This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at No hay madera española certificada en el mercado

Forest industries are demanding both administration and the owners who are seriously involved in this certification

There is no Spanish wood certified in the market

Source: Aspapel, Anfta and Confemadera29/09/2009

September 29, 2009

Pastero-papelera, the Board and the wood and furniture, industries represented by Aspapel, Anfta and Confemadera have signed a 'manifesto of environmental commitment with the forest certification', fact public during the celebration of the V Spanish Forestry Congress, held in Ávila from 21 to 25 September.

The manifesto denounced the lack of Spanish wood certified in the market and urges the Administration and forest owners to engage seriously in the process of certification, as forest industries have already done.

It should be noted that consumers demand certified forest products and the Government contributes to this demand through its policy of public procurement, but the Spanish forest industries - which have already made a great effort to certify the chains of custody at its plants - not can now handle this growing social demand due to the lack of wood Spanish certified in the market. For this reason, they are forced to import it, with the consequent deterioration of forest exploitation and employment derived from the same in the Spanish mountains, in addition to the extra costs and loss of competitiveness for the industry, especially in a situation of serious economic crisis like the present.

The lack of certified wood obliges importing large amount of it, with the additional cost involved and the lack of competitiveness of the Spanish industry. Photo: Yali Shi.

Only 7% of the Spanish forest area is certified

In the case of pulp and paper industry, 100% of the chains of custody of pastero-papeleras factories are certified at least one of the two major systems of forest certification in Spain (PEFC and FSC); but now they find that there is no Spanish certified wood in the market, so that only 9% of the Spanish wood used is certified. In Europe, however, the percentage of certified wood that currently employs the industry - Yes you have certified in their respective national markets - wood is 59%.

The case of the wood and furniture industries, board manufacturing industries have, for example, certified by at least a certification system 100% of the chains of custody of its production plants, and the rest of subsectors, (manufacturers of parquet, importers, plates or furniture and/or garden, for example, making a special mention to the sawmill, whose effort to become a link in the chain that allows circular wood certified towards the second transformation,) have a high percentage of certified facilities. However, all these companies who have acquired an environmental commitment with the mountain, with a great effort, see the percentages of certified wood that can be used are minimal, due to this serious deficit of national certified wood.

In Spain, despite having with - own certification systems - instruments and legislation that recommends its implementation, the fact is that forest certification is not making progress: only 7% of the Spanish forest area is certified and not everything is productive mount, while for the whole of Europe the ratio is about 30%.

Autonomous regions, the situation is very diverse, and include the paradoxical case of Galicia, where item is 50% of the wood extracted in Spain and where only 7% of the forested area is certified.

While only 7% of the Spanish forest area is certified, in the whole of Europe the ratio is situated about 30%. Photo: Amanda Toy.

Distribution by autonomous communities.

The absence of effective and Agile management tools is - according to Aspapel, Anfta and Confemadera - the key stumbling block that prevents the development of forest certification in Spain. The proportion of mountains with existing management tool is very small - less than 20%-, for fragmented properties management tools are inadequate and cumbersome and standards or indicators with which is has to audit forest management are difficult to implement.

Forest industries proposed, to promote forest certification, the following measures:

That forest ownership and management prepared with emergency management plans for the productive masses.
That the forestry sector and the administration designed simple management plans adapted to Spanish reality, with many properties very fragmented.
That certification systems comply with the standards to make compatible the ecological aspects with the economic and social.
That the Administration find public aid for owners willing to implement the forest certification.

Forest industries recognize the effectiveness and usefulness of the forest certification as a tool that improves and promotes forest management, as an instrument of market, as a requirement on green purchases and as collaborator measure against illegal logging, but argue that the certification will not succeed if the current commitment of the industry is not accompanied by of a commitment joint industry, forest ownership and management.

To these partnerships, the lack of effective and Agile management tools is the main obstacle that prevents the development of forest certification in Spain. Photo: Patrick Bürgler.