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Non-timber
forest products
Although FSC
certification can apply to non-timber forest products, there are
no actual guidelines for certification bodies to help them assess
their production and harvest in a consistent fashion. A NTFP working
group has held a workshop on the issue in Oaxaca, Mexico, after
the FSC Annual General Meeting, in November 2000. Among other
items on their agenda, they discussed the content of a working
document that proposes such guidelines (52
Kb).
Also, Pat
Mallet, of the Falls
Brook Centre, has recently published a paper
on NTFP certification in the Forest,
Trees and People newsletter.
Mallet,
Pat. 2000. Non-timber forest products certification Ð Challenges
and opportunities. Forests, Trees and People Newsletter
No. 43
Synopsis: The
mention of certification these days evokes passionate responses
from many people concerned about forestry. Certification is
seen by some as the panacea that will bring about much needed
reform in natural resources sectors, while others are vehemently
opposed to this form of voluntary regulation as an unnecessary
barrier to trade. Whatever the opinion, certification has
become the hot topic in many natural resource sectors. The
harvest of non-timber forest products has recently been drawn
into this debate and become a topic of interest for a range
of certification programmes.
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