Smartwood's Certification of the Forest Industry Organisation in Thailand: Why FSC Should Revoke the Certificate
Thailand, November 2002
A report written by Chris Lang(*) for the World Rainforest Movement.

index

5. COMPLIANCE WITH FSC PRINCIPLES AND CRITERIA

The following compares the reality of FIO's plantations with FSC's Principles and Criteria. (Click here to read this comparation among principles 1 to 5.)

PRINCIPLE 6 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Forest management shall conserve biological diversity and its associated values, water resources, soils, and unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes, and, by so doing, maintain the ecological functions and the integrity of the forest.

On Principle 6, SmartWood's Generic Guidelines for Assessing Forest Management state: "Certification requires that forest managers place attention on the protection or restoration of endangered ecosystems (e.g. wetlands), conservation of threatened/endangered species, and precautionary use of chemicals" (SmartWood 2000a: 9).

6.1 Assessment of environmental impacts shall be completed - appropriate to the scale, intensity of forest management and the uniqueness of the affected resources - and adequately integrated into management systems. Assessments shall include landscape level considerations as well as the impacts of on-site processing facilities. Environmental impacts shall be assessed prior to commencement of site-disturbing operations.

FIO failed to carry out an environmental impact assessment before commencing logging at either Thong Pha Phum or Khao Kra Yang. Maria Berlekom, a consultant with SCC Natura inspected the Khao Kra Yang plantation in August 2000, shortly before SmartWood's assessment team looked at the two plantations. Berlekom reported that although FIO had an environmental policy, which "covers all relvant [sic] aspects considered in the FSC P&C . . . so far, no summary and analysis of environmental impacts has been made. Guidelines for low impact management have not been finalised" (Berlekom 2000: 3).

Berlekom recommended that: "A simple summary of anticipated environmental impacts should be made following the topics in the FCS [sic] P&C (basically principle 6)" (Berlekom 2000: 6).

SmartWood's assessors issued a condition regarding environmental impacts assessments. Condition 15 states:

Effective immediately, and during the certification period, site inspection with the purpose of evaluating the environmental impact of planned thinning, harvest, or site preparation activities should happen before commencing the operation. Observations in the form of an instruction note to the person responsible should form the basis for implementing the operation (SmartWood 2001: 31).

This condition confirms that at the time of the assessment, there was no environmental impact assessment of FIO's plantation operations at either Thong Pha Phum or Khao Kra Yang. One year later, SmartWood found that condition 15 had still not been met. Instead of withdrawing the certificate, they issued a corrective action request to replace condition 15 (CAR 9-2002, see below).

6.2 Safeguards shall exist which protect rare, threatened and endangered species and their habitats (e.g., nesting and feeding areas). Conservation zones and protection areas shall be established, appropriate to the scale and intensity of forest management and the uniqueness of the affected resources. Inappropriate hunting, fishing, trapping and collecting shall be controlled.

SmartWood's Generic Guidelines on Assessing Forest Management clarify what FIO's management should do in order to achieve compliance with this criterion: "Threatened, rare, or endangered species or ecosystems are explicitly taken into consideration during all operations" (SmartWood 2000a: 10).

According to the Royal Forestry Department's web-site, the Queen Sirikit Crab (Thaiphusa sirikit) was first "discovered" in 1983 by Surapon Duangkhae, who is now the general secretary of Wildlife Fund Thailand. Local villagers call the crab the "three coloured crab" (RFD no date). The crab is only found in Thong Pha Phum and Triyok and is a protected species because of its limited distribution.

SmartWood issued condition 16 relating to the Queen Sirikit Crab, which states:

By the end of year 2, a simple system for protection and monitoring the condition of the Queen Sirikit Crab habitat should be developed and implemented by TPP. Guidelines for eco-tourism activities, as related to the Queen Sirikit Crab, must be elaborated (SmartWood 2001: 32).

When asked about this condition, Chittiwat Silapat of FIO commented, "They want us to check the numbers of the crab. This is impossible! I think our men in the area might find some ways to solve this problem. I believe so" (Chittiwat 2002). Chittiwat's comment illustrates that the management of the habitat of the Queen Sirikit Crab is something FIO had simply not considered at the time of the certification. As Virawat Dheeraprasert pointed out, "In Thong Pha Phum, the habitat of the crab, the Queen Sirikit crab, is not demarcated and conserved" (Virawat 2002a).

SmartWood's first year audit makes no mention of either the Queen Sirikit Crab or FIO's progress in developing a system for the protection of the crab within FIO's plantations.

SmartWood's assessment team issued another condition relating to rare and endangered species at Thong Pha Phum. Condition 17 states: "By the end of year 1, TPP management must develop guidelines for eco-tourism and access to the rare bat cave, which should be done (to the greatest extent possible) together with Thong Pha Phum National Park" (SmartWood 2001: 32).

Maria Berlekom, SCC Natura's consultant, pointed out in a January 2001 report that the bat cave is not in the plantation area and neither does the access path to the cave go through the plantation (Berlekom 2001: 1). Chittiwat Silapat commented, "in the Thong Pha Phum area there are some rare species. They want us to have something to something to control the access to the bat cave. It is not in our boundary, but they want us to do that" (Chittiwat 2002). He added, "In my opinion I think that some conditions are not relevant simply because they are not in our control. Like cooperation with the villagers, with the forest officers in the area. I ask them [SmartWood], what if they don't cooperate? We try, but we cannot control them, we cannot order them" (Chittiwat 2002).

