What Sets FSC Apart??

The Forest Stewardship Council is not the only forest certification system operating in North America, but it is unique among them. There are important differences between FSC and these other forest certification systems on a wide range of key environmental and social issues. These differences manifest in the ways real forests are managed, as well as the benefits they provide to society and the environment.

Table 1 highlights some key components of forest certification, why they matter, and how FSC delivers on-the-ground results

Key Component	Why it Matters	How FSC and FSC Standards Work
1. FSC is governed democratically	Who makes decisions and how decisions are made shapes every aspect of a certification system.	Membership-based organization, open to all organizations and individuals. Members elect the board of directors at the national and international levels and decide on policy and governance motions at a triennial General Assembly. A minority of members on the U.S. board only may be appointed to balance expertise.High-level decisions, such as global policy motions or changes to the Principles & Criteria, are made by a vote of the membership. A majority vote of each chamber is required to pass a motion or major standard revision.
2. FSC prohibits deforestation	Conversion of natural forest to plantation or non-forest use, deforestation, can cause substantial harm to biodiversity, atmospheric carbon levels, water quality, ecosystem function, and the rights of people who depend on the forest.	Prohibits deforestation, including conversion of natural forest to plantations. Exceptions may be approved in limited cases where there is very clear and lasting environmental benefit, such as where conversion and sale of a very small part of a management unit leads to investment and protection of higher conservation values on the rest of the land.
3. FSC requires forest growth to meet or exceed harvest	If harvest exceeds growth, biodiversity and ecological values associated with older forests and more complex forest ecosystems are typically diminished over time.	Requires forest growth to meet or exceed harvest at the plan-ning unit level over a rolling average of no more than 10 years to prevent cumulative depletion. There are exceptions allowed for small ownerships that harvest on a generational basis and for restoration purposes (e.g. on lands affected by a catastrophic fire or where poor past management has led to an ecologically problematic species mix).
4. FSC protects rare old growth and High Conservation Values	High Conservation Value Forests include rare old growth, large intact forests, and areas important to public health or traditional cultural identity.	Requires protection of ecological values associated with High Conservation Values (HCVs), including rare old growth. This includes a requirement to identify and protect the following: • Large intact forests and areas of concentrated biodiversity • Large forests with most or all species in natural patterns of abundance • Rare, threatened, or endangered ecosystems • Areas providing critical ecosystem services • Areas critical to basic needs, such as subsistence or public health • Areas important to traditional cultural identity of local com-munities Requires managers to map, maintain, and monitor defining attributes of HCVs, and to use the “precautionary approach” to prevent loss of defining attributes where there is uncertainty. Requires public consultation about HCVs and managers must provide a public summary of their HCV assessment and proposed management for conservation of identified HCVs.
5. FSC protects rare, threat-ened and endangered species	Federal and state laws protect only a portion of vulnerable species, typically not offering protections to species at risk of becoming threatened or endangered.	Requires protection of rare, threatened, and endangered (RTE) species, based on credible scientific analysis, assessments of potential impacts to RTE species prior to any harvest, and safeguards to protect and enhance RTE species. The definition of “rare” is extended beyond state and federal listings to include a broader suite of vulnerable species. This includes not just formally identified threatened and endangered species, but also species at risk of becoming threatened or endangered.
6. FSC limits clearcut size to protect forest ecology	Clearcuts— openings with few trees retained— that are larger than natural processes typically create (such as by wildfires or windstorms) can disrupt ecological processes and harm biodiversity.	Ecological functions and values must remain intact after harvest. Size limits for clearcuts exist in five of nine eco-regions in the U.S. and are based on forest types and the natural disturbance regimes associated with those forest types. In regions where there are no explicit size limits, FSC requires protecting or restoring forest stand habitat components, including large live trees, in an abundance and distribution associated with natural disturbance processes. Large clearcuts are never allowed where they threaten ecological integrity of the forest. For plantations, clearcuts are limited to a 40-acre average and an individual maximum of 80 acres in the U.S. Note: Allowable opening sizes are significantly larger in the Boreal forest of Canada, where wind and fire naturally cause large landscape level disturbances.
7. FSC restricts use of highly hazardous pesticides	Many toxic chemicals proven to harm human health and ecosystem function are legal and common in U.S. forestry, even when applied by aerial spraying from helicopters or airplanes.	Prohibits pesticides known to be highly hazardous, including specific pesticides that exceed thresholds of persistence, toxicity, carcinogenicity, bioaccumulation, and other human health and environmental concerns not covered by law. Based on site-specific justification, limited exceptions for some chemical applications are granted when no viable alternatives exist. Requires application by trained and qualified workers.
8. FSC protects indigenous peoples’ rights	Native peoples’ use forests for traditional and cultural reasons that may not be protected by state or federal laws.	Requires protection of indigenous peoples’ resources, rights—both legal and traditional— and areas of cultural significance. Requires outreach to tribal representatives. This applies to both public and private lands.
9. FSC requires stakeholder consultation on public and private lands	People in communities adjacent to forests—public and private—are impacted by forestry activities and have a stake in how they are managed.	Requires proactive stakeholder engagement and consultation—including community meetings and targeted outreach—and a public summary of the management plan on all lands, public and private. Includes a mandatory list of categories of stakeholders to consult for medium-to large-scale forest operators.