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Can voluntary standards regulate forestry? -- Assessing the environmental impacts of forest certification in Sweden

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  • Johansson, Johanna
  • Lidestav, Gun

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of to what extent forest certification schemes contribute to the enhancement of environmental protection in Swedish forestry. Our assessment is built on the analysis of three different data sets, namely: 1) the Swedish National Forest Inventory (NFI), 2) the Swedish Database for Forest Owner Analysis, presenting data on small-scale forestry practices and certification, and 3) a follow-up mail survey addressed to private small-scale forest owners with certified forest properties. Our NFI analysis indicated some minor improvements in forest conditions, corresponding with the interim target for enhanced biological diversity (dead wood, broad-leaved trees and old forests). The improvements were less evident on large-scale forest properties (certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council scheme) than on small-scale private forest properties (mainly certified in accordance with the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes). This contradicts a common assumption that a much higher degree of certification with stricter environmental standards will give more evident positive impacts on environmental conditions. However, results from the follow-up survey showed that more harvesting activity had taken place on certified small-scale forest properties than on non-certified properties. This could mean more negative effects on biodiversity. We conclude by stressing the importance of improving quantitative methods for determining a cause-and-effect relationship between certification and nature protection; previous research tends to report rather far-reaching conclusions based on limited data sets.

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  • Johansson, Johanna & Lidestav, Gun, 2011. "Can voluntary standards regulate forestry? -- Assessing the environmental impacts of forest certification in Sweden," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 191-198, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:forpol:v:13:y:2011:i:3:p:191-198
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Newsom, Deanna & Bahn, Volker & Cashore, Benjamin, 2006. "Does forest certification matter? An analysis of operation-level changes required during the SmartWood certification process in the United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 197-208, December.
    2. Lars Gulbrandsen, 2005. "The Effectiveness of Non-State Governance Schemes: A Comparative Study of Forest Certification in Norway and Sweden," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 5(2), pages 125-149, June.
    3. Joshi, Sudiksha & Arano, Kathryn G., 2009. "Determinants of private forest management decisions: A study on West Virginia NIPF landowners," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 132-139, March.
    4. Lars H. Gulbrandsen, 2004. "Overlapping Public and Private Governance: Can Forest Certification Fill the Gaps in the Global Forest Regime?," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 4(2), pages 75-99, May.
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    1. Johansson, Johanna, 2016. "Participation and deliberation in Swedish forest governance: The process of initiating a National Forest Program," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 137-146.
    2. Kathryn Bowler & Pavel Castka & Michaela Balzarova, 2017. "Understanding Firms’ Approaches to Voluntary Certification: Evidence from Multiple Case Studies in FSC Certification," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 441-456, October.
    3. So, Hau Wing & Lafortezza, Raffaele, 2022. "Reviewing the impacts of eco-labelling of forest products on different dimensions of sustainability in Europe," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Pavel Castka & Charles J. Corbett, 2016. "Governance of Eco-Labels: Expert Opinion and Media Coverage," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(2), pages 309-326, May.
    5. A. Mikulková & M. Hájek & M. Štěpánková & M. Ševčík, 2015. "Forest certification as a tool to support sustainable development in forest management," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 61(8), pages 359-368.
    6. Nordén, Anna & Coria, Jessica & Villalobos, Laura, 2016. "Evaluation of the Impact of Forest Certification on Environmental Outcomes in Sweden," Working Papers in Economics 657, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    7. Dwivedi, Puneet & Tumpach, Chantal & Cook, Chase & Izlar, Bob, 2018. "Effects of the sustainable forestry initiative fiber sourcing standard on the average implementation rate of forestry best management practices in Georgia, United States," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 51-58.
    8. Uggla, Ylva & Forsberg, Maria & Larsson, Stig, 2016. "Dissimilar framings of forest biodiversity preservation: Uncertainty and legal ambiguity as contributing factors," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 36-42.
    9. Kadam, Parag & Dwivedi, Puneet & Karnatz, Caroline, 2021. "Mapping convergence of sustainable forest management systems: Comparing three protocols and two certification schemes for ascertaining the trends in global forest governance," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    10. Nordén, Anna & Coria, Jessica & Jönsson, Anna Maria & Lagergren, Fredrik & Lehsten, Veiko, 2017. "Divergence in stakeholders' preferences: Evidence from a choice experiment on forest landscapes preferences in Sweden," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 179-195.
    11. Stephen Wyatt & Sara Teitelbaum, 2020. "Certifying a state forestry agency in Quebec: Complementarity and conflict around government responsibilities, indigenous rights, and certification of the state as forest manager," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 551-567, July.
    12. Oskar Englund & Göran Berndes, 2015. "How do sustainability standards consider biodiversity?," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 26-50, January.

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