After one year, SmartWood reported that condition 17 had not been met. However, instead of revoking the certificate, they issued another corrective action request. CAR 10-2002 states: "Within 6 months, TPP management shall develop guidelines for eco-tourism and access to the rare bat cave, and implementation is taking place" (SmartWood 2002: 38). The corrective action request is almost identical to condition 17, except that it extends the deadline by six months.

SmartWood's assessors issued another condition relating to FIO's compliance with FSC's criterion 6.2. Condition 18 related to Khao Kra Yang only and states:

Within one year of certification, initiative should be taken to compile a list of the most important plant and animal species of the area. In the case any rare, threatened, or endangered species are identified, then this should immediately be reflected in the KKY management plan (SmartWood 2001: 33).

In other words, at the time of the certification, neither FIO nor SmartWood had access to basic data on the plant and animal species in the area of the Khao Kra Yang plantations. It is difficult to see how SmartWood's assessment team could judge that FIO was in compliance with criteria 6.2 without this information. Yet, SmartWood's first year audit makes no mention at all of condition 18.

6.5 Written guidelines shall be prepared and implemented to: control erosion; minimize forest damage during harvesting, road construction, and all other mechanical disturbances; and protect water resources.

One of the environmental impacts of FIO's plantation management at Khao Kra Yang is soil erosion. Virawat Dheeraprasert pointed out that "Khao Kra Yang has problems with soil erosion, because of the higher elevation and slope as well." He added, "Monoculture plantations cannot help prevent soil erosion because the undergrowth is always being cleared for establishing plantations" (Virawat 2002a).

SCC Natura's Maria Berlekom confirmed that soil erosion is a serious problem in some areas of the Khao Kra Yang plantation. She wrote in her August 2000 report:

The main environmental problem noticed in the KKY-plantation is soil erosion (10-15 cm soil pillars formed, and gully formation) on the steep slopes in e.g. 2523/2524. The eroded area completely lacks ground cover, most likely basically due to lack of light. Some measures to be prevent soil have be [sic] taken -e.g. to plant thin lines of grass, at intervals of 10-15 metres. These grass lines are not thick enough (yet) to capture run-off, and are furthermore not planted along the contour (Berlekom 2000: 4).

As a footnote she clarifies: "Intsetd [sic] they follow the alignment of the rows of planted teak, which cut diagonally across the slope" (Berlekom 2000: 4, footnote 2).

Although Berlekom was of the opinion that "the efforts taken in the KKY-plantation, should basically be enough to fulfil the environmental criteria for FSC-certification" (Berlekom 2000: 5), she wrote in her August 2000 report:

The KYY-plantation has no major environmental problems, except the erosion noted on the steep slopes. The measures taken to control erosion are not adequate for the following reasons:

• Main cause of erosion is lack of ground cover (which in turn is most likely caused by lack of light, due to the dense canopy). The easiest and most effective measure for increasing ground cover would be thinning.

• The grass is not planted along the contour, and run-off may easily be channelled through the gaps between tufts (leading to formation of rills" (Berlekom 2000: 5, emphasis added).

According to this statement, Berlekom considered soil erosion on the steep slopes at Khao Kra Yang to be a "major environmental problem" and that FIO measures to deal with this problem at that time were "not adequate".

SmartWood's assessment, which took place less than two months after Berlekom's report, dismissed any problems regarding soil erosion and announced that FIO was in any case dealing with the problem. SmartWood's assessors commented on soil erosion at Khao Kra Yang as follows:

about 20-30% of KKY's plantation area is on steep slopes where erosion can be particularly high. KKY is taking steps to mitigate against this by leaving 'no felling' buffer-zones and establishing vetiver grass and other ground cover plants to assist in reducing erosion (SmartWood 2001: 11).

SmartWood issued condition 13 relating to soil erosion in KKY:

By the end of year 1, KKY should identify existing & potential erosion areas, revise management prescriptions on such areas so as to exclude these from production forestry - thinning and final felling - at least until they are stablized (by planting of appropriate ground cover) (SmartWood 2001: 33).

This contradicts Maria Berlekom's recommendations, which pointed out that ground cover could not grow without thinning to allow more light to the soil on the plantation floor. She also recommended allowing the steep areas to regenerate into "semi-natural forest" rather than cutting them as soon as a ground cover is established (which would not occur anyway in her opinion as not enough light currently reaches the plantation floor).

One year later, SmartWood decided that condition 13 had been "partially met" in their first year audit. As SmartWood's Public Summary provides no further illumination, it is left to the reader's imagine how FIO has partially met the condition. Perhaps FIO staff has identified only some of the existing and potential erosion areas, but not others. Perhaps FIO has excluded some areas from production forest, but not others.

In any case, SmartWood replaced condition 13 with CAR 9-2002, which states:

Within 6 months, all FIO certified plantations shall implement pre-harvest site inspection with the purpose of evaluating the environmental impacts (to any sensitive areas, eternity trees, river or edge buffers, conservation areas, research areas, high erosion areas, etc.) from planned thinning, harvest, or site preparation operations. Site inspections are to happen before commencing the operation and the results need to be given in written form and explained to operators (SmartWood 2002: 38).

This confirms that one year into the certification period FIO still had not carried out environmental impact assessments before starting logging operations.

