Forest Stewardship Council
FSC is an independent, non-profit organization that protects forests for future generations. As a global membership organization, FSC gathers more than 1,000 members from the economic, social and environmental sector and has more than 60 FSC national offices that implement projects on the ground.
FSC believes that the organization can achieve greatest results with strong alliances and partnerships based on its certification standards, market connections and uptake by the financial sector. FSC has created a set of certification tools for ecosystem services to demonstrate positive impacts of responsible forest management.
FSC supports Initiative 20X20 through a set of programs, standards, frameworks and opportunities to engage with social, environmental and economic actors. The opportunities include:
- The existing Ecosystem Services Procedure FSC-PRO-60-006 which offers businesses and governments a new tool to demonstrate and communicate the impact their purchases, investments and financial support are having on the conservation and restoration of forest ecosystem services. FSC will work with government and private sector partners to test the most promising business models to deliver benefits from the Ecosystem Services Procedure. Some possibilities include:
- Financial sponsorship. The ecosystem services procedure allows financial sponsors of verified ecosystem services impacts to use FSC trademarks to promote their sponsorship.
- Impact investing. FSC is working with partners in the financial sector to explore how integrating FSC certification and FSC-verified ecosystem services impacts into strategies used by impact funds can bolster the case for private sector investments in conservation.
- The Climate Change Program targeted to explore additional options for integrated responsible forest management with landscape solutions and restoration commitments in order to confirm contributions to fighting climate change.
- Its recognition by the corporate sector as the most credible forest certification scheme and the uptake of the FSC label in products and ecosystem services coming from responsible managed forests.
- Its recognition by Latin American governments as a tool to demonstrate responsible forest management. This recognition has materialized in national policies and legal frameworks that provide incentives for FSC certified operations. Examples of this are: Guatemalan concession requirements that specifies FSC as mandatory for forest concessions in Petén; Peruvian forest law that specifies tax reductions for certified forest operations; collaboration agreement with the Colombian government, CARDER (regional autonomous corporation of Risaralda) to support smallholders to achieve FSC certification in Colombia.
- Its extensive network of members and partners including member organizations of Initiative 20x20 such as WWF, Reforestamos Mexico, Fundecor, The Nature Conservancy, AIDER, and others.
FSC is supporting Initiative 20x20 in holding a business forum on investment for restoration and ecosystem services maintenance in Santiago, Chile in August 2019.
In addition, FSC has joined Task Forces on Carbon Markets and on Monitoring where it expects to contribute to the goals and objectives of Initiative 20x20. Specifically, FSC aims to contribute to the Carbon Task Force by jointly exploring additional carbon benefits, and to the Incentives Task Force by bringing together financial institutions that have already committed to FSC procurement and investment.
Finally, FSC is open to engagement with other Initiative 20x20 partners and aims to contribute to relevant workshops, events and technical discussions related to promoting the implementation of restoration and conservation projects in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
Media contact:
Pina Gervassi, FSC Climate Change Director, p.gervassi@fsc.org
Website:
https://fsc.orgFSC is an independent, non-profit organization that protects forests for future generations. As a global membership organization, FSC gathers more than 1,000 members from the economic, social and environmental sector and has more than 60 FSC national offices that implement projects on the ground.
FSC believes that the organization can achieve greatest results with strong alliances and partnerships based on its certification standards, market connections and uptake by the financial sector. FSC has created a set of certification tools for ecosystem services to demonstrate positive impacts of responsible forest management.
FSC supports Initiative 20X20 through a set of programs, standards, frameworks and opportunities to engage with social, environmental and economic actors. The opportunities include:
- The existing Ecosystem Services Procedure FSC-PRO-60-006 which offers businesses and governments a new tool to demonstrate and communicate the impact their purchases, investments and financial support are having on the conservation and restoration of forest ecosystem services. FSC will work with government and private sector partners to test the most promising business models to deliver benefits from the Ecosystem Services Procedure. Some possibilities include:
- Financial sponsorship. The ecosystem services procedure allows financial sponsors of verified ecosystem services impacts to use FSC trademarks to promote their sponsorship.
- Impact investing. FSC is working with partners in the financial sector to explore how integrating FSC certification and FSC-verified ecosystem services impacts into strategies used by impact funds can bolster the case for private sector investments in conservation.
- The Climate Change Program targeted to explore additional options for integrated responsible forest management with landscape solutions and restoration commitments in order to confirm contributions to fighting climate change.
- Its recognition by the corporate sector as the most credible forest certification scheme and the uptake of the FSC label in products and ecosystem services coming from responsible managed forests.
- Its recognition by Latin American governments as a tool to demonstrate responsible forest management. This recognition has materialized in national policies and legal frameworks that provide incentives for FSC certified operations. Examples of this are: Guatemalan concession requirements that specifies FSC as mandatory for forest concessions in Petén; Peruvian forest law that specifies tax reductions for certified forest operations; collaboration agreement with the Colombian government, CARDER (regional autonomous corporation of Risaralda) to support smallholders to achieve FSC certification in Colombia.
- Its extensive network of members and partners including member organizations of Initiative 20x20 such as WWF, Reforestamos Mexico, Fundecor, The Nature Conservancy, AIDER, and others.
FSC is supporting Initiative 20x20 in holding a business forum on investment for restoration and ecosystem services maintenance in Santiago, Chile in August 2019.
In addition, FSC has joined Task Forces on Carbon Markets and on Monitoring where it expects to contribute to the goals and objectives of Initiative 20x20. Specifically, FSC aims to contribute to the Carbon Task Force by jointly exploring additional carbon benefits, and to the Incentives Task Force by bringing together financial institutions that have already committed to FSC procurement and investment.
Finally, FSC is open to engagement with other Initiative 20x20 partners and aims to contribute to relevant workshops, events and technical discussions related to promoting the implementation of restoration and conservation projects in the Latin American and Caribbean region.