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Bulletin Number 10 - March 2003

This bulletin has been prepared by the Sierra Club of Canada, and provides a summary of key new developments related to certification, with a focus on issues in Canada. It is distributed by email and available on the Sierra Club of Canada’s website at www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/biodiversity/forests/.

If you have information that you’d like to have added to future editions of the bulletin, if you’d like to be added to the list, or if you’d prefer not to receive the bulletin, please contact: forest@sierraclub.ca

Global Buyers of Wood Products Going Green

A report released today by IBM Business Consulting Services indicated that major customers of British Columbia forest products are shifting their purchasing toward greener, more environmentally friendly products. The report surveyed 30 global customers, including US, Japanese and Canadian buyers, with a diversity of buying interests, such as the retailer Home Depot, paper customers like BBC Worldwide and the Tribune Company, and home-builders like Japan’s Mitsui. The survey suggested that forest supplier regions that do not respond to environmental concerns are at risk of losing market share. To view the report, visit www.impacts.org, and click on “download our publications.”

Progress being made on FSC national boreal standard

FSC Canada released a partial draft national boreal standard shortly before Christmas. Considerable work has been done since then to complete missing elements. A national workshop on high conservation value forests was held in January, and will result in draft language for Principle 9. A national workshop on ecological impacts was held in January, and the results from that workshop will result in recommended changes to Principle 6. The national Indigenous Advisory Council was formed and had its first meeting in early March, with its recommendations being used towards developing draft language on Principle 3. The revised first draft standard (Version 1.1) is expected to be released by March 15th, and the reports from the various committees and councils will also shortly be posted on the FSC Canada web site.

FSC Certification Commitment Announced

A Sustainable Forestry Coalition Bulletin, released December 31, 2002, reveals that intentions to seek forest certification by the end of 2006 have doubled since the FPAC Certification Commitment was  announced during PaperWeek in January 2002. For more information, including an overview of the hectares certified under different certification systems in Canada, visit: www.sfms.com/pdfs/CertificationIntentionsBulletin.pdf.

Certified Wood Sales

Home Depot recently announced that it’s FSC certified wood sales have gone from $16 million in 1999 to over $250 million in 2002. They have plans to double certified wood sales each year hereafter. You can visit Home Depot’s webpage, which lists available FSC products (but only for the U.S. so far), at: www.homedepot.org - Wood Purchasing Policy - Certification.

We would like to acknowledge the support of the World Wildlife Fund of Canada in the production of this bulletin.