Forestry group blasted for 'green-washing'
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative, which is meeting at Snowbird until the end of this week, is establishing standards to encourage timber companies to manage the resources in a way that goes "beyond regulatory requirement," SFI President Kathey Abusow said. The certifications, which are awarded to the forest lands owned by the companies, allow companies to market their products as "green" materials.
The SFI certification has drawn criticism from some environmental groups, especially the Sierra Club, which characterized the certification as industry "green-washing."
Abusow disagreed, pointing out that the organization is independent and nonprofit, that groups such as the Pacific Forest Trust and the Nature Conservancy have served on the SFI board of directors and that the certification process is rigorous.
But according to the Sierra Club, the only acceptable standard is granted by the Forest Stewardship Council. That organization, which the Sierra Club spearheaded, sets its standards to insure responsible forest management by considering everything from ecosystem protection to rights of workers and indigenous peoples.
The union representatives want SFI to better enforce its standards. "We don't want them to just be a rubber stamp organization," said William Routley, president of Steelworkers Local 1-80 in Duncan, British Columbia.
TimberWest said in a statement that the charges leveled by the union are inaccurate. The company also said claimed that the union is only raising the issue now because of a labor dispute in western Canada.
Abusow said that while TimberWest is SFI certified, the union can appeal to a third-party auditor for a review of that certification.
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com
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