ukrainian news - 20.11.2006
Forest certification — a guarantee in public procurement
Our experiences prove that forest certification, when used in an
appropriate manner, can serve as a good guideline for public
procurement, says the Norwegian Forest Owners' Federation in a
statement to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment. The Ministry is
currently working on an action plan for environmental and social
responsibility in public procurement.
The Forest Owners' Federation points out that the Norwegian forest
owners' co-operative covers 80 % of total timber sales in Norway and
that the co-operative is an important factor in respect of all wood and
forest based products that public authorities, agencies and
organizations purchase.
All production and forest management under the co-operative's auspices
is environment certified. We warmly welcome an action plan for public
procurement, which supports the important work made in Norway for the
purpose of guaranteeing good forest management, says the Forest Owners'
Federation.
The Federation has opted for PEFC certification because Norway needs a
system well adapted to the country's forest ownership structure, which
is characterized by small forest holdings managed in combination with
agriculture.
Our experiences prove that forest certification, when used in an
appropriate manner, can serve as a good guideline for public
procurement, despite the fact that market based certification systems
may raise certain questions of principle in respect of decision making
and responsibility in public administration, says the Federation in its
letter to the Ministry. The Federation also emphasizes that public
procurement systems must not result in barriers to trade, nor must they
constitute a disadvantage for renewable resources in competition with
non-renewable ones.
It is very important that the use of PEFC or other certification
systems does not lead to "trade wars", but that they result in genuine
promotion of environmental values. In other countries we can see
indications that individual organizations and "consultants" prioritise
their own narrow political interests rather than sustainable
development. We also emphasize that in the Norwegian action plan for
public procurement similar arrangements in other countries shall be
taken into account. The Federation says that overlapping and parallel
public procurement systems must be avoided for the purpose of
preventing distortions of international competition.
The Federation takes a very sceptical attitude to the World Bank's
guidelines for evaluating certification systems. Those guidelines are
not appropriate for evaluating sustainability in Europe or in Norway.
The Federation strongly advises against the application of those
guidelines in Norwegian certification systems.
It also emphasizes that existing tools and criteria for evaluating
sustainability shall be used in the action plan as far as possible in
order to avoid duplication and unnecessary creation of new systems. The
Federation finally underlines that promotion of sustainability must be
based on proven and well working systems in order to avoid any
unnecessarily waste of resources by establishing bureaucratic
procedures, which are detrimental to practical environment conservation
work.
See also:
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- — "IKEA" multiplies the purchase of raw material in Ukraine
- — Within 10 months in 2006 Ukraine increased output volume for publishing and polygraphic production on 9.5%
- — From 15 of November, in Rivne will pass auctions on the sale of resources of untilled wood
- — On the 22 of Nowember 2006, in Winnitca the auction of wood timber will take a place