Monday, 30 November 2009
Plantations management standard comment period open until December 9
The draft standard for plantation management, Principle 10, of the FSC-US Forest Management Standard is available for the first 60-day phase of public consultation. FSC-US is committed to a consensus-based, inclusive and balanced standards development process, and all comments will be carefully considered by the FSC-US Board.
All interested parties are welcome and encouraged to submit comments. Comments are due by Wednesday, December 9, 2009.
The FSC standards for forest management certification are composed of 10 Principles. The document presented for consultation contains the standard for certification of plantation management (Principle 10) and is a component of the FSC-US Forest Management Standard. Certification of plantations requires compliance with Principles 1-9 and additionally with requirements specific to plantation management. Principle 10 contains these additional requirements. There are a few Indicators in Principles 1-9 that are not applicable to plantation management. These are explicitly referred to in this draft of Principle 10.
Draft Principle 10 was developed through consultation with the FSC-US Plantations Working Group, technical committees and advisers with expertise in FSC certification of plantations. It has undergone preliminary review but will not be approved by the Standards & Policy Committee of the FSC-US Board until public comments are reviewed and considered.