Thursday, October 23, 2008

New guide for buyers: Canada's sustainable forest products

A new guide from Canada - Environmental Leader reports that The Forest Products Association of Canada and PricewaterhouseCoopers have published a buyer’s guide for Canada's sustainable forest products. This guide is designed to provide buyers guidance on what to consider when writing procurement policies and programs that need to be based on sustainable and socially responsible forest practices.

The Guide provides practical advice in areas critical to ensuring that purchasing practices contribute to the positive development of communities and do not harm the environment.

So what you can find in this guide?
The guide encourages readers to go beyond the traditional considerations of price, quality, service and availability, by considering all aspects of the production process and their impact on the environment. Such topics as climate change, traceability, certification, legality and social desirability in the production of Canadian forest products are covered in the Guide.

It is designed to address the major considerations presented by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRII) in their guide to Sustainable Procurement of Wood and Paper-based Products, with respect to forest products produced in Canada, including:

Sourcing and Legality Aspects (origin, information accuracy, legality)
Environmental Aspects (sustainability, environmental protection, special places, other resources, climate change, recycled fibre)
Social Aspects (local communities and indigenous peoples)

As always, you have to take into consideration the point of view of the writers - FPAC is the voice of Canada's wood, pulp, and paper producers (a $80-billion dollar a year industry that represents 2% of Canada's GDP!). Last year by the way FPAC announced that Canada’s forest products industry is setting a new bar for environmental responsibility and action on climate change: industry-wide carbon-neutrality by 2015 without the purchase of carbon offset credits.

If you want to learn more about the FPAC please visit their website -http://www.fpac.ca/en. You are also welcome to watch an Interview with Avrim Lazar on Global TV - http://www.fpac.ca/en/media_centre/video.


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris
http://www.ecolibris.net

1 comment:

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