Sunday, October 17, 2004
Beware phony 'green' labels on wood products
From the RoundTable blog
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Quaranda is communications director
for the Dogwood Alliance (www.dogwoodalliance.org),
a network of groups in the South opposed to unsustainable industrial forestry practices.
The forests of the Blue Ridge, Smokies and the Cumberland Plateau are some of the most beautiful and diverse in North America and on the planet.
Our region is home to the highest concentration of freshwater aquatic species in the world and the most diversity in tree and plant species in North America. Our forests also harbor an incredible array of endangered species including the bald eagle, peregrine falcon and Carolina northern flying squirrel.
Large-scale clear-cutting, conversion of native forests to pine plantations and the intensive use of chemical herbicides are harming the long-term viability of our forests and the economies of local communities dependent on these forests. Paper production drives all of these harmful practices.
Unfortunately, conservationists and the timber industry continue to be deeply divided about how to manage our forests. Every large clear-cut or attempt to pass forest protection legislation has been met with bitter opposition from either environmentalists or the timber industry, leaving most ordinary folks confused about which side is right.
The marketplace has begun to respond to citizen concerns, and many large corporations have recently adopted forest-protection policies in an effort to end these unsustainable practices by demanding the products they sell originate from sustainably managed forests.
The most recent attempt to satisfy the growing consumer demand for sustainable wood and paper products has been the creation of forest certification programs. These certification programs put a green label on a product if it comes from well-managed forests in order to ensure for the consumer that the products they are buying do not come from forestry that compromises water quality, wildlife habitat and a variety of other environmental concerns.
In 1993, the Forest Stewardship Council was established by a coalition of conservation groups, foresters and landowners to provide a credible baseline for certification standards around the globe. The stewardship council worked very closely with professional foresters, forest conservation organizations and landowners to develop standards based on sound science, the needs of landowners and workers, and respect for local cultures and indigenous people. Standards specific to the Southeast United States were completed in 2002.
Forest Stewardship Council certification is recognized by environmental organizations as the only credible certification system. Many companies such as Home Depot, Lowe's and Kinko's, along with the U.S. Green Building Council, are giving preference to certified products.
In 1995, the American Forest and Paper Association created a certification scheme known as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Association companies, loggers and other timber industry interests control two-thirds of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative board that sets its standards of certification. Timber companies provide a majority of the funding and therefore control the marketing and labeling programs for Sustainable Forestry Initiative products.
It sounds to me like the fox is guarding the henhouse.
Companies such as Bowater, Weyerhaeuser, MeadWestvaco and Georgia Pacific are "certified" under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative even though they continue to engage in practices such as:
Logging or buying wood from old growth or endangered forests.
Replacing natural forests with ecologically barren pine plantations and sprawl.
Using large clearcuts, toxic herbicide spraying and other harmful logging practices.
Logging or buying wood from some of the last unprotected wilderness areas in our national forests, including the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson National Forests in Southwest Virginia.
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative fails to include many elements environmentalists consider necessary for credible certification and product labeling. Among other things, the standards fail to adequately protect old growth, endangered forests, endangered species, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and natural forest characteristics necessary for ecosystem function. They also fail to protect communities and indigenous peoples' rights.
Furthermore, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative allows labels on wood and paper products from forests that have not even met its own weak standards and do not disclose the products' real contents.
Driving around Western Virginia viewing the hillsides surrounding places like Covington, you see large clear-cuts denuding the landscapes. After significant rainfalls like those from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan, you may notice muddy brown streams resulting from sediment washing off those cuts into the waterways.
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative encourages this type of logging. The people of Western Virginia and across the South deserve better than this, and can and must demand it.
Consumers, beware of the timber industry's phony green label.FILE PHOTO l The Roanoke Times
