Browsing by Author "Rahikainen, Aija"

The development of forest certification started in 1980, when consumers started a boycott campaign against deforestation in tropical forests. The initial idea for forest certification was to promote biodiversity in tropical forests. At the same time United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development introduced the concept of sustainable development. In 1992 sustainable development was set as the goal of action in the United Nation’s Conference on Environment and Development. Sustainable forest management was also discussed. Forest certification is a way to implement sustainable forest management. Forest certification is a non-state market driven governance system. There are two forest certification systems in use in Finland: Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes and Forest Stewardship Council. The forest policy instruments presented in the study are forest legislation, forest taxation, KEMERA, national forest program and best practice guidelines for forest management. The purpose of the study was to examine by qualitative research how forest certification and public policy instruments in Finland support each other and how the different reference groups in forestry define forest certification in its different sections. The different sections of forest certification were formed by combining different theories. Theoretical framework consisted of policy instruments on different fields including regulation, information and economy. The respondents found some contradictions between forest certification and forest policy instruments. The most contradictions are between forest legislation and forest certification, but as a whole forest legislation promotes forest certification. The reference groups defined forest certification as market based policy instrument, but its regulative and information roles were also recognized. The information role of forest certification was not seen by all reference groups as important and that should be taken into account. The research results suggest that public and private decision making should consider the forest certification as a private forest policy. According to the results, the current state of Finnish forest would have been reached through a stricter legislation, economic instruments, information and marketing. Environmental non-governmental organizations think that forest certification has not improved the state of forests. Many reference groups thought that the state of the forests is subsequent to active forest policy. Many believe that the biodiversity of the forests has improved due to forest certification. However, the respondents think that the forest certification could be improved. The respondents suggested combining PEFC and FSC. The bureaucracy of forest certification should be diminished to maintain the clarity and practicality.