CSA Issues 3rd Edition of Sustainable Forest Mgmt. Standard - CSA Z809

May 31, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS

The new edition of the CSA Z809 SFM standard includes updated requirements for SFM of a defined forest area including:

• Public participation, understanding and incorporation of aboriginal rights and title.
• Performance metrics such as sustainable harvest levels and reforestation, understanding the net carbon uptake in a particular forest and protection of water and soil.
• Management systems.
• Review of actions.
• Monitoring of effectiveness and continual improvement.

CSA Z809 outlines the auditing process used to determine whether SFM requirements are effectively implemented, said CSA. The standard specifies requirements for public disclosure of SFM plans developed under the standard, annual reports on progress against SFM plans and results of independent certification and surveillance audit reports.

The standard forms a part of an expanding suite of products and training provided by CSA designed to help address global environmental management issues such as greenhouse gas quantification, lifecycle assessment, the labeling of products that have a reduced negative impact on the environment and corporate social responsibility, CSA noted.

The third edition of the standard was revised to address the interests of environment, aboriginal and community groups, said CSA. The concept of continual improvement in SFM is central to the standard.

Other changes to the third edition include:

• A set of 35 mandatory indicators were added under each SFM element to bring a level of consistency to SFM plans. Locally applicable indicators are still to be identified through the public participation process.
• The adoption of Canadian Council of Forest Ministers criteria and an adaption of the elements to ensure their applicability at the local level. These criteria and elements apply to all of Canada. Local public advisory committees then develop indicators and targets for each element that are adapted to local conditions. These elements address Canadian forest and sustainability values including: biological diversity, ecosystem condition and productivity, soil and water, role in global ecological cycles, economic and social benefits, society's responsibility and aboriginal community concerns.
• Revisions to the public consultation requirements including the addition of key topics for discussion during the public consultation process. Revisions also include the addition of a mechanism to measure participants' level of satisfaction with the process and a transparency section that identifies information requiring full public disclosure.
• Alignment of the systems component with CAN/CSA-International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 environmental management requirements to ensure goals are reached and then improved upon remains as a foundation of the standard.
• The standard is complementary to ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 14001 for environmental management standards, said CSA.

CSA Z809 Revision Process
A Canada-wide public review of CSA Z809 was conducted during the revision process. Public advisory committees operating in CSA certified forests across Canada were also involved along with a group of stakeholders with environmental and social interest in forest operations, according to CSA.

A separate aboriginal working group was formed within the technical committee to review the requirements and guidances relating to aboriginal peoples. The group used feedback from aboriginal organizations, resource documents and "expert" advice and proposed changes that resulted in new or strengthened requirements, said CSA.

Those requirements include the understanding of applicable aboriginal rights and title as well as forest values, knowledge and uses identified through the aboriginal input process and incorporating them into forestry plans.

Source: Canadian Standards Association (CSA).