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International Forest Certification Systems And Theoretical Studies And Policy Suggestions For China's Forest Certification

Posted on:2004-08-20Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:S YanFull Text:PDF
GTID:1116360122960623Subject:Forestry Economics and Management
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First the thesis discusses the concepts of forest certification and holds that the forest certification concepts are different for various certification systems. Currently there exist four kinds of forest certification, those are the certification based on the performance standards, the certification based on the environmental management system standards, the certification based on the combination of the above two standards and the certification for the non-wood forest products. According to the author's research, three parts are regarded as the bases for the forest certification: the international processes in developing the standards and indicators for the sustainable forest management, the arising of green consuming movement and the standardization ant its certification. The thesis systematically analyses and studies the internationally important forest certification system - Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and introduces its organizational structure, principles and criteria, administration patterns and national initiatives. One of the major findings in this research is that the national initiatives are the main support for the FSC. Two vital tasks of FSC - popularizing the commissions of FSC in the world and developing the national or regional forest certification standards - should rely upon the national initiatives. For the first time at home, the thesis probes the issues of the implementation of Environmental Management System (EMS) in forest organizations. The author puts forward the principal requirements and certification procedures for the establishment and implementation of EMS in the forest management enterprises. In the thesis, two chief regional forest certification systems, the Pan European Forest Certification System (PEFC) and American Forest & Thesis Association's Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), are introduced and analyzed as well.The second part of the thesis is the researches on the theories and legal environment that China needs to carry out the forest certification and the policy suggestions. The author points out that the sustainable forest management theories and the international trade theories are the foundation for the certification. Additionally the regional forest management, forest's multi values, forest's multi produces, cleaner production, moderate consuming and standardization are the supporting theories. Based on the experiences of the global forest certification and the theoretical study achievements, the thesis suggests that China should pay attention to at least the following aspects while making its forest certification policies. 1) China should create a social environment for the forest certification, for examples broadlypopularizing the importance of certification and developing and increasing the social demands for the certified products. 2) Some theory problems should be further studied, such as the history of international forest certification, the relationship between the SFM and certification, the adaptability of relevant laws and regulations in the certification, the mutual influences of forest certification standards and other standards, and the effects of certification. 3) China should pay equal attention to the researches on the comparatively mature and influential forest certification systems. One of the urgent tasks is to develop the regional certification standards, which are extremely important for both the FSC system and the other performance-based systems or performance-and-EMS-based systems. On the other hand, the government, especially the State Forest Administration, should start the work of implementation of ISO EMS standards in forestry sector as early as possible. 4) China should pay a close attention to the future development of the regional and national certification systems and adopt a prudent policy on the development of China's own forest certification schemes.
Keywords/Search Tags:forest certification, FSC system, Environment Management System, certification theory, certification policy
PDF Full Text Request
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