The Globalization Reader, 5th Edition

68 Forest Stewardship CouncilKristina Tamm Hallström Magnus Boström

A forest crisis, existing since the late 1970s, served as a background for the market-based initiatives in forest policy during the 1990s. Such threats as tropical deforestation and loss of old-growth forests in temperate and boreal zones, as well as threats to biodiversity, ecological functions, and the land rights of indigenous people, fuelled social movements in their targeting of forest-related industries during the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1995, the planet lost 7% to 8% of the world's total tropical forests, an area roughly the size of Mexico. Intensive and escalating campaigning eventually led to a concerted effort among social and environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), certain actors from forest-related industries, and a few other actors to establish the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The FSC was formally established in 1993 as an international nongovernmental association of individuals and organizations with the aim of promoting environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. The FSC has established a framework with principles and criteria from which accredited certification bodies can certify forests. Through chain-of-custody certification, the products that come from certified forests can be given the FSC label.

Fifteen years after its establishment, the FSC can report a positive trend in certified forests. By August 2008, ...