Soonan Nawan, former head of Ban Wang Nam Khieo, a village near Thong Pha Phum, has clear opinions about FIO's proposed logging. He said,

As a citizen of Thailand I don't agree with the plan to cut this area, because cutting this area which has been grown for many years, will have changes to the forest and to the environment. Even if they plant again they're going to cut again, so the impacts will continue. There seems to be no benefit for the villagers. There's no income for the villagers. It seems they are taking advantage of us for their own benefit (Soonan 2002).

6.6 Management systems shall promote the development and adoption of environmentally friendly non-chemical methods of pest management and strive to avoid the use of chemical pesticides.

SmartWood's assessors issued a condition relating to chemical use at Thong Pha Phum. Condition 22 states:

By the end of year 1, TPP must develop guidelines for chemical use, which include a policy to reduce chemical application and to implement safe chemical application methods when they are used. As part of the guidelines, develop a program for training, so that FIO foremen will train workers in the proper safety precautions when applying herbicide and fungicide. Also produce a list and supporting documentation of all chemicals used in FIO plantations and nurseries (SmartWood 2001: 33).

SmartWood's assessors state in the first year audit that condition 22 has been "partially met", without providing any further information or attempting to explain what this actually means. According to SCC Natura's Maria Berlekom, FIO sub-contracts chemical spraying to outside firms, who bring their own workers (Berlekom 2001: 5). If this is the case, it is difficult to see how FIO foremen could train the workers that are actually applying the chemicals. It is also not clear from SmartWood's Public Summary whether FIO has in fact produced a list of all chemicals used.

SmartWood's assessors replaced condition 22 with a corrective action request in the first year audit. CAR 12-2002 states: "By the time of the next annual audit, TPP shall implement and document its plan to reduce chemical use and to implement a safety standard for chemical applications" (SmartWood 2002: 38). Once again, instead of insisting that FIO meets the conditions previously issued, SmartWood has issued a corrective action request which extends the deadline for compliance.

PRINCIPLE 7: MANAGEMENT PLAN

A management plan - appropriate to the scale and intensity of the operations - shall be written, implemented, and kept up to date. The long-term objectives of management, and the means of achieving them, shall be clearly stated.

This principle clearly states that a management plan is an important part of assessing whether a forestry operation meets FSC's principles and criteria.

7.1 The management plan and supporting documents shall provide:

a) Management objectives.

b) Description of the forest resources to be managed, environmental limitations, land use and ownership status, socio-economic conditions, and a profile of adjacent lands.

c) Description of silvicultural and/or other management system, based on the ecology of the forest in question and information gathered through resource inventories.

d) Rationale for rate of annual harvest and species selection.

e) Provisions for monitoring of forest growth and dynamics.

f) Environmental safeguards based on environmental assessments.

g) Plans for the identification and protection of rare, threatened and endangered species.

h) Maps describing the forest resource base including protected areas, planned management activities and land ownership.

i) Description and justification of harvesting techniques and equipment to be used.

Unfortunately, FIO does not have a management plan for any of its plantations. SmartWood's Public Summary observes, "There is no single document called the 'Management Plan'" (SmartWood 2001: 7). Instead there is something called a "management plan file". According to SCC Natura's Tomas Jonsson, "The management plan file is a compilation of documents used for running the plantation operations and registering the outcome" (SCC Natura 2001: 14).

Although FSC's Principle 7 clearly asks for a management plan, SmartWood's Generic Guidelines on Assessing Forest Management allow a loophole: "Except in very special cases, absence of a written forest management plan will mean an operation cannot be certified" (SmartWood 2000a: 10, emphasis added). The guidelines list some "very special cases" including that "Significant documentation already exists that meets most, if not all, of the data requirements of a management plan and virtually the only step remaining is to compile and produce an overall management document" (SmartWood 2000a: 11).

Instead of insisting that FIO should compile the information contained in the management file and produce a single management document before a certificate could be issued, SmartWood issued another condition. Condition 23 states:

By the end of year 2, FIO plantations shall revise the management file to produce an actual management plan that incorporates a wider range of forest management activities, including not only commercial wood production, but also agroforestry, ecotourism, NTFPs, conservation zone management etc (SmartWood 2001: 31).

For the next two years, in other words, the plantations will be managed without the benefit of a single document called the management plan.

SmartWood's assessment team made no mention of condition 23 in their first year audit.

SmartWood's Generic Guidelines for Assessing Forest Management provide a further loophole against FSC's criterion 7.1. SmartWood's guidelines state that,

in the SmartWood system, it is crucial to emphasize that field performance matters more than documentation and/or management systems. This does not reduce the need or value of documentation or systems; experience indicates value in them. The question is one of balance between performance, documentation and systems. In SmartWood on-the-ground performance might be regarded as 'the first among equals' (SmartWood 2000a: 12).

This presumably provides the SmartWood assessment team with its justification for not insisting on a single document called the management plan, before issuing the certificate. However, this raises serious questions relating to the transparency of FIO's activities. From the perspective of a forester with full access to FIO's files, the absence of a single document called the management plan may not be too serious a problem. Particularly if the forester in question is a SmartWood assessor that FIO is trying hard to please. If, however, the person trying to find out the information comes from an NGO or a local community, FIO could easily conceal important information relating to its management plans by not releasing some part of the management plan file.

7.4 While respecting the confidentiality of information, forest managers shall make publicly available a summary of the primary elements of the management plan, including those listed in Criterion 7.1.

