Woodland Trust woods win soil of approval
The Woodland Trust has just said good bye to external auditors from the Soil Association who come every year to visit a sample of our woodlands and inspect their management to ensure we are compliant with the high standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
This year, they audited sites in Scotland and South West England managed by five different woodland officers, as part of the final inspection of our current five year FSC certificate.
Once again, we were delighted that there were no corrective actions raised against our management practices - your independently verified assurance that our woods are well managed.
But, just what is a well managed wood?
That our woods are certified as sustainably or well-managed is easy for us to say but what lies behind such a statement and how does this impact on what we do and how we go about managing our woods?
FSC certification requires compliance with a certain minimum standard and in our case we use the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) endorsed requirements of the UK Woodland Assurance Standard or UKWAS.
The UKWAS requires that the management of each wood must:
- Comply with national laws and FSC principles
- Clearly define and legally establish long term tenure and use rights to the land and resources
- Respect and recognise the right of indigenous people to own, use and manage their lands
- Enhance or maintain the long term social and economic well-being of workers and local communities
- Conserve biological diversity and maintain unique and fragile ecosystems
- Have a management plan with long term objectives
- Be monitored to ensure that the management plan is being carried out and the forest is not being damaged
- Pay particular attention to the values and conditions in High Conservation Value Forests ensuring their attributes are maintained
- Be managed in a way to maximise social and environmental benefits where forests are plantations
For more information, see the helpful leaflet Introduction to FSC
What does an FSC audit involve?
Every year, the Soil Association, which is a recognised name amongst many discerning consumers, quite literally inspect (or audit) a sample of our woodlands to ensure are compliant with FSC regulations. So what exactly are they looking for?
See our leaflet What does an FSC audit involve? for the answer!
Why use FSC certified products?
The Forest Stewardship Council’s certification scheme enables you to buy forest products of all kinds with confidence that you are not contributing to global forest destruction. FSC certified forests are managed to ensure long term timber supplies while protecting the environment and the lives of forest-dependent peoples.
See 10 good reasons to use FSC certified products for more information.
A system of Chain of Custody certification traces forest products through the supply chain to the end-consumer. Whenever you buy timber or timber products always look for the FSC logo.
The Woodland Trust seeks to use 100% recycled material for all its publications. However, where this is not possible, usually due to quality concerns, we use instead, paper derived from FSC certified forests. You will know if the paper has come from FSC certified forests because it will bear the FSC logo.
The Forest Stewardship Council’s logo
The Forest Stewardship Council’s ‘tick tree’ logo is used on product labels to indicate whether products are certified under the FSC system. When you see the FSC logo on a label you can buy timber and other wood products such as paper with confidence that you are not contributing to the destruction of the world's forests.
For more information, see the leaflet What is FSC? or visit the Forest Stewardship Council’s website at: www.fsc-uk.org
