Decisions of the FSC International on forest certification in Ukraine under martial law, maintaining the certified status of enterprises in areas outside the military conflict zone, as well as opportunities for stakeholder participation in responsible forest management under the current conditions were discussed during the working group meeting. The urgency of these issues is confirmed by the wide representation of the participants of the meeting – in addition to members of the working group and their delegates, international FSC members have also joined it as well as the representatives of executive authorities, certification bodies, NGOs, and companies holding FSC certificates.
Today, a constructive dialogue between stakeholders on environmental, economic and social issues of responsible forestry is the key to effective solutions to preserve and maintain environmental values, ensure the safety of employees, implement the legal rights of local communities. Such a dialogue is important for maintaining the competitiveness of enterprises and strengthening their importance for the country's economy during the war.
Given the possibility of forest certification in regions not affected by the military conflict, it is unacceptable for the participants to deteriorate the quality of certification. In particular, it underlined that preventing certificate holders from deviating from the requirements of the FSC national standard for Ukraine is extremely important, as well as maintaining the appropriate level of certification in view of the changed certification audit procedures in accordance with FSC derogations and interpretations. These and other issues are reflected in the proposals of the working group, supported by the social, economic and partly environmental section.
The main issues of discussion that hindered the consensus with the members of the environmental section of the working group were:
- suspension of the legislative norm on the "season of silence", reflected in Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine "On Fauna";
- prohibitions for the population visiting forests for the duration of the martial law regime;
- restriction of public access to a part of the information on forests and forestry on the portal of the executive body.
Each of these issues was reflected in the proposals of the working group, taking into account the level of consensus and the distribution of powers and responsibilities of FSC certification participants. But at the same time, it is worth emphasizing:
- in the context of the first question: achieving the goals of preventing environmental damage and ensuring the preservation of environmental values should not be limited to decisions to carry out or abandon logging in accordance with the legislative norm of "season of silence", but requires systematic and comprehensive economic measures, in particular through risk-based decision-making tools defined by the FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard. Such tools are: assessment of values and potential impact of management activity on the values, implementation of evaluation results in the planning system and management practices, systematic monitoring of impacts, etc.;
- in the context of the second question: involvement of stakeholders in forest decision-making is an important component of responsible forest management both in the practical implementation of the FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard for Ukraine and at the stage of certification procedures. According to the current conditions, it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of the situation on the ground by the executive authorities and local self-government bodies regarding the possibilities of visiting forests and exercising public control, initiating changes in the relevant decisions of regional military administrations;
- in the context of the third question: martial law changes in access to forests- and forest management-related information at the FIAC portal clearly need to be clarified in terms of possibilities for accessing it. At the same time, compliance with information access regime requirements by information managers, as well as their understanding of responsibility for violation of the relevant legislative requirements, is an important component of openness of government and confirmation of the democratic development of the country.
«We have a situation where it is under martial law that FSC values fully manifest their importance and usefulness for nature, society, and the state. Despite the objective difficulties caused by military aggression, ensuring responsible forestry, including respect for workers' rights, local communities’ interests, and biodiversity conservation, is gaining strong recognition in European markets by supporting the country's economy, which also upholds European values and civilizational choice.
We consider the lack of consensus in the environmental section on the prepared decision to be more as a warning to all branches of government designed to ensure the functioning of the forest industry in strict accordance with the requirements of national law. Instead, forest certification tools provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to actively participate in audits and other certification procedures without shifting responsibility for the condition of forests to others. It is very important that all participants focus on finding solutions that enhance the quality of certification, the transparency and openness of the forest industry», - stated Pavlo Kravets, director of FSC Ukraine.
The FSC International's decision on FSC certification in Ukraine are available at:
https://ua.fsc.org/ua-uk/newsfeed/v-ukraini-prodovzhue-diyati-fsc-sertifikaciya
https://ua.fsc.org/ua-uk/newsfeed/detalna-informaciya-schodo-zakhodiv-u-zonakh-konfliktu-v-ukraini
https://ua.fsc.org/ua-uk/newsfeed/sertifikati-v-zonakh-konfliktu-ukraini-prizupineni