SmartWood's condition 24 states: "By the end of year 1, FIO plantations should make the main points of the management plan available to a wide range of stakeholders (local administration, adjacent communities, staff and workers)" (SmartWood 2001: 32). This implies that at the time of the certification, FIO was not in compliance with criterion 7.4. SmartWood's first year audit reveals that one year later, FIO had still not met this condition.

However, instead of withdrawing the certification, SmartWood issued yet another corrective action request. CAR 13-2002 states:

By the time of the next annual audit, FIO shall make available for all certified units, a public summary of the management plan detailing relevant policies, plantation maps, logging operation plans, wood sales, etc. This should be made available to key stakeholders and workers both in terms of written documents (i.e., pamphlet or handout) and described a [sic] stakeholders meetings (SmartWood 2002: 38).

Although FIO failed to meet SmartWood's condition 24, the status of the certificate has not been affected in any way. The condition has simply been extended for another year through the corrective action request.

SmartWood's condition 19 also relates to FIO's management of the two plantations under consideration. Condition 19 states: "By the end of year 1, define a policy detailing identification, selection criteria, and protection of all eternity trees" (SmartWood 2001: 31). SmartWood's first year audit claims, without giving any evidence, that this condition has been "partially met". SmartWood does not define what "partially met" means in the context of a policy. Surely FIO had either produced a policy or it had not. If FIO had produced a policy that did not adequately address the condition, then FIO has not conformed to the condition and the certificate should be revoked.

Once again, SmartWood issued a corrective action request. CAR 11-2002 states:

By the time of the next annual audit, FIO shall specify protection methods for eternity trees. The following actions shall take place: marking all eternity trees (on the tree itself), mapping the marked trees on the map, systematic monitoring and reporting methods on status and condition of eternity trees (SmartWood 2002: 38).

The corrective action request is almost identical to the condition, and confirms that FIO failed to meet condition 19 in any meaningful way. SmartWood's Public Summary gives no further information and the corrective action request appears simply to extend the deadline for FIO to conform to SmartWood's requirements.

PRINCIPLE 8: MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Monitoring shall be conducted - appropriate to the scale and intensity of forest management - to assess the condition of the forest, yields of forest products, chain of custody, management activities and their social and environmental impacts.

SmartWood issued two conditions based on FIO's monitoring at the time of the assessment.

Condition 21 states:

By the end of year 2, results of monitoring soil erosion, and/or soil compaction from all weather or dry weather logging should be incorporated into FIO plantation management plannning (SmartWood 2001: 31).

Condition 25 states:

By the end of year 2, FIO plantations will develop a monitoring program as part of their overall management planning, particularly to include monitoring environmental conditions of the compartments and such social parameters as source of labor, level of employment, benefits received from agroforestry, NTFPs, eco-tourism, etc. from activities on the FIO land base. An implementation plan, with time frame, would be drafter and implementation commenced (SmartWood 2001: 32).

Maria Berlekom, a consultant for SCC Natura, pointed out in January 2001 that there is an inconsistency in these two conditions, in that condition 21 asks for the results of soil erosion monitoring to be incorporated into management plans, while condition 25 asks for a monitoring programme to be in place by the end of the second year (Berlekom 2001: 1-2). SmartWood has, however, not clarified the situation. Neither condition is mentioned in the first year audit.

A more important point is that these two conditions indicate that at the time the certificate was awarded, the state of FIO's monitoring was extremely weak. As mentioned above (see comments under criterion 6.5), soil erosion is of particular concern in some areas of FIO's Khao Kra Yang plantation. Although SmartWood's condition 13 related to soil erosion at Khao Kra Yang, SmartWood only requires that adequate monitoring of soil erosion is in place in two years time.

8.3 Documentation shall be provided by the forest manager to enable monitoring and certifying organisations to trace each forest product from its origin, a process known as the "chain of custody."

The issue of chain of custody is perhaps the most controversial of the certification of FIO. FSC's web-site defines chain of custody as follows:

Chain of custody is the process by which the source of a timber product is verified. In order for products originating from certified sources to be eligible to carry the FSC Trademark, the timber has to be tracked from the forest through all the steps of the production process until it reaches the end user. Only when this tracking has been independently verified, the product is eligible to carry the FSC logo (FSC no date).

As mentioned above (see section on FIO's History: Illegal logging) one of FIO's roles is to auction illegally logged timber. There are serious concerns that issuing a chain of custody certificate to FIO could serve to increase the amount of illegal logging in Thailand and the amount of illegal timber entering Thailand.

SmartWood's Public Summary acknowledged that "nearly 70% of KKY's wood is sold to mills in Tak Province, 300 km from KKY" (SmartWood 2001: 14).

Virawat Dheeraprasert, of FER, expressed his concern that such a large proportion of the timber is sold to sawmills in Tak province. He said,

Most of the illegal teak entering Thailand comes from Burma, and most of it comes through Tak. If FIO is using sawmills in Tak province it is very likely that illegal wood will be mixed along with the FIO's plantation teak. Why should this plantation wood be taken to Tak which is 300 kilometres away from the area?

This anyway will only increase the illegal teak trade and logging by adding to the sawmilling capacity in Tak province. FIO already has a past record of illegal teak transport in Ta Song Yang in Tak province. In 2539 [1996] and 2540 [1997], the deputy director of the RFD was caught taking a payoff of 5 million baht in Tak from timber businesses who were doing illegal logging of teak" (Virawat 2002a).

