THE FORUM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PAFC CONGO BASIN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS

In view of the regional workshop that is being held from 25 to 29 November in Libreville, the working group for the development of PAFC CB certification standards (The Forum) is now known.

Following the announcement of the regional workshop to develop the PAFC CB certification standards in last week’s newsletter, we are introducing in this edition, the Forum for the development of those Standards.

The International Technical Association of Tropical Timber (ATIBT) is leading the project « Implementation of a regional approach for the development of PAFC certification systems » started in June 2019.

The project covers Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Gabon and aims to create a regional certification scheme based on the criteria and requirements of PEFC, while integrating the needs and specificities of the context of the Congo Basin. Specifically, this project aims to:

– Develop harmonized regional certification standards for the three countries concerned, with a national annex for each country to take into account national specificities;

– Develop and operationalize a unified certification system at the level of the countries concerned by project activities.

In the frame of developing these certification standards for the Congo Basin PAFC system, the requirements listed in the procedure for the development of the PAFC Congo Basin Certification Standards (PAFC BC) call for the formation and implementation of a working group to develop these standards.

The working group is expected to bring together stakeholders from different interest groups in the 3 countries involved in this process. This working group is referred to as the PAFC Congo Basin Forum (or Forum).

WHAT IS THE FORUM?

The PAFC Congo Basin Forum (or Forum) is the cornerstone of the process of developing the PAFC Congo Basin forest certification standards. It is the temporary consultative body responsible for developing forest management and chain of custody standards by consensus.

OBJECTIVE AND MISSION OF THE FORUM

The Forum will recommend a final version of the consensually agreed certification standards of PAFC Congo Basin for approval by ATIBT.

As part of the process of developing the PAFC CB certification standards, two major regional consultation workshops will be held with Forum members to develop the PAFC BC standards in a consensual manner: the first (5 days) to develop a draft which will be submitted to an initial 60-day public consultation, the second to validate a final version of the standards to be submitted to ATIBT for approval. It is also planned to be able to exchange and consult each other by email or other means on intermediate versions of the standards.

During the first workshop to be held in Libreville from 25 to 29 November 2019, the first tasks of the Forum will be to:

– elect a Chairperson of the PAFC Forum;

– appoint a volunteer secretary;

– adopt definitively the procedure for the development of the PAFC CB certification standards modified, as appropriate, based on the comments received from the stakeholders.

During this workshop, Forum members will also:

– analyze the working documents on the certification standards developed by experts and made available to them two weeks in advance to have the opportunity to study them conscientiously;

– produce a first version of the PAFC CB standards to be submitted to the public consultation of the stakeholders.

PROCESS FOR SELECTING FORUM MEMBERS

The selection process for Forum members took place in 4 stages:

1. Identification of potential members of the Forum

This identification was done through the realization of stakeholder mapping in the 3 countries but also at regional level. The Stakeholders identified in these stakeholders mapping constituted the main pool of recipients to which the Call for Expression of Interest was sent.

An official announcement of the launch of the PAFC CB standards development process was made including a mail concomitantly sent by email to the stakeholders of each country identified in these stakeholders mapping to express their interest to be a member of the Forum or to participate in the process of standards development.

2. Analysis of expressions of interest

Expressions of interest were analyzed on the basis of considerations listed in the standard-setting procedure. The analysis of the expressions of interest and the related results indicating the selected and unselected stakeholders can be obtained by clicking here.

3. Choice of Forum members

At the end of the 3 steps above, the members of the Forum were chosen on the basis of the ranking obtained after analysis. The list of the stakeholders selected at the end of the process as members of the Forum can also be obtained by clicking here.

The report on the constitution of the Forum can also be obtained by
clicking here.