Certification provides small and community landowners with a means to access higher value markets; for customers to reward the achievement of social and environmental outcomes and; for project sponsors to ensure outcomes are consistent with social and environmental expectations.
The application of certification remains problematic because of costs associated with implementation and ongoing compliance. Internationally attempts are being made to deal with this through initiatives such as group certification and more recently projects such as the Fairtrade-FSC dual certification pilot. However there is still some way to travel. One issue is that the commodity focus of most certification programs (wood, agricultural commodities etc.) can lead to a fragmented view of development opportunities rather than a holistic view of value creation.
This workshop will bring together groups primarily from the Pacific region to work with experts from various market opportunities (wood, agriculture, carbon, tourism) and certification programs (FSC, Fairtrade, organic, sustainable tourism) as well as people experienced with REDD programs. It is a practical program that aims to assist leaders within various communities navigate to the most value enhancing outcome for their community in conformity with different certification opportunities.
The workshop is being organised by FSC Australia and is supported by the SPC-EU FACT program, ICCO and FSC. Limited opportunities for additional registration are still available. Further information contact: [email protected]
Registration: http://www.trybooking.com/HRJ.
