Enter the 1990’s. As the global need for timber continued to rise unabated, so too did the demand for proper management and oversight of this crucial industry, largely because an accepted, universal standard didn’t exist – and governments the world over were at a loss as to how to establish one.
Thankfully, in 1993, the Forestry Stewardship Council was born, and within 10 short years the non-profit organization was able to certify more than 40 million hectares of forestry as being managed in a responsible and sustainable way.
But how did certification change the furniture industry, of all things?
The truth is it has a lot to do with the rise in consumer demand for eco-friendly products. FSC membership, which is strictly on a volunteer basis, leads to FSC certification; something the knowledgeable consumer has come to look for when purchasing everything from raw building materials to office furniture. In short, FSC certification has become a highly marketable designation, so it’s in a furniture manufacturer’s best interest to source their materials from responsible growers. After all, any reasonable consumer, if forced to choose between a product that is FSC certified and one that isn’t, will more often than not choose the former.
How Impactful Has The Forest Stewardship Council Become?
To properly illustrate just how great of an impact the FSC has on the furniture industry, we need only look back to 2014. IKEA, the multi-national home solutions conglomerate (and consequently, an entity responsible for purchasing nearly 1% of the world’s timber), had their FSC certification overturned for a number of violations – including the harvesting of old growth trees in the Karelia Forest in Russia.
While Swedwood, a subsidiary of the IKEA brand did have a logging permit to harvest in the area, old growth trees were strictly off-limits (largely because these types of trees are not renewable). In spite of this explicit exclusion, the ancient trees were felled all the same. When these violations came to light, IKEA’s FSC certification was pulled – resulting in the furniture giant’s frantic pursuit to reinstate certification. IKEA’s determination to address the violations speaks volumes to just how impactful the FSC is – if it can bring a billion dollar enterprise to its knees, it evidently has some clout.
The FSC Is Far From Perfect
While good intentioned and founded on the ideals that industry and the environment can co-exist, the Forest Stewardship Council is not without its flaws.
The first, and perhaps the most problematic, has to do with conflict of interest.
Those performing assessments of logging operations in the field are paid to do so by the companies they are assessing. A logical person can conclude that given that assessors receive financial compensation for conducting assessments, it is beneficial for the assessor to provide a glowing review, in order to increase their chances of being hired again. This lack of independent review has many in the industry questioning the legitimacy of the certification.
The second refers to times when companies are not complying with the FSC’s criteria. Rather than being forced to immediately remove the FSC label from their products, the assessor can issue the company a corrective action. This allows the company to continue to use the FSC designation even though their actions have been deemed non-compliant. This can result in consumers purchasing from a company who they believe to be harvesting timber in a responsible way when in fact they aren’t.
What Can You Do As A Consumer?
Buying a wooden end table for your home is one thing, but if you’ve been charged with the responsibility of replacing your office’s furniture with say, eco-friendly adjustable height workstations, you can do more to ensure the materials used to manufacture the furniture was harvested in an eco-friendly way. For example, look beyond the FSC logo on the website and dig deeper.
If a company is selling FSC certified products, you can follow the lumber back to the source area from which it was harvested. This allows you to investigate whether or not this producer is working through a corrective action and whether or not it has ever had its FSC certification removed. Taking additional steps can help you to weed out potential non-compliers and ensure the furniture you purchase is truly from an organization that values sustainability and proper forestry management.
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