On August 29-30, a wide range of specialists, including representatives of enterprises of the Lviv Regional Forestry and Hunting Board, certification bodies, SSFPE "Lvivlisozakhist" and NGOs, worked out the possibility of integrating the risk-based approach into the forestry management system and assessing compliance with the requirements of the standards.
Representing a variety of forestry-related interests, the workshop participants recognized the importance of a risk-based approach to ensure trust and integrity of forest certification, as well as to foster outcome-oriented managerial and operational decisions.
The combination of theoretical knowledge on integration of a risk-based approach into the forest management system in terms of environmental values, and field visits to forest areas contributed to holding a productive discussion and identification of critical points in this area. In particular, to increase the systematicity of practical implementation of the FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard of Ukraine, it is important to properly implement the processes that correspond to the FSC NFSS of Ukraine into the management system, to develop procedures, and strengthen the system adaptability.
The certification bodies recognize the integration of risk-based auditing into their management systems as an important element of improving the process of conformity assessment and improving the quality of forest certification. After all, preliminary detection of high-risk areas for their client enterprises based on the best available information, including the Country Risk Profile, enables the appropriate adjustment of audit plans, focusing on the most critical points for the forest certification system.
The participants agreed that the achievement of common goals within the framework of the risk-based approach requires the FSC certificate holders to systematically implement the requirements of the FSC NFSS on the basis of clear managerial and operational processes. This should include the openness and transparency of activities. At the side of the certification bodies, it is necessary to apply the risk-based approach when planning and carrying out audits. Such efforts enable qualitative changes and lay out foundations for the development of forest certification.
Pavlo Kravets, director of FSC Ukraine, noted: "Active introduction of the risk-based approach is not only the embodiment of the FSC Global Strategy 2021–2026, but also a response to the current challenges in forestry. It is important that the specified approach is accepted by all the participants of the seminar and this opens the way for its future implementation".