Monday, 03 October 2011
Call for participants in the FSC-US Controlled Wood Working Group
FSC-US is coordinating the development of an FSC-US National Risk Assessment for Controlled Wood (CW).
The risk assessment will include risk determinations (“low risk” or “unspecified risk”) for specific geographic areas based on the level of threat posed by forest management activities to the five CW risk categories:
- Illegally harvested wood;
- Wood harvested in violation of traditional or civil rights;
- Wood harvested from forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities;
- Wood harvested from areas being converted from forests and other wooded ecosystems to plantations or non-forest uses;
- Wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.
The FSC-US National Risk Assessment will be the definitive document for determination of risk for controlled wood claims following its development.
The CW Working Group is being formed to develop and provide recommendations to the FSC-US Board regarding all parts of the National Risk Assessment. The chamber-balanced working group will be comprised of nine FSC stakeholders from varied sectors within each chamber and varied geographic regions in the US. All recommendations for interpretations and determinations of risk will be developed through a consensus-seeking process.
The CW Working Group is charged with the following:
- Representing chamber perspectives and geographic region considerations to the development process.
- Conducting outreach to other chamber and regional stakeholders to facilitate inclusion of broad FSC stakeholder perspectives.
- Providing recommendations for interpretations of terms used in the CW policies pertaining to the National Risk Assessment.
- Providing recommendations for risk determinations for the five CW categories for specific geographic regions in the US.
FSC-US requests a high level of commitment from Working Group members. FSC-US anticipates that the Working Group will conduct most of its work telephone and email. FSC-US also expects that at least four in-person meetings will be held, with the first one targeted for December 2011. The expected start-date for the Working Group is November 2011, with completion by December 2012. Participation in the Working Group is on a voluntary basis.
For in-person meetings, FSC-US will cover expenses to the extent it is necessary for a Working Group member to be able to participate.
FSC stakeholders interested in participation in the Working Group should submit a letter or email of interest by November 4, 2011 to:
Gary Dodge
FSC-US Director of Science and Certification
g.dodge@us.fsc.org
The FSC-US Board of Directors will approve the final membership of the working group.There will be no limit to the number of external experts, partners, agencies, and other stakeholders that the Working Group engages for information and other input, but the development of final recommendations is the charge of the Working Group.Many thanks for your considerations.