About the Controlled Wood
“Controlled wood” means wood or wood products from known origins and which are not coming from sources consider as unacceptable by FSC. Wood categories considered as being from unacceptable sources are:
- illegally harvested wood;
- wood harvested in violation of traditional and human rights;
- wood from forests in which high conservation values are threatened by management activities;
- wood from forests being converted to plantations and non-forest use;
- wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.
Necessary requirements, for ensuring avoiding materials from wood coming from sources considered unacceptable in the chain of custody of certified products, are established by the new Controlled Wood Standard FSC-STD-40-005 V3-0 in place since July 1, 2016.
“Due Diligence System” (DDS)
The Standard establish the adoption of a due diligence system (DDS), set up by the organizations to define measures and procedures to be implemented and maintained in order to assess and minimize the risk of materials coming from unacceptable sources.
“Due diligence” system has a risk based approach and includes the following basic elements: access to information, risk assessment, identified risk mitigation.
According to the new standard requirement on controlled wood, the assessment of the risk related to the wood origin for a specific supply area, shall be conducted by the interest organizations, only if it doesn’t exists already a risk evaluation in place approved by FSC (i.e. National Risk Assessment – NRA or Centralized National Risk Assessment – CNRA)
CNRA – Centralized National Risk Assessment
Centralized national risk assessment (CNRA) means the national risk assessment developed by the FSC International Center.
CNRA is an instrument developed by FSC® to cover at global level the risk assessments on “Controlled Wood”. The main objective of CNRA is the identification of low risk areas or specific risk for each of the fifth categories and, if appropriate, the measures considered for identified risks mitigation.
This approach support organizations (supporting some of their specific obligations) and in the same time ensures an objective and harmonized risk determination through a transparent and participatory process.
The CNRA process in Romania
The CNRA process in Romania is supervised by the Policies and Standards Unit within the FSC International. The identification and assessment of the risks is outsourced to independent experts (selected by FSC) with specific relevant experience for each category:
Category 1 – NEPCon;
Category 2 – Wolfgang Richert Consulting and Leo van der Vlist;
Category 3 – NEPCon;
Category 4 – NEPCon;
Category 5 – NEPCon;
As a FSC partner in this process, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme Romania supports the development of CNRA by facilitating a participatory and transparent process so that stakeholders can be involved in determining the risks for Romania.
So far, WWF organized two seminars with the participation of NEPCon representatives and national level key stakeholders (representing the three areas: economic, social and environmental), in terms of identifying the needed elements for assessing the adaptation to national conditions.
The CNRA Report (FSC-CNRA-RO version V1-0 EN), subject to consultation, is developed by the CNRA experts mentioned above.
Next steps
All comments submitted by the public in the consultation process will be taken into account in the analysis that will be later performed by CNRA experts.
They will form the basis for CNRA developments that will be further analyze and approve by the FSC International Policy and Standards Unit. The CNRA approval and publication for Romania is estimated for September 2017.
Applicability
The specified risks and the mitigation measures provided in CNRA will become applicable for all FSC chain of custody certified organizations that are sourcing material without FSC claim that does not come from unacceptable sources and who wish to sell FSC Controlled Wood and / or FSC Mix products.
Centralized National Risk Assessment for Controlled Wood (CNRA) becomes applicable to all companies that want to sell FSC® Mix certified products – which contains controlled wood. Compliance with CNRA provisions will be assessed by Certification Bodies during the audit process.
Utility
CNRA and Controlled Wood certification represent an effective tool to combat illegal logging and promote sustainable management for High Conservation Value Forests.
CNRA can also be used by operators to develop their own due diligence system (DDS), to implement the provisions of EU Regulation concerning the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market (EU Timber Regulation no. 995/2010).
