Meeting on forestry certification

THE Forest Owners Co-op is holding an information meeting at the Riverside Park Hotel, Macroom, at 8pm on Thursday, May 11, to brief private owners on Chain of Custody requirements, how they will affect them and the most effective way of addressing the issue.

Speakers will include Karl Coggins (Assistant Principal, Forest Service) John Casey (Forest Advisor, Teagasc) Conor McSweeney (GP Wood) Eugene Curran (Forest Service, West Cork) and Michael Greaney (Participant, Certification Pilot Project). All private forest owners are welcome.

Forest certification programmes typically require that forest management practices conform to existing environmental and biodiversity laws. The two largest international forest certification programmes are the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

Chain of Custody certification tracks the certified material through the production process – from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution. It provides evidence that certified material in a certified product originates from certified forests.

The United Nations Market Review reported that companies that produced or traded in certified forest products often had a market advantage during the recent financial crisis because, in a buyers market, buyers could be more selective in choosing their sources of supply.

The largest supplier of wood to the processing sector in Ireland, Coillte, is Chain of Custody certified. However timber from the private sector is expected to exceed Coillte’s output in the near future.

Ireland’s forestry industry is export driven with overseas markets demanding certified timber, it is critical that access to these markets is maintained, according to the Forest Service which has initiated a pilot programme to implement certification in what the service sees as a milestone for Irish forest owners.