Forestry & Development E-News
www.forestryanddevelopment.com     September 2006
Forestry & Development E-News is a new electronic newsletter which reports and comments on regional and international developments in forestry.  If you do not wish to receive Forestry & Development E-News, please click here.
	Greenpeace’s claims of environmental devastation in PNG shown baseless Greenpeace’s environmental case to justify an end to commercial forestry in Papua New Guinea is baseless. This was revealed in the report by ITS Global, Whatever it takes: Greenpeace’s anti-forestry campaign in Papua New Guinea. Greenpeace argues that the “paradise forests” in PNG are at risk. Its case is that: - PNG’s forests are a vital part of the world’s reserves of “ancient forests”; - commercial logging in PNG is threatening their existence; and - they could disappear within a decade. A review of forest cover in PNG shows this is not true. The “ancient forest” concept is unique to Greenpeace, but it is very close to and appears to have developed from work by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, which examined the state of the world’s “frontier forests”. The WRI work concluded that PNG had just two percent of the world’s “frontier forests”. About half of the world’s frontier forests lie in Russia and Canada. Given that 64 percent of PNG is covered with forest and only 24.8 percent of the total forest area is designated as production forest, Greenpeace’s claim that PNG’s forest biodiversity is at risk, that it is in danger of losing its old forests areas, and that this threatens the world’s reserves of “ancient forests” is unsupportable*. Greenpeace recently issued a critique of the ITS Global report. Notably, the critique did not contest this point. The Greenpeace critique also failed to overturn the conclusion by ITS Global that most logging in PNG is legal. Furthermore, it seemed that Greenpeace was proud of the fact it had deliberately concocted a very wide definition of what constituted illegality to support its claims. * See Whatever it takes: Greenpeace’s campaign against commercial forestry in Papua New Guinea, pp.16-17 for details of the analysis.
	In Other News NEW RePORT SAYS PNG FOREST INDUSTRY ABUSING HUMAN RIGHTS, BUT EVIDENCE LACKING 25/07/2006: Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) has produced a report which accuses the commercial forestry sector in Papua New Guinea of contributing to violation of ‘civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights’. Bulldozing progress: human rights abuses and corruption in Papua New Guinea’s large scale logging industry recycles material from papers by Greenpeace attacking the PNG forestry, which were found to be baseless in a study by ITS Global (see Whatever it takes – Greenpeace’s anti-forestry campaign in Papua New Guinea). The ACF report also refers to a small number of alleged incidents that occurred over a 9-year period; these are very similar to allegations made by Greenpeace. The Papua New Guinea Government and the PNG forest industry have denied the allegations. WWF/World Bank alliance produces pro-FSC Certification Assessment Guide August 2006 The WWF/World Bank Global Forest Alliance (GFA) has released a Forest Certification Assessment Guide. Whilst claiming to provide ‘a consistent framework for assessing certification systems and schemes’, the Guide has the effect of promoting Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, at the expense of other certification schemes. The Guide assesses certification systems against the principles of the GFA. Its assessment criteria emphasise elements of standards and conformance systems which are favourable to FSC. For example, it requires standard setting bodies to be affiliated with the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance - of which FSC is the only forest certification scheme member. ISEAL has been established by NGOs who dislike or cannot comply with the terms of accreditation of the International Standards Organization. The Guide is largely based on the Questionnaire for Assessing the Comprehensiveness of Certification Schemes / Systems (QACC), a certification assessment tool developed by GFA in 2003. QACC came under criticism from the PEFC Council, which argued that the questionnaire discriminated against non-FSC systems. PEFC has not yet issued a response to the latest assessment guide. Full version of the Forest Certification Assessment Guide can be found at http://www.worldwildlife.org/alliance/pdfs/fcag.pdf. Skills shortage due to “green propaganda” 22/08/06: A report funded by the Australian Government has found that an ‘undeserved negative image’ is the core reason for a skills shortage in the Australian timber industry. Wood and Paper Products Industry Skills Shortage Audit asserts that the negative perceptions about the wood and paper products industry have reduced its ability to attract young professionals (particularly engineers, accountants and electricians). The Australian Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, Senator Eric Abetz lamented these effects of ‘the Greens’ continual negative propaganda’. A full version of the study can be found here. ngos target anz for its association with png forestry 23/08/06: A five-member coalition of Australian and PNG-based NGOs has filed a formal complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) against the ANZ Bank over the latter’s support, ‘through financing and provision of other financial services’, of commercial forestry in PNG. Specifically, ANZ is accused of being complicit in the alleged environmental and social damage caused by Rimbunan Hijau, thus breaching OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The claims largely rely on evidence discredited by ITS Global in its report Whatever it takes: Greenpeace’s anti-forestry campaign in Papua New Guinea. Full version of the submission can be found here. World bank creates new challenge for forestry in developing nations 30/08/2006: The International Finance Corporation (the arm of the World Bank Group responsible for private-sector lending) recently conducted a review of its safeguard lending policies and has developed a new set of Performance Standards on the social and environmental impacts of funded projects. The new Performance Standards are now in force. Performance Standard 6 relates to sustainable natural resource management. The standard requires clients involved in natural forest harvesting or plantation development to have their resources independently certified, or ‘develop and adhere to a time-bound, phased action plan for achieving such certification’. According to the latest data, forest certification remains largely confined to the forests resources of the developed nations. The new standard will therefore make it extremely difficult for forestry operators in developing nation to obtain financial assistance from the Bank. In practice, this requirement favours the international Forest Stewardship Council scheme as a national certification scheme would take years to develop. The FSC was founded and is supported by WWF, which has held an Alliance with the World Bank on forestry since 1998. Full version of Performance Standard 6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management can be found here.
	| Forestry & Development Website | Contact |
	You have permission to forward this email newsletter to other interested persons provided it is passed on in its entirety. Forestry & Development E-News is published monthly by ITS Global (www.itsglobal.net). ITS Global are accredited assessors for the International Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) Questions and feedback can be sent to forestrydevel@bigpond.com If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, please click here. © 2006. All rights reserved