20 May 2009 - Yaoundé,
Cameroon — The Congo Basin is now home to
over four million hectares (ha) of sustainably
managed forests following certification
by the Forest Stewardship Council of numerous
locations in the region.
WWF’s Global Forest
and Trade Network (GFTN), together with
it’s Central African participants, contributed
to this milestone through the certification
of over two million ha of forests managed
by SEFAC, Transformation Reef Cameroon,
PALLISCO and WIJMA in Cameroon and Industrie
Forestière d’Ouesso (IFO) in the
Republic of Congo, the latter of which was
responsible for contributing 1.16 million
ha of this newly certified land.
Richard McLellan, Head
of GFTN, affirmed this recent advancement
for responsible forestry;
“While we recognize
that there is still much to be done to achieve
sustainable forest management in the Congo’s
globally significant forests, we applaud
IFO’s efforts to develop a responsible forest
management worthy of the FSC seal.”
“We will continue to
support IFO to ensure that their forest
management practices are of highest standard
in all places.”
Presently, IFO’s certified
forest concession is recognized as the largest
area awarded FSC certification in the continent.
“This is a major milestone
in our efforts to progressively increase
our production and trade of FSC-certified
products,” says Olof von Gagern, Danzer
Group CEO for Africa and Veneer Europe,
of which IFO is a subsidiary. “It boosts
our motivation to increase our efforts towards
the certification of our concessions in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
Coupled with this announcement,
total FSC certification has now been achieved
for forestry operations on 4.6 million hectares
in the Congo Basin since December 2005.
This represents about
a tenth of forests allocated for logging.
This significant milestone
reached by GFTN-Central Africa Participants,
indicates a clear sign of the African forestry
industry’s desire to implement strategies
to protect Congo Basin forests that are
vital to global climate regulation, biodiversity
and the rights and welfare of indigenous
peoples,” concludes McLellan.
The progress demonstrated
by GFTN-Central Africa Participants marks
a significant step towards WWF’s Green Heart
of Africa Network Initiative goal of achieving
forest certification for 7 million ha by
2012, with another 5 million ha progressing
towards credible certification.
“The certification of
IFO is another success for FSC in the Congo
Basin. This is an important focal area for
us and we are glad to see the amount of
continuous progress,” said Andre de Freitas,
FSC Executive Director.
“To reach FSC’s standards
requires demanding changes in forestry practices
and we congratulate IFO for their achievement.”
The achievements and
momentum gained from recent achievements
in responsible forest management in the
Congo Basin are influencing both policy
and business practices, and the Republic
of Congo recently joined the a voluntary
partnership agreement with the EU to ensure
the legality of its timber exports.
+ More
WWF Statement on the
Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
20 May 2009 - WWF is
currently one of the targets of a letter
writing campaign by NGOs, including Friends
of the Earth, Fern, and ASEED, criticizing
its participation in the RTRS, which they
accuse of encouraging soy monoculture production
and promoting Genetically Modified Soy (GM)
soy as being “responsible”.
In a letter to RTRS
members dated April 2009, various organizations
have called for members to abandon the RTRS.
Soy cultivation and
its impacts
Soy is a crop that provides both edible
oil and livestock protein feed (soy meal).
The global demand for
soy is rising rapidly, driven by the growing
need for livestock feed to satisfy the world’s
increased appetite for meat, chicken and
dairy products.
Most of the recent industry
growth has taken place in the subtropical
and tropical regions of Latin America.
Recently, additional
demand has originated from the bioenergy
sector, which has identified soy as a potential
alternative to replace fossil fuels for
transport and energy, and by shortages of
other edible oils used for food and fuel
(such as rapeseed oil).
Soy expansion in Latin
America has more than doubled (from 18 million
hectares in 1995 to 40 million hectares
in 2005). Having expanded globally on average
4.3% yearly from 1996 to 2006, the rapid
expansion of intensive (monoculture) soy
production has had serious environmental
impacts from habitat conversion (loss of
forests and savannahs) and soil degradation,
to excessive water and pesticide use.
Social impacts include
conflicts over land-rights and inequitable
labour conditions.
Because of its high
degree of mechanization, large-scale soy
farming is not very labour-intensive, often
resulting in only seasonal, low-paying jobs
for the local population.
About the Round Table
on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
RTRS is a multi-stakeholder initiative established
in 2005, with the following objectives:
Facilitate a global
dialogue on soy that is economically viable,
socially equitable and environmentally sound.