When asked why timber from Khao Kra Yang was sold to sawmills in Tak province, FIO's Chittiwat Silapat replied, "We sell the timber by bidding. So anyone can buy. So someone who has a sawmill in Tak has the right to transport anywhere" (Chittiwat 2002).

However, FIO's auctions are not as transparent as appears from Chittiwat's comments. According to Soonan Nawan, a former head man of Ban Wang Nam Khieo, FIO only started to auction timber from Thong Pha Phum this year. In the past, FIO did not hold auctions but simply informed a small circle of people about the sale of logs. Anyway, Soonan said, "auctions are of no benefit to people who work as labour to plant the trees" (Soonan 2002). According to Somchai Nontasri, a member of the Huay Kayeng subdistrict TAO, FIO does not inform the TAO before auctioning timber from its plantations at Thong Pha Phum (Somchai 2002).

Soonan also questioned the prices FIO obtained from sales of eucalyptus,

The cost of planting eucalyptus is a massive sum. But when they do their auction and sell the logs they get sometimes less than half of what they've spent on planting the trees. I don't know how this can happen but then I don't know who comes to buy the trees. And how this works I really don't know (Soonan 2002).

In May 2002, Prapat Panyachatraksa, the Deputy Agriculture Minister, ordered an investigation into FIO officials who helped private firms buy logs at low prices. Prapat told The Nation that an initial probe had found some FIO officials had colluded with private firms when FIO held auctions to sell illegally felled timber. He said, "The fraud has been systematically carried out for a long time, causing the FIO to fail to sell logs at reasonable prices" (The Nation 29 May 2002).

SmartWood's Public Summary makes no mention of illegal logging or of FIO's role in laundering illegal timber through its auctions, which effectively makes the timber "legal". Although SmartWood produced a Chain of Custody report on FIO, this report is confidential.

PRINCIPLE 9: MAINTENANCE OF HIGH CONSERVATION VALUE FORESTS

Management activities in high conservation value forests shall maintain or enhance the attributes, which define such forests. Decisions regarding high conservation value forests shall always be considered in the context of a precautionary approach.

SmartWood's Public Summary states: "Neither plantation was deemed to possess High Conservation Value Forests" (SmartWood 2001: 11). This is undoubtedly true, as the plantations are not forests and are extremely unlikely to have high conservation value. However, both Thong Pha Phum and Khao Kra Yang plantations are surrounded by national parks which are high conservation value forests.

Before FIO and the Royal Forestry Department commenced their activities in Khao Kra Yang and Thong Pha Phum, both areas had forest which could have been described as high conservation value forests. Thong Pha Phum is located in Thailand's Western Forest Complex - one of the largest remaining areas of forest in the country. The Queen Sirikit Crab, a protected species, is found in Thong Pha Phum.

Virawat Dheeraprasert commented, "The Khao Kra Yang area is an important conservation area, both the plantation as well as the forest, because it's a watershed catchment area of the Wang Tong River." He added, "FIO's plantation in effect replaced the existing forest area and so violated Principle 9. Because it replaced the forest it actually violated Principle 9, but SmartWood has ignored that the plantation was formerly a forest area" (Virawat 2002a).

The plantations have had impacts on the forest in both areas, directly (through conversion of forest and swidden to plantation) and indirectly (through forcing villagers to farm in other forest areas).

PRINCIPLE 10: PLANTATIONS

Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with Principles and Criteria 1 - 9, and Principle 10 and its Criteria. While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benefits, and can contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forest products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.

A close look at Principle 10 and its criteria indicates that Principle 10 is by far the weakest of FSC's principles and almost any commercially managed plantation would comply with the principle. World Rainforest Movement produced a detailed critique of Principle 10 in February 2001 (WRM 2001). The following is a critique of principle 10, using the case of FIO as an example.

The language of Principle 10 is different to the other nine principles. All the other principles include the word "shall", in the sense that the forest management unit being assessed "shall" comply with the principle. For example, principle 1 states: "Forest management shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which they occur" (emphasis added).

In the context of forest certification, principles can be defined as providing an overall goal or objective.

Three years ago, the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) ran a project entitled "Testing Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management". In one of the reports for this project, CIFOR defined a Principle as follows:

A fundamental truth or law as the basis of reasoning or action. Principles in the context of sustainable forest management are seen as providing the primary framework for managing forests in a sustainable fashion. They provide the justification for criteria, indicators and verifiers. Consider that principles embody human wisdom. Wisdom is defined as: a small increment in knowledge created by a person's (group's) deductive ability after attaining a sufficient level of understanding of a knowledge area. Wisdom, therefore, depends on knowledge (Prabhu et al 1999: 86).

It is revealing to look at Principle 10 in the light of this definition. Principle 10 contains neither a "fundamental truth" nor a "law" and it certainly does not "embody human wisdom". Neither does the Principle provide any justification for the criteria that follow.

Instead, Principle 10 starts by stating that "Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with Principles and Criteria 1 - 9, and Principle 10 and its Criteria." This statement in itself it is not a principle. It could appear in any or all of the Principles. It is simply another way of saying what has already been said in FSC's introduction to the Principles and Criteria: "major failures in any individual Principles will normally disqualify a candidate from certification" (FSC 2000: 1).

As it continues, Principle 10 becomes more troublesome. The Principle states:

While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benefits, and can contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forest products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.

