Some Analytics and Implications of Eco - Labeling

Concern over the condition of the world’s forests has led to proposals for new standards of sustainable forest management, the argument being that new practices will enhance the overall viability of the forests. Although the initial concerns focused on the problem of high rates of deforestation in the tropics, in recent years much of the attention has been refocused on the temperate forests of the world. One set of proposals has resulted in a series of multinational national protocols and agreements. These include the Helsinki Agreement, among the ministers of European countries, and the Montreal process and Santiago Declaration among many non European temperate countries. These protocols commit countries to work toward increasing their efforts for sustainable forestry. Another approach involves various industry-led approaches for introducing new, more sustainable practices, including, for example, utilizing international certification organizations such as the International Standards Organization (ISO). Finally, there are proposals that call for the certification of forest management practices and the monitoring of the onthe-ground performance of individual producers. Such an approach involves developing criteria for sustainable management, adapted for unique regional factors, and the extensive use of teams of third-party certifiers. Wood harvested from these forests would be certified by a third party as produced in sustainable managed forests. Such wood would then be eligible for use in the production of products designed as “ecolabed.” Ecolabeling, however, would require a “chain-of-custody,” which would insure that the wood produced in a sustainable forest would reach the market untainted with noncertified wood.