Pledge to resolve impasse on forest standards

The decision has been described as "baffling" by Confor's Technical Director Andrew Heald, who said it showed a lack of understanding of forest management on the ground. 

Mr Heald expressed his disappointment that FSC International had not visited UK forests to see how the new UKWAS standards would work in a practical way - and questioned whether the rejection of UKWAS followed FSC International's own strategic plan.

Mr Heald, who worked with FSC International in 2015 to help them develop their Global Strategic Plan 2015-2020, said: "Confor has met several times with FSC UK and FSC International to stress the importance of making certification work on the ground, and ensuring that it delivers the sustainable forest managment we all want, whilst minimising bureaucracy and 'box-ticking'.

"The latest revision of UKWAS was very much focussed on how to make the standard more easily understood and implemented by forest managers, whilst providing the reassurance desired by forestry stakeholders such as RSPB, Woodland Trust and others."

Mr Heald said the new UKWAS standards had not had a fair hearing from FSC International: "This is a standard in place for nearly 20 years, revised by a team of UK experts over many lengthy meetings, with three rounds of public consultation.

• The UKWAS Steering Group met on Friday 2^nd December, to review the proposals made by FSC and to decide on the best way forward. Following a full day of discussions and amendments, a consensus was reached on all of the proposals.