This is not a principle or "truth" or "law" against which plantation management can be judged. Given the social and environmental impact of large-scale industrial plantations particularly in the South, it would be difficult to argue that FSC's Principle 10 "embodies human wisdom". The "knowledge" on which this statement is based comes from the pulp and paper industry's propaganda in favour of plantations.

Aside from the basic untruths in FSC's statement regarding plantations, the language used does not lend itself to precise interpretation. The principle does not state that plantations shall provide an array of social economic benefits, or that they shall contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forest products. The principle states simply that plantations "can" do such things. This is a highly contentious statement, particular in Thailand where farmers and local communities have long campaigned (against organisations including FIO) for the right not to have monoculture plantations established on their farmland, commons and community forests.

In discussing the "world's needs" for forest products, the language of FSC's Principle 10 ignores the question of whether, by providing forest products (mainly timber in the case of plantations) for the "world", plantation managers are forcing local communities to do without forest products. In the case of the FIO, as discussed below, the purpose of the certification is to increase exports of items such as garden furniture to countries such as Europe, where there is a market for "sustainably harvested timber". FSC's Principle 10 ignores questions such as whether Europeans "need" garden furniture more than, say, local communities need medicinal plants, mushrooms, land for swidden cultivation, grazing land for animals, firewood, timber for houses or any of the many other benefits of community managed forests.

It is, in theory at least, possible for FSC's certifying bodies to make a decision on whether the management of a forest is in accordance with the laws of the country or whether tenure and use rights are clearly defined, documented and legally established (FSC Principles 1 and 2). However, when it comes to determining whether a particular plantation can be said to "complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests", we are entering the realm of fantasy. Particularly in the case of FIO, where the certification is helping the organisation export timber grown in plantations which were planted under the terms of the logging concessions which devastated Thailand's forests.

10.1 The management objectives of the plantation, including natural forest conservation and restoration objectives, shall be explicitly stated in the management plan, and clearly demonstrated in the implementation of the plan.

According to SmartWood's Public Summary, FIO management objectives are 'to manage plantations containing a mixture of original (native) species and/or economic (rubber and fast growing exotic species) species while achieving:

• financial independence (economic viability);
• environmental sustainability; and
• employment and economic opportunities for local communities (social sustainability)' (SmartWood 2001: 7).

Virawat Dheeraprasert of FER commented, "Financial independence: Which means that the objective of the certification is quite clear, that it's not for sustainable forest management it is to provide profits so that FIO can survive. SmartWood cannot ignore the fact that they are actually promoting commercial logging for FIO to make profits" (Virawat 2002a).

SmartWood's assessment team provided no comment in the Public Summary on these objectives. In fact, FIO's objectives are simple:

• Planting trees, either native or exotic;
• Making money by cutting the trees down and selling them, or from harvesting rubber; and
• Getting people to work on the plantation.

The term "environmental sustainability" is presumably thrown in there to sound nice, but in the context of FIO's management of tree plantations it is meaningless.

In its critique of Principle 10, World Rainforest Movement pointed out, "The management objectives of industrial plantations are always explicitly stated: the production of large quantities of timber in the shortest time possible" (WRM 2001). FIO's management objectives are no exception to this rule.

10.2 The design and layout of plantations should promote the protection, restoration and conservation of natural forests, and not increase pressures on natural forests. Wildlife corridors, streamside zones and a mosaic of stands of different ages and rotation periods, shall be used in the layout of the plantation, consistent with the scale of the operation. The scale and layout of plantation blocks shall be consistent with the patterns of forest stands found within the natural landscape.

FIO's plantations were designed and laid out in 1968 at Khao Kra Yang and in 1978 at Thong Pha Phum. Niprapar Riancharoen, a village elder from Ban Huay Paak Kok, near Thong Pha Phum explained that after the plantations were established on their farmlands, villagers were forced to move to other areas of forest. He said, "They were also encroaching on village people's land and village people had to start moving their farmland away" (Niprapar 2002). Villagers were forced to start clearing fields in forest areas across the river from the village, which they had never previously done because this was their spirit forest.

It fact, rather than "promoting the protection, restoration and conservation of natural forests" FIO's design and layout of their plantations caused increased pressure on forests in the area.

FIO's plantations in Thong Pha Phum and Khao Kra Yang are located in forested areas. In both areas, FIO's plantation blocks stand out dramatically from the surrounding landscape. The rows of monoculture teak trees have little in common with the nearby highly diverse forest, or with villagers' fields. The scale and layout of plantation blocks is not at all "consistent with the patterns of forest stands found within the natural landscape".

SmartWood's Generic Guidelines for Assessing Forest Management explain what FIO should achieve in order to meet this criterion:

Reforestation supplements natural regeneration, establishes or protects corridors and buffer zones, fills gaps, and contributes to natural forest restoration and/or conservation.
Wherever possible, plantation management mimics the scale and intensity of natural patterns of disturbance in planting and harvest regimes (SmartWood 2000a: 15-16)

FIO's management system involves cutting compartments (leaving only a small number of trees) when they reach 30 years old and replanting with teak monoculture. According to SmartWood's Public Summary, an average of 100 hectares is to be logged annually in each plantation. SmartWood's assessment team, however, made no attempt in the Public Summary to describe which "natural patterns of disturbance" would clear almost all the trees over an area of 100 hectares each year, followed by replacement with a monoculture of teak seedlings.

