Entry into force of FSC national standards in 3 Congo Basin countries

The revised national forest management standards of Cameroon and Gabon apply to all types and sizes of forests (FMUs, communal forests, community forests) and to forest plantations. These standards do not apply to non-timber forest products. The revision process consisted mainly of adapting the FSC Principles and Criteria version 5 and including important indicators related to intact forest landscapes (IFLs), timber tracking, International Labor Organization (ILO) core conventions, the promotion of women, as well as strengthening indicators related to workers' rights, indigenous peoples' rights and local communities, among others.

This process began with the creation of standards development groups (SDGs) in each of the countries involved. The approval and publication of the revised standards for the different countries took place as follows:

CAMEROON

The revised national standard of Cameroon was approved and published by FSC on September 28, 2020. Its implementation became effective on December 29, 2020.

REPUBLIC OF CONGO

For the Republic of Congo, its standard was approved and published on October 6, 2020 and its implementation came into effect on January 6, 2021.

REPUBLIC OF GABON

Launched as part of the policy to mainstream responsible forest management certification, the FSC national standard for Gabon was approved and published on December 15, 2020 and its implementation came into effect on March 15, 2021.

It is important to note that these new national standards have been simplified and better adapted to the specific context of each country to facilitate not only their use by forest concession managers but also their understanding by auditors. These standards have also been aligned with the legality requirements of the VPA-FLEGT agreements for countries where these agreements have been signed (Cameroon and Republic of Congo).

FSC welcomes the completion of these national standards and encourages forest concession managers to comply with them to increase the added value of their forest products on national and international markets.

FSC would particularly like to thank its various partners involved in promoting responsible forest management in the Congo Basin and especially the members and experts of the FSC Standards Development Groups in the countries concerned for their availability during the long period of revision of the national FSC standards.

Contact

If you have any questions about the new standards, please contact:

For Cameroon: Professor Roger Ngoufo, Chair of the FSC National Standard Development Group: ngoufocew08@yahoo.fr

For the Republic of Congo: Inès Gady Strarov Cabare Mvoukani, Chair of the FSC National Standard Development Group: inesgady@yahoo.fr

For the Republic of Gabon: Mr. Emmanuel Bayani, Chair of the FSC National Standard Development Group: e.bayani1968@gmail.com/ scoutgabon@yahoo.fr