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Spain: Spanish groups withdraw from FSC
For
over a year now, Spanish organizations have been demanding the
annulment of the certification of “sustainable forestry management”
granted by FSC to a branch of the ENCE (Norfor) pulp/plantation
company, but so far with no results. In June 2005, the “Asociación
pola defensa da Ria”(Association for the defence of the Ria),
a member of the Galician Ecologist Federation (FEG) submitted
an urgent request for the annulment of such certification (http://www.wrm.org.uy/actores/FSC/cancelacionNORFOR.pdf)
to FSC’s delegation in Spain, accompanied by a critical report
on Norfor’s certification. (http://www.wrm.org.uy/actores/FSC/informeNORFOR.pdf).
They also requested that this report be sent to the central body
of FSC for it to proceed with the review of all other certification
processes in the world and the possibility of excluding the certifier
SGS from the certification process.
Due to the lack of reply from FSC and to the fact that they consider
that legitimization of FSC certification is basically due to the
presence of environmental groups among its members, the Galician
Ecologist Federation resolved by a decision taken at an Assembly
held on 20 May to withdraw from the FSC National Support Group
in Spain and also to ask other Spanish environmental groups to
adopt the same measure (see
http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/FSC/Defensa_Ria.html)
The organization stated its concern over the alarming expansion
of large scale monoculture tree plantations – particularly of
eucalyptus for pulp – and their effects on soil degradation, accelerated
loss of biodiversity and disappearance or impoverishment of rural
communities. Furthermore, it identifies FSC certification as “one
of the tools companies are using to obtain authorizations and
economic support, in addition to strengthening their position
on the market.” To face this the Galician Ecological Federation
declared that “support by the ecologist movement to the FSC cannot
be taken as a blank cheque and has a sense if behind each certification
forest management involved can reasonably be affirmed as being
‘environmentally
responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable,’ something
that today is very far from the true situation.”