10.3 Diversity in the composition of plantations is preferred, so as to enhance economic, ecological and social stability. Such diversity may include the size and spatial distribution of management units within the landscape, number and genetic composition of species, age classes and structures.

As World Rainforest Movement has pointed out, this criterion is so vague, that it would be almost impossible to manage a plantation without conforming to it. The criterion "could be satisfied merely by planting two species of eucalyptus in a huge industrial plantation rather than just one, and planting two different areas a couple of years apart rather than planting all the trees at once" (WRM 2001). In any case, the criterion states that diversity is "preferred" rather than compulsory.

FER's Virawat Dheeraprasert commented, "'Biodiversity in plantations' cannot be promoted because biodiversity in plantations is much less than in forest areas. It is meaningless to talk of biodiversity in plantations" (Virawat 2002a). Teak, for example, grows naturally in Thailand's forests in association with a range of other tree species and bamboo species.

However, since FIO's plantations contain teak, eucalyptus and rubber, they are technically in compliance with this criterion.

10.4 The selection of species for planting shall be based on their overall suitability for the site and their appropriateness to the management objectives. In order to enhance the conservation of biological diversity, native species are preferred over exotic species in the establishment of plantations and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Exotic species, which shall be used only when their performance is greater than that of native species, shall be carefully monitored to detect unusual mortality, disease, or insect outbreaks and adverse ecological impacts.

SmartWood issued a condition regarding the use of exotic species. Condition 14 states: "Before the introduction of new, exotic species, TPP must make a policy and procedures for evaluating the impact of exotic species and state provisions for their management" (SmartWood 2001: 32).

In a report dated January 2001, Maria Berlekom, a consultant for SCC Natura, wrote that this condition

is apparently made based on the assumption that the plantation might introduce new exotic species in the future. There are no plans to do this, and exotic species like Eucalyptus spp. will instead be gradually replaced with indigenous species such as teak (Berlekom 2001: 1).

SmartWood's condition illustrates the inadequacy of FIO's management files (since there is no management plan). Presumably based on their reading of the files, SmartWood concluded that FIO might introduce new exotic species, while Berlekom reports that "discussions at the plantation and with FIO staff revealed that there are no plans to introduce new exotic species in the plantation" (Berlekom 2001: 3)

Condition 14 also illustrates the weakness of criterion 10.3, which only states that native species are preferred over exotic species. According to SmartWood, FIO just needs to put in place a "policy and procedures for evaluating the impact of exotic species" before it covers Thong Pha Phum in a green desert of eucalyptus monoculture.

In the first year audit, SmartWood's assessors state that condition 14 is now "closed", but provide no further details (SmartWood 2002: 37). Whether this means that FIO now has a suitable policy and procedure in place, or whether FIO has assured SmartWood that exotic species will be replaced with teak, is not clear from SmartWood's Public Summary.

Thong Pha Phum is on the border of the natural distribution of teak in Thailand. SmartWood's Public Summary does not discuss whether a tree species that does not grow naturally in a particular forest area or area of the country should be considered as an exotic or not.

10.5 A proportion of the overall forest management area, appropriate to the scale of the plantation and to be determined in regional standards, shall be managed so as to restore the site to a natural forest cover.

This criterion confuses forest with plantation. In both Thong Pha Phum and Khao Kra Yang, FIO manages mainly areas of industrial plantations (which are not forest). In the case of Thailand, there are no regional standards and SmartWood simply used its Generic Guidelines for Assessment of Forest Management (see section on The Certification Process, above).

SmartWood's guidelines explain what their assessors should have found in FIO's plantations in order for them to consider that this criterion had been met:

Representative samples of existing natural ecosystems are being protected or restored in their natural state, based on the identification of key biological areas and/or consultation with environmental stakeholders, local government and scientific authorities (a 10% target figure is encouraged by not mandatory). . . .
Conservation zones are demarcated on maps and in the field.
Forest operations carefully controlled in conservation zones (SmartWood 2000a: 16).

In SmartWood's Public Summary, the area set aside for conservation zones is not clear. Page four of the summary states that four per cent of the area of Thong Pha Phum is "conservation zones" while on the following page a figure of six per cent is given for "conservation/restoration" (SmartWood 2001: 4-5). Whether the figure is four or six per cent, it is considerably below SmartWood's 10 per cent target figure.

SmartWood's Public Summary states that "FIO's policy is that approximately 5% of each plantation's area is to be maintained as 'natural forest cover' to provide for conservation of biodiversity" (SmartWood 2001: 10). SmartWood's assessors, however, make no comment on the fact that FIO's policy recommends conservation zones covering only half the area the "encouraged, but not mandatory" target area in SmartWood's guidelines. SmartWood's Public Summary includes no mention of what measures SmartWood took to "encourage" FIO to increase the area of conservation zone at either Thong Pha Phum or Khao Kra Yang.

At Khao Kra Yang, SmartWood reports that "buffer zones" cover 13 per cent of the area, while "conservation/restoration" covers 9 per cent (SmartWood 2001: 5). Writing in August 2001, Maria Berlekom of SCC Natura stated: "These latter areas (buffer zones, stream banks) appear also to have been classified as 'conservation areas' - but it is unclear to what extent natural regeneration is planned for, as some harvesting seems to be anticipated" (Berlekom 2000: 3). SmartWood's condition 20 states: "By the end of year 1, the KKY management plan should clearly state that conservation areas are areas to be left to natural regeneration and not to be harvested" (SmartWood 2001: 33). SmartWood's first year audit reports that FIO has met condition 20, but provides no further information.