Reach consensus among key stakeholders and
players linked to the soy industry.
Act as Forum to develop and promote a standard
of sustainability for the production, processing,
trading and use of soy.
Act as an internationally recognized forum
for the monitoring of global soy production
in terms of sustainability.
Mobilize diverse sectors interested in participating
in the Round Table process and organize
International Round Table Conferences on
Responsible Soy on a periodical basis
The RTRS is developing
a voluntary standard for responsible soy
production and encouraging buyers of soy
products to direct their purchasing to suppliers
that comply with this standard.
WWF is a founding member
of the RTRS and is currently represented
on the Executive Board.
The Roundtable format
enables stakeholders to have an open dialog
on how to mitigate environmental impacts
and improve production practices.
WWF does not agree with
all the viewpoints presented, nor do we
endorse the positions of all the stakeholders.
However, WWF believes that by developing
standards with other stakeholders, we can
have a far greater impact than by refusing
to participate.
WWF clearly accepts
that the RTRS, alone, will not solve the
vast array of concerns raised in the letter.
The scope of concern
ranges from the local politics of governance,
land-use policy and indigenous peoples’
rights, through to complex questions about
a “one-planet” global economy, such as the
sustainability of the world’s appetite for
soy-fed meat.
The RTRS isn’t a magic
bullet that can deal with all these issues,
however it can play a role in encouraging
better management practices in soy production
and reducing the industry’s environmental
and social impacts in producer countries.
The RTRS and Genetically
Modified Soy (GM soy)
The RTRS is currently "technology neutral"
meaning that both GM and non-GM technologies
can meet the RTRS standard, along with other
technologies such as organic production.
The signatories to the
letter are concerned at the prospect of
GM soy being marketed as a “responsible”
form of production.
This is an obvious consequence
of a technology neutral standard.
However, while the RTRS
standards in development (at the time of
writing the RTRS General Assembly has not
yet ratified a standard) do not bar GM production,
they do address many of the social and environmental
concerns cited in the letter.
For example, the letter
expresses concern over use of the herbicide
“glyphosate”. This chemical tends to be
associated with zero-till farming methods
(zero till has the positive effect of reducing
soil erosion, but relies on herbicides rather
than mechanical cultivation to control weeds).
This farming method is often associated
with “Round-up Ready” Soy (a GM variety
of soy). The RTRS proposed standard includes
a specific provision requiring producers
(both GM and non-GM) to prevent drift of
agro-chemicals to neighbouring areas and
requires them to eliminate use of the “dirty
dozen” most toxic agro-chemicals.
WWF’s position on GMOs
and RTRS
WWF’s position on GM organisms includes:
A moratorium on use
or release of GMOs into the general environment
until ecological interactions are fully
researched and safeguards put in place
Regulatory frameworks for environmental
use and release of GMOs should support the
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
Transparent, comprehensive environmental
impact assessment of planned releases into
the environment
Avoidance of additional impacts through
genetic modifications
The control of gene technology
See the full WWF Policy on GM.
If the RTRS principles
and criteria included a prohibition on the
use of GMs, their potential application
would be restricted to the limited proportion
of global production (estimated at 30%)
that is GM-free. This would limit the potential
of the RTRS to address impacts of GM soy
production as well.
For this reason, WWF
believes that the RTRS criteria should apply
to all production technologies, including
use of GM soy.
WWF offices in Europe
have a history of promoting GM-free soy,
as evidenced by their development and promotion
of the Basel Criteria for Responsible Soy
(a scheme that was developed in advance
of the RTRS), and will continue to do so.
WWF will explore and
promote options for identifying and labeling
RTRS soy that is non-GM.
Options include an optional
protocol within RTRS for those who want
to verify that soy is non-GM or use of systems
already operating in some national markets
to identify non-GM products.
The RTRS and habitat
loss
The RTRS members have so far not been able
to agree on measures or criteria to discourage
expansion of soy cultivation where this
involves the conversion of natural habitats.
WWF believes urgent
action is needed to resolve the impasse
on this issue before the RTRS principles
and criteria are presented for ratification.
WWF is working within
the RTRS to ensure that the RTRS standard
contains strong criteria for the protection
of biodiversity and other environmental
and social values threatened by the indiscriminate
expansion of soy production.
