FSC Russia is concerned that companies may now refuse to fulfil the voluntary commitments they agreed to as part of the certification. The organization argues that, among other things, this will likely lead to a loss of forests with a high conservation value (around 3.5 million hectares).
The office staff and the Coordinating Council of FSC Russia came to the conclusion that they cannot represent FSC in Russia until the decision by FSC International is overturned and decided to break off relations and close the FSC Russia office.
FSC Russia announced the introduction of a preliminary Russian system of voluntary forest certification called “Forest Etalon” whose aim is to not replace but complement FSC in Russia.
“The Forest Etalon system will allow us to preserve the accomplishments which FSC has achieved in Russia over the years. Should the international situation improve soon, it will also ensure a relatively quick and easy return to the FSC system. If FSC International reactivates the Russian FSC FM/CoC and CoC certificates, the temporary system will be suspended,” FSC Russia commented in a statement.
As of April 1, 61 million m³ hectares of forests are FSC certified in Russia. Worldwide, the area of certified forests totals 231 million hectares.
