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1.
Can you provide us with information about
the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme
(MTCS) and
how it operates?
MTCC
started operation of its timber
certification scheme in October 2001 using a
phased approach. The standard initially used
for assessing Forest Management Units (FMUs)
was the Malaysian Criteria, Indicators,
Activities and Standards of Performance for
Forest Management Certification [MC&I(2001)
for short] which is based on the 1998 ITTO
Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable
Management of Natural Tropical Forests. The
MC&I(2001) contained the key elements
for sustainable forest management covering
economic, social and environmental aspects,
and incorporated the corresponding standards
of performance for Sabah, Sarawak and
Peninsular Malaysia identified during the
regional and national level consultations
held in 1999.
During the next phase of the implementation
of the MTCS beginning late 2005, MTCC has
been using the MC&I(2002) which is
based on the Principles and Criteria of the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as the
template for assessing FMUs for forest
management certification. The development of
the MC&I(2002) involved broad-based
consultations and consensus between social,
environmental and economic stakeholder
groups through several meetings of the
multi-stakeholder National Steering
Committee (NSC) and regional and
national-level consultations. The MC&I(2002)
was finalised for implementation following a
series of field-tests that were conducted in
Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.
The
standard that was initially used for
assessing timber manufacturers and exporters
for chain-of-custody certification was the
Requirements and Assessment Procedures
for Chain-of-Custody Certification (RAP/COC).
However, a revision of the RAP/COC
was carried out through a multi-stakeholder
national-level consultation in August 2004,
and the revised standard, known as the
Requirements for Chain-of-Custody
Certification (RCOC), has been
used since 2006 for CoC certification of
wood processing or trading companies under
the MTCS.
With effect from 1 July 2008, the MTCS is
operating under a new institutional
arrangement, where MTCC continues to play
the role of the National Governing Body (NGB)
for the scheme, while the independent
assessors become the Certification Bodies
(CBs), who will receive and process the
application for certification, conduct the
assessment and make the decision to award
the Certificate for Forest management
and/or Certificate for Chain-of-Custody.
The CBs are required to be accredited to the
Department of Standards Malaysia, the
national accreditation body in Malaysia.
Two types of certificates are issued under
the MTCS. The Certificate for Forest
Management is issued to confirm that the
Permanent Reserved Forests (PRFs) in the FMU
have complied with the requirements of the
forest management standard used in the MTCS.
The Certificate for Chain-of-Custody
is issued to confirm that the manufacturer
or exporter has complied with the chain of
custody standard used in the MTCS.
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2. At this stage, how many forest areas have
been certified to the forest management
standard used under the MTCS? How many
timber manufacturers and exporters have been
awarded the Certificate for Chain-of-Custody
under the MTCS?
A total of
nine Certificates for Forest Management have
been issued to Forest Management Units (FMUs)
covering 4.65 million hectares or 32% of
total permanent reserved forests (PRFs) in Malaysia.
Eight of the certified FMUs (Pahang,
Selangor, Terengganu, Kedah, Perak, Negeri
Sembilan, Kelantan and Johor) are in
Peninsular Malaysia, while the Segaliud Lokan Forest Reserve are located in
Sabah. All certified FMUs under the MTCS are
now consider PEFC-certified. The MTCS-certified
logs originating from this FMUs and their
downstream products are now eligible to
carry the PEFC Logo.
A total of
171 timber companies have been
awarded the PEFC Certificate for
Chain-of-Custody under the MTCS, making them eligible to use the PEFC logo on their products, once these
manufacturers start processing PEFC-certified
logs obtained from the PEFC-certified FMUs
or use PEFC-certified timber in their
manufacturing activities or trading
operations, and have signed the Logo Usage
Licence with MTCC..
Most of these
companies are manufacturers and exporters of
sawn timber, while some also manufacture and
export S4S, solid finger-jointed timber,solid wood moulding and plywood.
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3.
Has MTCS-certified timber products been
exported?
The first shipment of
MTCS-certified timber product has been
exported to The Netherlands in July 2002.
By
June 2011, a total
cumulative of 491,482 m³ of MTCS-certified
sawn timber, mouldings, laminated finger-jointed
timber and plywood have been exported to
22 countries i.e. The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United
Kingdom, France, Australia, Greece, Denmark,
Poland, Italy, Norway, Indonesia, South
Korea, Mauritius, South Africa, United
States of America, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, Albania
and Philippines.
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4.
Can you tell us more about the consultation
process involved in developing the standard
for forest management, and the challenges
encountered?
Both
the standards for forest management, the
current ITTO-based MC&I(2001)
and the new FSC-based MC&I(2002),
have been developed through multi-stakeholder
consultations.
As
mentioned earlier, the MC&I(2001)
incorporates the corresponding SOPs for
Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia that
were identified during the regional and
national level consultations held amongst
multi-stakeholders in 1999. These consultations
were actively participated by all stakeholders,
including 20 representatives of various
environmental and social NGOs. There was
no withdrawal of any party from the process,
even though some of the social NGOs did
flag their concerns at the national level
consultation on several processes related
to forest management which they hoped could
be solved through forest certification.
The participants at the consultation deliberated
at length on the issues raised by these
NGOs pertaining to native customary rights
(NCRs) and participation of local communities
in relation to forest management in Sarawak,
although these organisations fully supported
the concept and implementation of forest
certification. Detailed explanations were
made regarding these concerns. The meeting
noted that the issues raised involve the
implementation of certain State laws and
therefore were beyond the area of responsibility
of MTCC.
