ARTE.TV recently published a documentary titled Who is Protecting our Forests?
From ARTE.TV:
The Forest Stewardship Council is the international organisation which sets standards on timber products to make sure that the world’s forests are managed responsibly. But does the organisation really protect the biodiversity of our forests? A documentary looking at the many grey areas and irregularities of the FSC ecolabel.
The film, which was directed by Manfred Ladwig and Thomas Reutter, is in German but includes English subtitles.
From FSC Watch:
The journalists Manfred Ladwig and Thomas Reutter travel to several countries to investigate what FSC certification looks like on the ground, and whether it protects the forests and the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities that live in and near the forest.
The journalists visit indigenous pygmy villages in the Republic of Congo, where the villagers are going hungry because they are no longer allowed to hunt in IFO’s FSC-certified logging concession.
They track illegal timber from Cambodia transported to Vietnam. From there, via FSC-certified timber yards it is exported to Europe and the rest of the world. There is no way of telling whether timber carrying an FSC label from Vietnam was illegally logged in Cambodia.
In Peru, Ladwig and Reutter investigate the operations of Bozovich Timber Products. The company is FSC-certified and supported by the German government. They discover that the scale of illegal logging in Peru is vast. Falsified documents make it impossible to tell whether timber exported from Peru is legal or illegal. Including timber with the FSC label.
Fore more information or to get involved, please visit: FSC Watch