For your information as a stakeholder or potential stakeholder in WAPRES (WA Plantation Resources) operations, WAPRES would like to notify the following:

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) in conjunction with TQCSI, will soon be conducting an audit of WAPRES against the FSC® Forest Management, the FSC® Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood, RW Forest Management, the RW Chain of Custody, ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety and ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems standards.

Certification to the FSC® Controlled Wood Standard (FSC-STD-40-005 V3-1 EN) verifies that WAPRES avoids:

• Illegally harvested wood
• Wood harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights;
• Wood harvested in forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities;
• Wood harvested from areas being converted from forests and other wooded ecosystems to plantations or non-forest uses
• Wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted

Certification to the FSC® Chain of Custody Standard (FSC-STD-40-004 V3-1 EN) verifies production and source of the products . The main objective of the Chain of Custody certification is to ensure that material from FSC® certified and controlled wood forests can be tracked from harvest to distribution.

Certification to the Australian FSC Forest Management Standard (FSC-STD-AUS-01-2018 EN) verifies that WAPRES adheres to the FSC® Australia 10 Principles and Criteria:

• Principle 1: Compliance with Laws

The Organization shall comply with all applicable laws; regulations and nationally- ratified international treaties, conventions and agreements.

• Principle 2: Workers Rights and Employment Conditions

The Organization shall maintain or enhance the social and economic wellbeing of workers.

• Principle 3: Indigenous Peoples’ Rights

The Organization shall identify and uphold indigenous peoples’ legal and customary rights of ownership, use and management of land, territories and resources affected by management activities

• Principle 4: Community Relations

The Organization shall contribute to maintaining or enhancing the social and economic wellbeing of local communities.

• Principle 5: Benefits from the Forest

The Organization shall efficiently manage the range of multiple products and services of the Management Unit to maintain or enhance long-term economic viability and the range of environmental and social benefits

• Principle 6: Environmental Values and Impacts

The Organization shall maintain, conserve and/or restore ecosystem services and environmental values of the Management Unit, and shall avoid, repair or mitigate negative environmental impacts.

• Principle 7: Management Planning

The Organization shall have a management plan consistent with its policies and objectives and proportionate to scale, intensity and risks of its management activities. The management plan shall be implemented and kept up to date based on monitoring information in order to promote adaptive management. The associated planning and procedural documentation shall be sufficient to guide staff, inform affected stakeholders and interested stakeholders and to justify management decisions.

• Principle 8: Monitoring and Assessment

The Organization shall demonstrate that, progress towards achieving the management objectives, the impacts of management activities and the condition of the Management Unit, are monitored and evaluated proportionate to the scale, intensity and risk of management activities, in order to implement adaptive management.

• Principle 9: High Conservation Values

The Organization shall maintain and/or enhance the High Conservation Values in the Management Unit through applying the precautionary approach.

• Principle 10: Implementation of Management Activities

Management activities conducted by or for The Organization for the Management Unit shall be selected and implemented consistent with The Organization’s economic, environmental and social policies and objectives and in compliance with the Principles and Criteria collectively.

The audits will include review of a selection of external plantations where WAPRES has sourced wood from privately owned or non-certified sources within the South West of Western Australia over the past 12 months prior to the audit.

Certification to the RW Forest Management Standard (AS 4708) and the RW Chain of Custody for Forest Products (AS 4707) verifies that WAPRES meets requirements for Responsible Wood in Australia, and is internationally recognised through the PEFC.

Certification to ISO 14001 Environmental Management System verifies that WAPRES complies with the criteria for an environmental management system and can provide assurance to company management, employees and external stakeholders that environmental impacts are being measured and improved.

Certification to ISO 45001 Safety Management System verifies that WAPRES complies with the criteria for an Occupational Health and Safety management system and can provide assurance to company management, employees and external stakeholders that safety and health is a key focus for the organisation.

Further information can be found at WAPRES www.wapres.com.au, FSC® Australia https://au.fsc.org/, Responsible Wood Australia https://www.responsiblewood.org.au/ and ISO https://www.iso.org/iso-14001-environmental-management.html and https://www.iso.org/iso-45001-occupational-health-and-safety.html

The audit will commence on the week Monday the 18th July 2022.

Stakeholder engagement and input is an important component of the audit process.

Please direct any feedback to the auditors:

Nick Capobianco; nick@greenmarketing.net.au or info@scsglobalservices.com

Or alternatively queries can be sent to WAPRES at management.systems@wapres.com.au who will then forward to the appropriate auditor.

Forico is in the process of seeking feedback from stakeholders in relation to control measures implemented to manage the purchase of non-certified plantation material from Tasmanian Suppliers (known as Due Diligence System (DDS)).

Three documents are attached:

• Cover Letter, providing an overview of the consultation process;
• Forico DDS Public Summary Report; and
• DDS Stakeholder Consultation Feedback form.