The exact purpose, location and management of these buffer zones was not clear at the time of certification. SmartWood's Public Summary concludes that "There is considerable opportunity for improved environmental management, particularly in the area of conservation and promotion of bio-diversity in the plantations" (SmartWood 2001: 26).

SmartWood's condition 23 requires FIO to produce a management plan within two years, which is to include,

the exact width of all buffer zones (streams, compartments, and outer boundary) and their desired characteristics/management prescriptions described (e.g. several layers of natural vegetation with a top layer of mature trees, no harvesting). Buffer zones throughout the plantation should be allowed to mature to full tree size without interruption (SmartWood 2001: 32).

SmartWood's first year audit makes no mention of condition 23. This condition requires FIO to describe the "desired characteristics/management prescriptions" of buffer zones, which indicates that FIO's specifications on buffer zones were at best somewhat hazy at the time of the certification. One year after the certificate was awarded, FIO is still not in compliance with criterion 10.5.

10.6 Measures shall be taken to maintain or improve soil structure, fertility, and biological activity. The techniques and rate of harvesting, road and trail construction and maintenance, and the choice of species shall not result in long-term soil degradation or adverse impacts on water quality, quantity or substantial deviation from stream course drainage patterns.

In its critique of Principle 10, World Rainforest Movement comments, "If this criterion were to be applied consistently, then no large-scale, fast growth, exotic tree plantation could be certified. Yet if applied carelessly, the criterion would allow a great deal of environmentally damaging practice" (WRM 2001).

Unfortunately, SmartWood's Public Summary appears to indicate that SmartWood's assessment team applied the criterion carelessly. The word "soil" is mentioned three times:

• "On steep slopes, organic ground covers are established on unstable soils" (SmartWood 2001: 25); and

• "Condition 21: By the end of year 2, results of monitoring soil erosion and/or soil compaction from all-weather or dry weather logging should be incorporated into FIO plantation management planning" (SmartWood 2001: 31 emphasis added).

There is no mention anywhere in SmartWood's Public Summary of any measures taken by FIO to "maintain or improve soil structure, fertility and biological activity".

10.7 Measures shall be taken to prevent and minimize outbreaks of pests, diseases, fire and invasive plant introductions. Integrated pest management shall form an essential part of the management plan, with primary reliance on prevention and biological control methods rather than chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Plantation management should make every effort to move away from chemical pesticides and fertilizers, including their use in nurseries. The use of chemicals is also covered in Criteria 6.6 and 6.7.

SmartWood's assessment team observed in the Public Summary that, "There was no evidence that encroachment, wild fires, pest attack, or illegal felling have threatened or were likely to threaten the plantations" (SmartWood 2001: 25). However, this is not what is asked for in the criterion. SmartWood makes no mention of whether integrated pest management forms "an essential part" of FIO's management files.

In its critique of Principle 10, World Rainforest Movement comments, "This clause relies so heavily on vague wording such as 'minimize', 'primary reliance', and 'every effort' that it becomes worthless in practice" (WRM 2001). SmartWood's assessment team illustrate the problem well. SmartWood issued condition 22 regarding FIO's use of chemicals at Thong Pha Phum (see criterion 6.6 above). However, there is no mention in the Public Summary of how FIO is attempting to reduce the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers, or conducting research into alternatives. SmartWood's CAR 12-2002 requests that FIO "shall implement and document its plan to reduce chemical use", without quantifying what would be a satisfactory reduction. In any case, FIO need only comply by the end of the second year of the certification.

10.8 Appropriate to the scale and diversity of the operation, monitoring of plantations shall include regular assessment of potential on-site and off-site ecological and social impacts, (e.g. natural regeneration, effects on water resources and soil fertility, and impacts on local welfare and social well-being), in addition to those elements addressed in principles 8, 6 and 4. No species should be planted on a large scale until local trials and/or experience have shown that they are ecologically well-adapted to the site, are not invasive, and do not have significant negative ecological impacts on other ecosystems. Special attention will be paid to social issues of land acquisition for plantations, especially the protection of local rights of ownership, use or access.

SmartWood's assessors make no mention of this criterion in the Public Summary. As discussed above, at the time of SmartWood's assessment FIO's monitoring of its plantations was extremely weak. SmartWood issued two conditions (21 and 25) relating to monitoring (see comments under Principle 8. above). SmartWood concludes that "Considering the environmental and social impacts of plantation activities, the assessors noted that FIO could improve its monitoring, even research and analysis of current practices, in order to be able to assess the results and impacts" (SmartWood 2001: 26).

A strict interpretation of the final sentence would have resulted in FIO failing its assessment against FSC Principles and Criteria. FIO did not pay "special attention" to social issues of land acquisition when it established its plantations more than thirty years ago. Villagers who lost their land or access to forests have to this day not received any compensation from FIO. Only villagers who work in the forest villages have seen any benefits from the plantations.

10.9 Plantations established in areas converted from natural forests after November 1994 normally shall not qualify for certification. Certification may be allowed in circumstances where sufficient evidence is submitted to the certification body that the manager/owner is not responsible directly or indirectly of such conversion.

Because of the arbitrary cut-off date (November 1994), FIO's plantations at Thong Pha Phum and Khao Kra Yang are not covered under this criterion.

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