By adopting Motion 30 (or initiative), the FSC certification system will attempt to stamp out the fraud observed in connection with the origin of timber. This, in the FSC's view, "historic decision" is regarded as the best opportunity to eradicate fraudulent dealings in timber, because Motion 30 provides for the introduction of digital traceability and a transformation of the integrity of global trade.

High hopes are pinned on the introduction of Motion 30 within the FSC certification system, as it could help eliminate a trade in illegally sourced timber worth many billions of dollars. A study by the organisation Earthsight (https://www.zemeunvalsts.lv/vai-fsc-rikosies-saistiba-ar-miljardu-dolaru-vertu-krapsanu-sava) indicates that timber traders are involved in the unlawful use of FSC (and also PEFC) certificates in order to circumvent sanctions and sell illegally sourced timber.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the self-proclaimed "gold standard of forestry", has adopted a new initiative that should have a substantial impact on the market for timber and forestry products in future. This initiative, or Motion 30, adopted just under three weeks ago, will make it possible to use digital information, including blockchain technology and volume control, to improve the monitoring of and compliance with stringent certification requirements.

According to Preferred by Nature, one of the world's largest forestry certification bodies, accredited to carry out FSC audits, the motion "is very important in making certification more transparent, more secure and better suited to an environment of digital traceability and deforestation regulation.

Motion 30 was one of 48 motions submitted for consideration at the FSC General Assembly in Panama; 28 were adopted (among them Motion No. 37* "Advancing certification of Indigenous Peoples' forests").

Motion 30 was proposed by Kingfisher** and supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature. It is the second time such a motion has been submitted to the FSC General Assembly. "A similar motion was proposed by Kingfisher at the FSC General Assembly in Bali in 2022," said Ewan Brown*** (Ewan Brown), a former FSC auditor who represented the Kingfisher group in Panama. "It was accepted in the social and environmental chambers, but there was no quorum in the economic chamber — a few votes were missing. We were so close."

Motion 30 called on the FSC to carry out a detailed feasibility study on an electronic volume accounting system that would prevent fraud or erroneous claims in the supply chain. "We all know there are illegally sourced materials in the system," Brown said ahead of the decisive vote. "Even if it is only 5%, that is still far too much." Brown drew a clear distinction between accidental errors and deliberate, systematic fraud. "The most striking example is birch plywood. We know of regions reporting increases of thousands of per cent in the volume of certified material, despite restrictions on logging. These are not accidental errors. This is deliberate fraud."

The FSC's Motion 30 was decisive in eradicating a fraudulent scheme worth many billions of dollars in the trade in forestry products that do not meet certification requirements. This situation has led a number of organisations to question the integrity and reliability of FSC (and also PEFC) certification. At present, companies in the FSC supply chain can buy and sell FSC-certified timber without reporting volumes to the FSC itself, and there is no centralised way of comparing the volume of certified material entered into the system with the volume that reaches the market. The FSC points out that independent auditors check the documentation of individual timber traders, while forestry experts explain that there is no systemic analysis of transactions to detect possible discrepancies in timber volumes. Last month the organisation Earthsight warned that 20-30% of certificates may be fraudulent; Motion 30 could be the key instrument for eradicating a trade in illegally sourced timber worth 10-30 billion dollars.

"The FSC is a trust-based system," says Sam Lawson (Sams Lawsons), head of Earthsight. "Companies trade far greater volumes of FSC-labelled products than they have purchased, and nothing stops them. They simply put the FSC label on timber sourced elsewhere."

Transaction verification makes it possible to trace a product's path through the supply chain and to compare the volumes recorded by each company; it should be added that this process is very slow and often relies on documents alone (on paper, not digital). "With this approach you can check only a small fraction of the total volume circulating throughout the FSC system," stresses Peter Feilberg (Peter Feilberg), executive director of Preferred by Nature, noting that the timber tracing process often takes one or two years. By that time, wood products carrying a false label have already reached consumers.

* Recognising the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their lands and territories, whether these are held by them under a formal title document or under customary rights, as well as their essential role in the management of the world's forests, the FSC, working together with Indigenous Peoples, will launch a process to support the development and implementation of national-level strategies offering a route to certification for forests owned, managed or held by Indigenous Peoples, with the clear aim of removing structural barriers and increasing participation.
The strategies will:
- Identify and remove structural barriers to the certification of Indigenous Peoples' lands and forest management, such as high certification costs, inflexible procedures, cultural mismatch, scepticism and an unclear value proposition
- Protect the identity of Indigenous Peoples and their connection to the land, so as to ensure their cultural survival, cultural integrity and cultural identity
- Integrate Indigenous Peoples' ecological knowledge, governance systems and culturally grounded forest management practices into the FSC system
- Explore sources of funding that could allow these measures to be implemented more quickly in target regions

** Kingfisher plc is an international home improvement company with more than 1,900 stores in seven European countries. It operates under the retail brands B&Q, Castorama, Brico Dépôt, Screwfix, TradePoint and Koçtaş, among others, and employs more than 74,000 staff. The company offers home improvement products and services to consumers and trade professionals who shop in stores and use e-commerce channels.

*** Ewan Brown, a timber researcher, began work as an FSC auditor in Australia in 2009 and then continued working for a British certification body in Australia and America. He now heads the FSC certification division of the Kingfisher group.