Suchergebnisse

International demand for agricultural commodities is growing due to population growth, changes in consumption patterns and the current shift from petroleum-based to bio-based economies. This can have adverse effects, particularly in food insecure countries, as agricultural production for export can often compete with local food production while also encouraging labor exploitation, environmental pollution and resource depletion. Importing countries are becoming more concerned about the environmental and social impacts that imported products have had in their countries of origin. Sustainability standards and certification systems are recognized as valid instruments to address biomass sustainability issues. Nevertheless, the issue of food security has only been partially addressed, due to its complexity and the difficulty in allocating responsibility between individuals, the private sector and governments. The Food Security Standard (FSS) provides a practical instrument for demonstrating that the "right to food" enjoyed by farm workers, smallholder farmers and local communities impacted by agricultural production is respected. It is designed to be integrated in any existing sustainability standard in the agricultural sector and is applicable to all biomass types and uses, farm sizes and business types. The FSS includes a set of 17 Food Security Principles, 35 Criteria and 93 Indicators that build on the rights-based food security principles and criteria formulated by Mohr et al. (2015), the Human Right to Adequate Food, the definition of food security by the World Food Summit (1996) and the Right to Food Guidelines adopted by the FAO Council in 2004. The FSS is a joint initiative of WWF Germany, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn (ZEF) and the Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. (WHH).

International demand for agricultural commodities is growing due to population growth, changes in consumption patterns and the current shift from petroleum-based to bio-based economies. This can have adverse effects, particularly in food insecure countries, as agricultural production for export can often compete with local food production while also encouraging labor exploitation, environmental pollution and resource depletion. Importing countries are becoming more concerned about the environmental and social impacts that imported products have had in their countries of origin. Sustainability standards and certification systems are recognized as valid instruments to address biomass sustainability issues. Nevertheless, the issue of food security has only been partially addressed, due to its complexity and the difficulty in allocating responsibility between individuals, the private sector and governments. The Food Security Standard (FSS) provides a practical instrument for demonstrating that the "right to food" enjoyed by farm workers, smallholder farmers and local communities impacted by agricultural production is respected. It is designed to be integrated in any existing sustainability standard in the agricultural sector and is applicable to all biomass types and uses, farm sizes and business types. The FSS includes a set of 17 Food Security Principles, 35 Criteria and 93 Indicators that build on the rights-based food security principles and criteria formulated by Mohr et al. (2015), the Human Right to Adequate Food, the definition of food security by the World Food Summit (1996) and the Right to Food Guidelines adopted by the FAO Council in 2004. The FSS is a joint initiative of WWF Germany, the Center for Development Research (ZEF) of the University of Bonn (ZEF) and the Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. (WHH).

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a voluntary sustainability standard with global reach that has been developed to encourage responsible and sustainable forest management. Despite its broad appeal, there is little scientific assessment to substantiate the effectiveness of FSC in the boreal zone. In this study, an ecosystem-based and participatory approach was applied to a case study in the Arkhangelsk Region of the Russia Federation to assess the potential influence of the principles, criteria and indicators of the Russian FSC standard. An ECOSEFFECT theoretical plausibility analysis was conducted to evaluate the potential effectiveness of FSC in safeguarding the ecological integrity of the ecosystem. Besides spatial analysis and a field visitation, core elements of the methodological procedure were workshops with experts and stakeholders who directly contributed to knowledge mapping and analysis. The results of the study suggest FSC can potentially influence and improve forest management including monitoring and evaluation, foster the institutional capacity, and enhance knowledge on the impacts of forest management. Theoretically, FSC has a certain potential to reduce a range of anthropogenic threats to the ecosystem, such as large-scale deforestation and forest degradation, logging of High Conservation Value Forests, large size of clear-cuts, excessive annual allowable cuts, damage to trees during forest operations, and hydrological changes. However, human-induced fire is the only ecological stress that was assumed to be effectively tackled through a strong and positive influence of FSC. The results of the theoretical analysis with a semi-quantitative evaluation revealed the potential for FSC to generate much more effective outcomes for biodiversity by prudently targeting key ecological problems. The biggest problem is the large-scale clear-cutting practice, especially within IFL. These devastating practices are not promoted by, but are compliant with the current Russian FSC standard. This feeds doubts about the consistency of FSC practice and its credibility.

This manual provides a comprehensive set of criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management based on CIFOR's research. This research was conducted by interdisciplinary teams of experts in large-scale natural forests managed for commercial timber production in Indonesia, Côte d'Ivoire, Brazil and Cameroon, with additional sites in Germany, Austria and USA. The use of the term 'generic template', for these C&I is intended to prevent them being confused with an ideal and universally applicable set of C&I. In term of the scope of applicability ('generic to what?'), it is envisaged that this template to be used primarily for tropical natural forests managed for commercial purposes. Use of the term 'generic' also emphasises that the C & I in this set can be modified and customised to comply with local conditions. They could therefore be used both as a flexible set that is adaptable to all types of forest situations, and as an operational 'mother' set to be used by CIFOR's proposed CIMAT system (C&I Toolbox Series No.3). 'Generic' also implies that this C&I template can be employed by a variety of user groups, such as certification bodies, government officials, donors, forest managers, project managers, and scientists.

CIFOR has developed a system for testing criteria and indicators to assess the sustainability of management of natural forests at the level of the forest management unit. This system was used to develop and test C&I for industrial plantation concession areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The C&I for plantations have a strong focus on forest management and environment impacts. But for long-term sustainability of plantation forestry, it is more related to social rather than management or environmental issues. It is also suggested that C&I on legal and institutional arrangements be included, and government agencies responsible for plantation development be involved as stakeholders in the process.