Can you remember where you were in June 1992? I was at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Here, government officials, businesses and NGO representatives from around the world got together to solve some of the world’s biggest issues at the time. Unsurprisingly, achieving sustainable management and protection of the world’s tropical forests were high on the agenda.
But despite much lip service, nothing binding was agreed. Tension between Europe and North America and developing countries meant the governments simply couldn’t agree on how to deal with forest management internationally.
As a member of the Danish delegation at the summit, I witnessed firsthand a sense of latency. But – all was not lost. Where the governments had failed, the market decided to do something about forest protection; to take action.
This action was assumed by a number of hot-headed environmentalists, socially oriented individuals and eco-conscious companies, who came together to thrash out the matter. Shortly after, in 1994, FSC was born …
That’s not to say that it’s all been plain sailing since. My first engagement with FSC in 1995 or 1996 was a visit to the UK. Some FSC enthusiasts wanted to show me what they had achieved – creating a couple of hectares, maybe a few hundred trees, of certified forest and a small sawmill to go with it. Groundbreaking, yes. But, as an outsider, my question was: what is this going to add up to?
Even though FSC went on to secure some big certifications in Bolivia, and gain engagement from Swedish industry, from the outside, it still looked like it wouldn’t amount to much.
But in 2012, my perception was proven very wrong. When I was approached to potentially join FSC, I realised that what I had initially thought of as a European niche, had taken off globally. When I looked into what FSC had become, I was truly astonished at the progress. Between 2007 and 2012, FSC almost doubled its area of certified forests from 80 million to 150 million hectares (now, 180 million). And we had issued five times as many certificates in 2012 as in 2007.
Another milestone was IKEA, the world’s now largest furniture retailer, committing to FSC. Now, it is one of the world’s largest buyers of FSC-certified wood. Great strides indeed.
Celebrating FSC’s success and triumph over adversity. Now not only as an insider, but as a true advocate of FSC’s ability to take a niche matter and give it widespread appeal.