Established with the support of FSC International, this new body has been operating for almost a year. The main task of the Advisory Committee is to help shape the country's FSC development strategy, taking into account the current challenges. The synergy of professional experience, academic knowledge, vision of forestry sector development and leadership based on the balance of environmental, social and economic interests is yielding results.
One of the first tasks that the Advisory Committee members focused on was to increase stakeholder engagement in cultivating and promoting FSC values. After all, stakeholders are one of the cornerstones of FSC, both in terms of the organization's governance principles and the certification process. A true perception of FSC certification through the prism of its values and its importance in ensuring social well-being is of particular importance given the current challenges for forests and society.
The Advisory Committee has taken a comprehensive and systematic approach to this task, having developed a detailed and step-by-step plan of its activities. At the initial stage, the meeting participants analyzed the factors that influence the perception of FSC values and the impact of the level of stakeholder involvement in certification on this process. Both the already completed studies on stakeholders' awareness of FSC certification and specially conducted surveys among the trade union and certificate holders were taken into account. The collective work culminated in the use of a SWOT analysis of stakeholder engagement in FSC certification and a model of cause and effect of factors affecting these processes. Among a wide range of stakeholders, preference was given to local communities as representatives of the most vulnerable group of interests in forests.
This resulted in five strategies to strengthen the involvement of local communities in FSC certification, namely:
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increasing the credibility of FSC certification;
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taking into account the interests of local communities when deciding on forest management matters;
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raising awareness of FSC certification;
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development of proactive policy of FSC certificate holders;
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ensuring environmental, economic and social benefits of FSC certification.
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«The value of our result is that it is based on the findings of a survey of representatives of forestry enterprises, which was conducted with the support of the SFE ‘Forests of Ukraine’, the Trade Union of Forestry Workers of Ukraine and expert analysis by members of the Advisory Committee with the consultative input from FSC Ukraine. The application of the model of cause and effect relationships between the factors influencing stakeholder engagement in the FSC certification process allowed us to form five priority areas of the strategy, and their content with specific measures will depend on the selected target group," said Marine Elbakidze, Co-Chair of the FSC Ukraine Advisory Committee, international FSC member, leading researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. “The implementation of each of the strategy's areas will contribute to a better perception of FSC values, increase public awareness and responsibility for the future of forests and the development of local communities».
The proposals for strengthening the involvement of local communities in FSC certification and promoting values will be submitted to FSC International to formulate an appropriate strategy for the country. The experience gained may be interesting and useful for the FSC partner network around the world. Currently, institutional strengthening of FSC's mission through the activities of Advisory Committees is taking place in Ukraine and on the African continent.
The experience gained shows that it is preferable to overcome the challenges of the forest sector in the context of forest certification together with responsible partners, such as the members of the FSC Ukraine Advisory Committee.
To learn more about the FSC Ukraine Advisory Committee, please follow this link: https://ua.fsc.org/ua-uk/newsfeed/stvoreno-doradchiy-komitet-dlya-pidtrimki-ta-rozvitku-fsc-v-ukraini