The
development of the MC&I(2002)
involved broad-based consultations and consensus
between social, environmental and economic
stakeholder groups and direct resource managers
through several meetings of the NSC and
regional consultations held in Peninsular
Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak where appropriate
regional verifiers were identified. These
consultations culminated in the national-level
consultation held in October 2002 where
representatives of all the stakeholder groups
from the three regions met to finalise and
adopt the MC&I(2002).
A
small number of social NGOs however have
withdrawn from the NSC process in the development
of the MC&I(2002), i.e. five
members representing three organisations.
The NSC has 28 members representing the
social, environmental and economic interest
groups, and the direct resource managers.
Of the present 23 members (82% of the NSC
members), three are representatives of three
social organisations.
It
should also be noted that many more social
NGOs attended the regional and national
level consultations. In Sabah, 71 participants
representing all the stakeholder groups
attended the regional consultation, out
of which 17 were representatives from the
following 11 social and environmental organisations:
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Institute
for Indigenous Economic Progress (INDEP) |
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Persatuan Bumiputra Iranun Sabah (PISBA)
(Association of Iranun Indigenous People
of Sabah) (The Bumiputra Iranun are
one of the indigenous people in Sabah) |
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Human
Rights Commission Malaysia (SUHAKAM),
Sabah Branch |
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Persatuan
Tidung Sabah (PTS) (Tidung Association
of Sabah) (The Tidung are one of the
indigenous people in Sabah) |
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Persatuan
Kedayan Sabah (KEDAYAN) (Kedayan Association
of Sabah) (The Kedayan are one of the
indigenous people in Sabah) |
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Consumers
Association of Sabah and Labuan Federal
Territory (CASH) |
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Malaysian
Nature Society (Sabah Branch) |
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WWF
Malaysia |
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Sabah
Nature Club |
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Sabah
Environment Protection Association (SEPA) |
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Rotary
Clubs of Sabah |
In
Sarawak, 38 participants took part in the
regional consultation. Just like in Sabah,
the response from the social and environmental
stakeholder groups in Sarawak was indeed
encouraging. Eleven participants representing
the following social and environmental NGOs
participated very actively in the deliberations
on the Verifiers to be included for Sarawak
in the MC&I(2002):
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Sarawak
Dayak National Union (SDNU) |
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Sarawak
Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) (SDNU
and SADIA are two of the four Dayak-based
social organisations in Sarawak. The
Dayaks comprise the largest ethnic group
in Sarawak, accounting for 47.2 % of
the population) |
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Majlis
Adat Istiadat (Council for Customs and
Traditions), Sarawak |
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Sarawak
Forestry Department Employees' Union
(UFES) |
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Malaysian
Trades Union Congress (MTUC) |
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Aonyx
Environmental Services, Sarawak |
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For the Peninsular Malaysia regional consultation,
even though there was no representation
of the local communities, nevertheless there
was active participation from a qualified
sociologist who is an expert on the Orang
Asli. The expert provided useful inputs
in the formulation of the Verifiers for
Peninsular Malaysia, especially for Principles
2 and 3.
A
total of 113 participants representing all
the stakeholder groups took part in the
national-level consultation where the MC&I(2002)
was finalised and adopted. There was good
representation of the social and environmental
stakeholder groups which were represented
by the following organisations:
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Kadazandusun
Cultural Association (KDCA) |
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Persatuan
Murut Sabah (Sabah Murut Association) |
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Persatuan
Bumiputra Iranun Sabah (PISBA) (Association
of Iranun Indigenous People of Sabah)
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|
Sarawak
Dayak National Union (SDNU) |
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Sarawak
Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) |
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Majlis
Adat Istiadat (Council for Customs and
Traditions), Sarawak |
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Malaysian
Trades Union Congress (MTUC) |
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International
Federation of Building and Wood Workers
(IFBWW) |
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Kesatuan
Pegawai-Pegawai Hutan Melayu Malaysia
Barat (Malay Forest Officers Union,
West Malaysia) |
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Sarawak
Forestry Department Employees' Union
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National
Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO) |
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Rotary
Clubs of Sabah |
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Consumers
Association of Sabah and Labuan Federal
Territory (CASH) |
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Traffic
International |
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WWF
Malaysia |
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WWF
Malaysia, Sabah |
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Sabah
Environment Protection Association (SEPA) |
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Malaysian
Nature Society |
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Malaysian
Nature Society (Sabah Branch) |
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Malaysian
Nature Society, Sarawak |
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Malaysia
Environmental Consultant Sdn. Bhd. |
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Aonyx
Environmental Services, Sarawak |
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It
is to be noted that all stakeholder groups
were invited to attend the regional and
national level consultations. These included
the 10 social organisations in the JOANGOHutan
list who had sent the "NGOs Statement
to MTCC dated 30 July 2001" which announced
their withdrawal from the NSC process and
have decided to practice a policy of "self-exclusion".
The
issues raised by the NGOs in the above-mentioned
Statement have been discussed at the second
NSC meeting, where the NSC members unanimously
agreed that most of the issues would be
dealt with by the NSC during its deliberations
in formulating the MC&I(2002).
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