – said Silver Taiga Forestry Coordinator Nikolay Shuktomov.

According to Nikolay Shuktomov the approach to the voluntary forest certification requirements of the logging companies has changed radically over the last years. Seven years ago, for example, they were ready to argue about the necessity to imitate the natural forest dynamics during planning and conducting of logging and now most of the trainees agree with us notwithstanding that their level of knowledge on ecology is different.

Round table participants

«The trainees who understand the importance of the ecological functions of forest conservation are our main assistances during the courses», – continued Nikolay Shuktomov.

Have increased the knowledge

Nikolay also propose to make the training material more interesting in the future, to prepare an educational film, for example. Most probably, some issues will be discussed while playing, lectures and presentations will be added by study guides.

The lecturers and the trainees of the training course