Following a thorough review of comments received from the Draft 2 public consultation and feedback from the comprehensive standard testing phase, FSC Canada, and the Standard Development Group have been busy revising the standard for the third and final draft.
To help understand the changes, FSC Canada has put together a document which summarizes the key changes and provides a rationale behind the changes to Draft 2 of the FSC Canada Forest Management Standard. A final draft of the Standard (pre-approved version) will become publicly available in spring 2018.
Key Changes include:
- Disputes (Criteria 1.6, 2.6, 4.6, 7.6)
- Identification of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and Free, Prior & Informed Consent (Criteria 3.1 & 3.2)
- Landscape Management (Indicator 6.1.3, Criterion 6.8)
- Structure of Criterion 6.3
- Woodland Caribou (Indicator 6.4.3)
- Conservation Areas Network (Criterion 6.5)
- Management Plans (Indicator 7.2.2)
- Monitoring (Criterion 8.2)
- Pesticides (Criterion 10.7)
Final draft submitted for final approval
These changes have been adapted and placed into a final draft which was approved by the Standards Development Group and FSC Canada Board of Directors in early 2018. The final draft has now been sent to FSC International for final approval. It is important to note that further changes to the Standard may be required by FSC International.
Download the full summary of changes here.
What happens once the standard is approved?
As of the effective date, Certificate holders will have 1 year to transition to the new standard. Within the transition period, certificate holders can choose to be audited to the current forest management standards or the revised National Forest Management Standard. But all certificate holders will be evaluated against the revised National Forest Management Standard within 1 year.
FSC Canada will support certificate holders and certification bodies with the transition and implementation of the revised standard once additional information has been provided by FSC International. A series of webinars and other support documents will be released in the coming months to help prepare for the transition.
For more information visit our website.