Problem:

Irresponsible logging and forest destruction has robbed the Planet of a Nature-based carbon capture system. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, half of the world’s forests have already been altered, degraded, destroyed or converted into other land uses. Much of the remaining forests today suffer from illegal exploitation and otherwise poor management.

Solution:

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo on a wood or wood based product is your assurance that it is made with, or contains wood that comes from FSC certified forests or from post-consumer waste. There are three types of FSC label: 100%, FSC Mix or FSC Recycled.

FSC grew out of the International Tropical Timber Agreement (1983), the Convention of International Trade on Endangered Species (1975) and the Global Environment Facility (1991). After 18 months of consultation in ten different countries, the Forest Stewardship Council was finally established in 1993 in the forested region of Oaxaca, Mexico. In 1995, the US chapter of the FSC was established, and is now headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2003, the FSC Secretariat it was relocated to Bonn, Germany.

Since its inception, FSC has gone from strength to strength. FSC Chain-of-Custody certification traces the path of products from forests through the supply chain, verifying that FSC-certified material is identified or kept separated from non-certified material throughout the chain. The number of certificates issued in both forest management and chain of custody, have increased exponentially, passing a total of 20,000 Chain of Custody certificates in 2011, and a further total of 30,000 in 2016. (fsc.org)

What you can do: If you a considering building something or having something built in wood, make sure that it has the FSC certificate.

Discover Solution 165: 4IR industrial revolution

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