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World's Largest SmartWood/FSC CertificationOctober 4, 2005
New York -- SmartWood has awarded the world's largest Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification to Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) for 13.6 million acres (5.5 million hectares) of Alberta's boreal forestland. This move catapults Canada to the number one position globally in terms of FSC-certified land while bringing hundreds of thousands of tons of FSC-certified, elemental chlorine-free (ECF) hardwood pulp to the world's markets. SmartWood, a program of the Rainforest Alliance, is the world's largest FSC-accredited forest certifier, with more than 69 million acres (28 million hectares) now under certification around the globe. "We can all be proud of this achievement," says Tensie Whelan, executive director of the Rainforest Alliance. "SmartWood certification in Canada is growing by leaps and bounds, thanks to companies like Al-Pac." With this certification, Canada is now home to 22.8% of the world's FSC-certified forests. Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. is based near the small town of Athabasca (in northeastern Alberta), and sells pulp to paper producers around the world. This FSC/SmartWood certification, the first in Alberta, covers nearly 9% of the province and has been recognized by industry, government, environmental groups and local communities as an important demonstration of Al-Pac's commitment to responsible forest management practices.
Why is certification an important investment for Al-Pac? "It's risk management for us," explained Brent Rabik, Al-Pac's director of strategic projects. "We haven't been asked by any of our customers to get certified, but we believe that in the future, everyone in the pulp and paper markets will eventually need to be certified to some standard to survive. We decided to go with FSC/SmartWood because they have the most rigorous standards, so we will be well-situated in the future. We can provide consumers assurance that buying our pulp is seen as a favorable thing in the marketplace." The certification process, started in 2000, has been challenging and rigorous. In 2004 at the final stage of the process, a five person certification team, led by senior forester Keith Moore, implemented a comprehensive 10-month assessment according to FSC Canada's National Boreal Standard. "The assessment demonstrated that Al-Pac has improved its approach to dealing with Native peoples and to protecting legacy forests, which include old-growth trees, caribou habitat and historically significant sites," says Rainforest Alliance chief of forestry and SmartWood director Richard Z. Donovan. SmartWood has favorably reviewed Al-Pac's conservation efforts in adjoining and overlapping oil and gas exploration operations, although the lands most intensely affected by oil and gas exploration are not covered under the certificate. "As important as this milestone is," says Donovan, "we also applaud Al-Pac's commitment to future annual auditing, as required by the FSC system."
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