The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) recently held a Dialogue under “Malaysia’s Forest for All Forever” on Tuesday which allows media, businesses and forest managers as well as worker unions, environmental and indigenous community representatives to openly deliberate on the FSC’s forest certification scheme in this country. 

The FSC scheme is the most recognised by global markets, most trusted and supported by environmental organisations and provides a much-used platform for conflict resolution.

Alongside the deliberation of the forest certification scheme, the topics such as  the opportunities, challenges and future of Malaysia’s forest industry were discussed as FSC introduced their work in the country.

“There is no other certification scheme in the world that is performance-based, is consistent in its application and has a governance system that lends credibility across the world.

“If what the forest industry needs is just certification, then there is no need for the FSC.

“But what the industry really needs is an independent assurance of legality and sustainability. It needs verification. Only the most widely credible, and widely trusted standard, can provide this,” said Anthony Sebastian, FSC International Board Director.   

Recently, FSC Malaysia concluded the final nationwide stakeholder consultation on the National Forest Stewardship Standard, or the Malaysian standard for FSC certification. 

The consultation brought together economic, social and environmental stakeholders from Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, and received full endorsement for a final standard for Malaysia.    

 “Each and every one of FSC’s 56 criteria has verifiers that are developed by all national stakeholders in the country where the audit takes place.

“ For the Forestry Department in Sabah, we take this as an endorsement of our forest management practices by all citizens of Malaysia. We aim to add at least one new FSC-certified forest each year,” said Musa Salleh, Representative of the Sabah Forestry Department.

The Dialogue was led by a set of panelists from the Sabah Forestry Department, the largest certificate holder in Malaysia; Tetra Pak Malaysia, a global supplier of FSC-certified packaging products; JAOS, Malaysia’s network of indigenous organisations and FSC International Board of Directors.  

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