A few weeks ago, I was pleased to see this posting come across my twitter feed.  The SFI program  is promoting the fact that the speakers platform being constructed for President Obama's second inauguration will be made of SFI-certified lumber.  Pretty neat, huh? Yesterday, I saw another, similar announcement (also via twitter).  It turns out that the inauguration invitations are being printed on FSC-certified paper.  Also neat. I re-tweeted both posts when I saw them.  I also tweeted a...

FSC-IC conducted an online briefing yesterday, attended by 50+ stakeholders who have interest in their new Online Claims Platform project (link here).  The briefing - presented via webinar - was well organized and presented.   Unfortunately, the Q&A function broke down, preventing real-time feedback, which was disappointing.  We're told that numerous questions were captured after the fact and will be distributed soon. This project has not yet gotten the attention it deserves. I have...

The government of Australia joined the US and the European Union recently by passing legislation prohibiting the import and trade of illegally sourced wood products.  NEPCON posted a very nice summary of the new regulation, which includes a very helpful table summarizing the three laws. A number of companies - including some MixedWood clients - are currently working on Due Diligence Systems (DDS) in order to be in compliance with these laws.  The big question that no one can answer is how...

Doing some research for a client on the subject of verifying the legality of wood products imported into the European Union markets.  I found myself reading publications and press releases on the same subject, circulated by two very different organizations: The European Forest Institute (EFI) is a research and policy organization which counts among its membership the governments of 23 European countries.  Highly respectable and conventional to say the least! World Growth is a non-governmental...

Earlier this week, FSC-IC released a massive, 80-page guidance document on the complex subject of indigenous people's rights to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC).  Folks who work with the FSC Forest Management certifications will be very familiar with this challenging topic.  I have only given it a quick scan, so don't have any substantive comments to share.  I will admit to being a bit nervous about it's implications. I was surprised to note that the initial news release does not...

I have seen several examples of large US companies deciding to accept Major Non-conformance findings rather than sign the required FSC self-declaration on the subject of compliance to the ILO Core Conventions.  This effectively puts them on notice that their certificates will be subject to suspension as of March 31, 2013. The assumption, of course, is that some sort of policy compromise will be worked out prior to that date.  What will it look like?  I don't know.  It could be a simple as the...