Session time:
August 17, 8 am Pacific Daylight Savings Time (TBC)

FSC’s Global Strategy

Alan Thorne

FSC International Board Member

The FSC Global Strategy 2021-2026 was approved by the FSC International Board of Directors and launched in December 2020. The new strategy sets the direction and the intended outcomes for FSC within the next 5 years, while building a path towards the 2050 Vision of resilient forests sustaining life on earth.

The strategy positions FSC as a global leader contributing to solutions to the world’s major forest challenges including climate change and biodiversity loss. Building on FSC’s core strength of being a community for co-creation, it aims to create momentum towards the 2050 vision through certification and work in alliances. The strategy emphasizes the vital role of forest stewardship, including sound efforts towards protection, conservation and restoration as well as active management for forest products and services.

The 2026 objective sets as ambition the demonstration of the value and benefits of forest stewardship in 300 million hectares of FSC certified area, of which 50 million hectares are natural tropical forests and areas managed by smallholders.

Delivering Nature Based Solutions through forest certification, ecosystem services and restoration

Pina Gervassi

Director of Climate Change, Forest Stewardship Council

Within the FSC system Nature Based Solutions are delivered across three landscape related actions:

  • Forest certification provides a market mechanism and framework to deliver sustainable forest management while newer mechanisms provide additional benefit.
  • Ecosystem Services (2) expands and leverages benefits across areas like water and soil conservation, biodiversity and climate mitigation, providing a verification structure and associated claim and
  • enhanced Restoration creates needed benefit, especially as it relates to climate mitigation and biodiversity.

In this session we will explore how a multi-faceted landscape approach creates broader solution spaces and opportunities for integrated and prioritized investments and outcomes. We will share examples about carbon markets, and other ecosystem services.

Using FSC forest certification to promote and incentivize restoration in Africa

Harrison Ochieng Kojwang

Regional Director for Africa, Forest Stewardship Council

Various initiatives call for massive restoration of the degraded forests of Africa; the Bonn Challenge and AFR100, as an example.  Restoration is expected to happen at all scales, from the isolated forests and woodlands on farms to large scale afforestation programs. To that extent Africa will need to attract investments, both public and private to meet its restoration goals. As such, FSC has an opportunity to strategically position itself by expanding its framework through the development of restoration requirements that would allow restored landscapes to be certifiable. As global leaders, FSC can play a role by working with organizations across the commonwealth to encourage financing institutions to support restoration in Africa.

Leadership in caribou conservation through voluntary certification

Francois Dufresne

President, FSC Canada

The impact of forest management practices on Species at Risk, specifically boreal woodland caribou, is an issue of significant concern in Canada. Populations of woodland caribou are at varying degrees of risk and are particularly sensitive to habitat disturbance. As a result, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Canada has drafted an indicator dedicated entirely to boreal woodland caribou in our National Forest Management Standard. With the new standard effective as of January 1, 2020, several FSC certified companies have now been assessed to the caribou requirements. Drawing from the experiences of early implementation of the requirement and audit results, we will share examples of lessons learned, and the challenges, successes and opportunities of implementing the requirement.

New forest-based products – Textile sector in Asia

Cindy Cheng

FSC Asia Regional Director

Forest-based textiles, such as rayon, viscose, modal or lyocell are increasingly being used in the fashion industry. If cellulose fibres come from well-managed forests they can be more environmentally friendly than synthetic fibres, such as nylon or polyester, or even natural fibres, such as cotton. In this session we will share some of the successes and opportunities around forest-based textiles.