Implementation of forest certification in Sweden: an issue of organisation and communication

Abstract

The goal of nature conservation is often implemented on productive forest land largely by means of forest certification – a market-driven, voluntary system of third-party verification of the fulfilment of specific goals. This study assesses how certification requirements are being implemented in various organisations in the forest sector at various levels, and the problems and opportunities identified at each level in order to implement the requirements of the standard. Based on interviews with 34 stakeholders in Sweden, the study demonstrates that forest certification is a communication issue: it places great demands on communication or “information logistics” between different parts of the felling and forest management chain, from the top management to the contractor in the field. Integration with environmental performance systems, clarity in the division of responsibility, formalisation of requirements for forest planning and further integration of a culture of continuous improvement and internal reporting could support implementation of the certification system.

Keywords:

• certification
• implementation
• forest
• FSC
• PEFC
• Sweden

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all the interviewees for their participation in the study and comments on the finalized draft. We are also grateful to the anonymous referees and to research project participants for suggestions that substantially improved the paper.

Funding

We acknowledge funding from the FORMAS Swedish Research Council (through the Smart Tree Retention research programme [grant number 215-2009-569]).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: We acknowledge funding from the FORMAS Swedish Research Council (through the Smart Tree Retention research programme [grant number 215-2009-569]).