FSC Australia applauds the Government’s announcement of the allocation of $500,000 towards the development of the critically important FSC Australian National Forestry Standard.
This is an important contribution that enables us to commence the process in earnest and leverage against this from other funding sources to enable us to deliver a standard that is broadly accepted by the community and which represents what responsible forest management looks like in Australia.
“FSC defines standards based on agreed principles for responsible forest management that are supported by a broad consensus of environmental, social and economic stakeholders. It is a voluntary scheme with a powerfully branded trust mark and product labeling system that rewards responsible forest management in the market”.
“Australian forest managers need certainty in terms of the standard to which they can be certified, and that it is contextualised to Australian conditions to access the growing demand for FSC Certified timber in the Australian and International markets” CEO Natalie Reynolds said.
“But that certainty and access to these markets needs to come, more than ever, with community engagement and a social and environmental license accompanying it. Creating our standard means that broad consensus can be reached as to what responsible forest management looks like, and importantly, drive change in the way forests are managed in Australia for the greater good”.
This grant will enable FSC Australia members and stakeholders to participate fully and assist in a providing durability and certainty to all stakeholders.
We are in the process of recruiting staff to manage this process and will soon be forming the Standards Development Group and Experts Working Group to participate in the International Generic Indicator process, and develop our standard concurrently. We are holding a meeting to gain the views of the membership on the IGIs immediately following our AGM on 29 May 2013. To book for the AGM (to assure catering) please do so here. To book for the networking dinner held immediately following please do so here.
Media Contact:
Natalie Reynolds
Chief Executive Officer, FSC Australia.
0422 444 745
nreynolds@fscaustralia.org