In my last post, I offered the first in what will be a short series of articles on the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Program (SFI) 5- year standard review process.  The SFI program deserves a lot of credit for conducting such an open-handed, transparent process for updating the key standards that make up the heart and sole of their program.  I feel strongly that those of us who have a stake in the outcome own them the best constructive feedback we can manage. This second installment of my...

When I last wrote in this space about the SFI 5-year standard review process I promised to provide my own commentary on the posted draft standards here.  My intentions were good, but business has been brisk over the last month and the needs and interests of my clients (along with the need to run a profitable business) have had to take precedence.  I have managed to eke out some spare time to make some notes and just this morning, completed a summary of comments on Section 2, which you can read...

It has become an accepted fact in the green certification business that growth at the root of the supply chain - the forest - has pretty well leveled off.  Most of the large institutional and industrial landowners have either become certified (to SFI, FSC, or both) or they have clearly decided not to.  There continues to be interest in figuring out how to certify the vast acreages and volumes in small, private landholdings that still provide a large majority of roundwood to eastern markets,...

Readers of the MixedWood blog will be familiar with my skeptical view of the FSC's recent efforts to build and deploy a massive new central transaction database called the Online Claims Platform.  Newcomers can pick up the thread here, and follow it back as far as you like.  The short version goes this way:  FSC-IC spend a ton of money on a rather ill-conceived online database system designed to track claims and transactions globally in real time.  Implementation was set for later this year....

I received an message this morning in my inbox from FSC-IC, announcing the release of a second discussion draft of their International Generic Indicators (IGI's).  You can read all about the IGI process, from FSC's perspective, here.  You read some earlier commentary on the subject here. This is a big deal. The most important - and least discussed - weakness of the FSC program has always been the wide disparity between what constitutes "FSC certified" in different parts of the world.  FSC...

In my January 8 blogpost, I called attention to the ambitious and impressive effort that the SFI program staff a making to engage stakeholders in the comprehensive review of their standards this year.  I feel strongly that all companies who hold SFI certificates - whether they are for Forest Management, Fiber Procurement, or Chain of Custody - should take some time to engage in this process and share their perspectives.  This, of course, includes offering frank and constructive criticism. One...