Sustainable forestry is management of the forests to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This is done by practicing a land stewardship ethic which integrates the growing, nurturing, and harvesting of trees for useful products with the conservation of soil, air and water quality, and wildlife and fish habitat.
It’s amazing what one can learn by just asking a question, and then listening to the answer. That’s exactly what forest products industry executives from across the nation did when they wanted to understand how the public perceived the industry and how the public felt about forest issues.
That group of leaders belongs to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) which represents more than 400 forest and paper companies and related organizations. Its members account for approximately 84 percent of the paper production, 50 percent of the solid wood production, and 90 percent of the industrial forestland in the United States. Clearly this group was well-positioned to respond to public needs, but it first had to determine what those needs were.
To that end, the group commissioned an independent public opinion firm to canvass the nation with the questions the group wanted to ask. In addition to an extensive telephone and focus group survey of the general public, interviews were conducted with forest products industry CEOs, politicians, and representatives of groups considered influential in setting public policy, such as the media, academia, and environmental organizations.
The public opinion research identified several aspects of forests and forest practices as particularly important and showed how the public rated the forest products industry’s performance on each. Areas the public rated "highly important" and recognized industry as performing well included replanting trees, protecting air quality, recycling paper, conserving natural resources, and protecting forests from fire, insects, and disease.
Activities the public rated as being of "high importance" but gave the industry low marks for included protecting wildlife habitat, protecting wilderness and other special areas, protecting lakes and streams, and ensuring that future generations will have the same benefits from forests that we enjoy today. The challenge was clear: create a credible proof-of-performance sustainable forestry program to reinforce the former set of perceptions and meaningfully address the latter.
Three additional themes emerged from the research: that sustainable forestry is a potentially powerful proof-of-performance theme; that the inclusion of objective, third-party involvement would significantly enhance the public’s perception of industry commitment to behavioral change; and that some benefits from the forest are more important to the public than others.
Finally, AF&PA found that despite the currency of phrases such as "multiple-use," "sustained yield," "“new forestry," "stewardship," and "ecosystem management," "sustainable forestry" was the most effective term in communicating the public’s belief that future generations should be provided the same benefits enjoyed today.
Armed with the answers to their questions, the industry leaders embarked on an ambitious campaign to improve the forest products industry’s credibility. The campaign, known as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), establishes “proof-of-performance” measures in which industry assertions of its environmental commitments are accompanied by appropriate and measurable behavioral changes.
Embodied in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative document is a process to promote, monitor, and report continuous improvement of all forestlands in the United States. The SFI recognizes the forestry products industry’s strong record yet commits it to do significantly more, especially on members’ own land and in locations where industry activity affects privately owned forests.
The SFI guidelines establish clear objectives and performance measures by which the public itself can evaluate whether AF&PA members are meeting their commitments. The guidelines promote efforts to educate loggers about sustainable harvesting practices and nonindustrial landowners about the benefits of sustainable management. The guidelines also commit AF&PA to public reporting and involvement and to the support of broad public policy goals for all forests. Adherence to the implementation guidelines becomes a condition of AF&PA membership effective January 1, 1996.
At each year’s end, all AF&PA member companies are required to complete a questionnaire which reports their sustainable forestry activities to the association. Once the data is collected and compiled, an independent third party will convene to verify the results and methods of the survey. The reporting process will begin at the end of this year. The first annual report is due in March 1996.
This concept of third party involvement is important to the public. Interestingly, when the focus groups were asked to identify the types of third parties that should be involved with industry in developing and monitoring behavioral change, they did not select environmental groups. Instead they favored third parties that were recognized for their expertise and objectivity — broadly based panels of academicians, natural resource organizations, and technical professionals. Participants in focus groups credited environmental groups with identifying potential problems, but believed such groups lack the technical expertise and objectivity to develop solutions.
Sustainable forestry is a dynamic concept that will evolve with experience and new knowledge learned through research. AF&PA views the SFI as one of many steps in the progressive evolution of industrial forest practices. The SFI recognizes that, despite a good record of forest stewardship, the industry has not provided the public with the assurance that its practices will guarantee healthy, sustainable forests for future generations.
Through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative the industry aims to visibly improve industrial forest practices and report results. Achieving SFI goals will be a challenge, as it should be, but they are achievable. There is not one activity in the SFI that several AF&PA member companies aren’t already doing. Yet no company performs all of them or as well as it must to build public trust. The payoff for SFI implementation will be productive, sensitively managed forests that assure a sustained flow of useful, affordable products for everyone.
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