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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
currently used for assessing Forest Management
Units (FMUs) is 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)
contains the key elements for sustainable
forest management covering economic, social
and environmental aspects, and incorporates
the corresponding standards of performance
for Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia
identified during the regional and national
level consultations held in 1999.
For the next phase of its scheme,
since beginning 2006, MTCC
has started using the new standard,
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.
Since the start of the
MTCS, the
standard that has been used for assessing
timber manufacturers and exporters for chain-of-custody
certification is 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),
is now being used for CoC certification
of wood processing or trading companies
under the MTCS.
In its current role as the certification
body, MTCC receives and processes applications
for certification, arranges for assessments
to be carried out by registered independent
assessors, and decides on all such applications
based on the assessment reports of the assessors.
Two types of certificates are issued under
the MTCS. The Certificate for
Forest Management is issued to FMUs
which have complied with the requirements
of the forest management standard, while
compliance with the standard for chain-of-custody
certification will qualify timber product
manufacturers or exporters for the Certificate
for Chain-of-Custody.
The Certificate for Forest Management
provides the assurance of legal and sustainable
source from FMUs that have complied with
the requirements of the forest management
standard, while the Certificate for Chain-of-Custody
certifies that the timber product manufacturer
or exporter has been assessed and confirmed,
by an independent assessor registered with
MTCC, to have implemented a system that
allows for identification and tracking the
origin of its products to MTCC-certified
FMUs. The Certificate for Chain-of-Custody
allows the companies to export MTCC-certified
timber products using the MTCC logo.
During the validity period of the Certificates,
the certificate holders are subject to regular
surveillance visits by independent assessors
to confirm their continued compliance with
the relevant certification standards and
requirements.
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2.
At this stage, how many forest areas have
been certified to the forest management
standard used under the Malaysian timber certification scheme
(MTCS)? How many timber manufacturers and
exporters have been awarded the MTCC Certificate
for Chain-of-Custody?
Currently ten Forest Management Units
(FMUs) covering 4.85million hectares of
permanent reserved forest had been awarded
the Certificate for Forest Management. Eight
of the certified FMUs (Pahang, Selangor,
Terengganu, Johor, Kedah, Perak, Negeri
Sembilan and Kelantan) are in Peninsular
Malaysia, while the ninth and tenth FMUs
are privately-managed Sela'an Linau
located in the Upper Ulu
Baram region and Anap Muput FMU located in
the Bintulu Division in Sarawak respectively.
A total of 116 timber companies have been
awarded the Certificate for Chain-of-Custody.
Most of these companies are exporters of
sawn timber, while some also export S4S,
solid finger-jointed timber,solid wood moulding
and plywood.
Details of the FMUs and timber companies
can be viewed from the
summary
reports and
Certificate Holders sections of this
website.
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3.
Has MTCC-certified timber products been
exported?
By January 2008, a total
cumulative of 208,896 cubic metres of MTCC-certified
sawn timber, mouldings, laminated finger-jointed
timber and plywood has been exported to
19 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 and
Singapore.
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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)
|
|
Sarawak
Dayak National Union (SDNU) |
|
Sarawak
Dayak Iban Association (SADIA) |
|
Majlis
Adat Istiadat (Council for Customs and
Traditions), Sarawak |
|
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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