Forest Stewardship Council certification in the development context: lessons from the Solomon Islands

This paper highlights the views of two very different timber organisations on FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification in the Solomon Islands,

It shows that KFPL certification has brought a number of market benefits and has added to the overall asset. Certification has led to improved clarity of management objectives and a more coherent, strategic set of objectives throughout the organisation. It has also ensured that there are clear channels of communication between the local community and KFPL. For SWIFT, on the other hand, certification has been a costly process, but it has given a clear framework for the management of the forest resource that was not present before. Overall, certification has brought managerial benefits to commercial and community foresters alike. Even subsidised sustainable community forestry can be a highly cost effective means of protecting the environment.

Key policy conclusions include:

• the wider benefits of forest certification should be promoted, e.g. as a management tool, a measure to subsidise environmental protection.
• potential synergies between commercial and community foresters in a region should be explored
• there is scope for FSC certification to be used to promote community based forest management, but there is a need in the FSC standard for more appropriate social criteria that are easier to interpret in developing country circumstances
• the high and increasing management costs involved in certification should be taken into account when promoting certification initiatives.