Stakeholder consultations
When we assess forest management and controlled wood forest certificates, the opinions of local people really matter to us. This page explains how we collect these views, and provides guidance and a form for stakeholdders.
On this page
On this page
Local stakeholders can add valuable knowledge and insight on issues ranging from employee health and safety to how to protect native species.
We want to make the process of collecting these views as simple and transparent as possible so have outlined below how stakeholders can get involved.
Who are stakeholders?
Stakeholders can include:
state forest services
statutory bodies
labour organisations or unions of forestry sector workers
employees
representatives and members of communities
representatives and members of Indigenous Peoples
social and environmental NGOs (international, national, local)
neighbours
schools
local forest businesses and forest contractors
How we consult stakeholders
1. Identify stakeholders
Only issues that can be assessed against the relevant FSC or PEFC standards can be taken into consideration.
Our client, the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) or an FSC National or Regional Office, local auditors and key Non-Governmental Organisations suggest who we should get in touch with. We may then find additional stakeholders ourselves through online research and informal contacts.
If you think you have relevant information relating to the FSC certification for any forest management audits we will be carrying out, please get in touch.
2. Contact stakeholders
Before we carry out an audit, we contact the stakeholders we’ve identified in Step 1 by email or by post. We send a consultation letter and feedback form or a link to complete the form online. We do this a minimum of six weeks before FSC main assessment audits, and four weeks before FSC controlled wood audits.
Stakeholders can submit comments at any time before an audit or between annual surveillance audits. In the latter case, depending on the nature of the issues raised, we will decide whether to follow up at the next surveillance audit, or carry out an early surveillance visit.
3. Send comments to our auditor
We send any comments we receive to the Lead Auditor before the audit, along with any additional comments we receive by phone or in meetings (where stakeholders are difficult to reach by email or post).
We add comments to inform the certification process and evaluate them in line with the relevant FSC or PEFC standard.
Stakeholders and the comments they make are confidential, and people’s identities are kept anonymous.
4. Report and respond to comments
We include a summary of comments and our responses in a section of the final report called Annex 2. This shows how we have taken issues into account and how we’ve responded to them. When a comment relates to a situation where a standard is not being met, it is clearly marked.
Audit reports are normally available within three months of the audit taking place, if the forest has been successful in gaining or maintaining their certification.
Please note that pre-assessment audits are not made publicly available as a certificate can’t be issued at this stage.
5. Feedback to stakeholders
When a stakeholder has asked for it, we will provide feedback in addition to the information in the public report. We usually do this within three months of the certification decision.
Are you a stakeholder?
Send us your feedback
We actively encourage stakeholders to contribute to consultation. We consider your comments fairly, compare them against the relevant FSC standard, and use them to inform the audit process. You can share your concerns or positive feedback with us.
Where to start
If you would usually communicate directly with the forest manager, we encourage you to raise your concerns with them first. Issues can usually be resolved when a forest manager knows about them. If you can’t do this, please let us know why.
What to expect from us
Our role is to assess against FSC standards. We don’t take sides; instead, we take a balanced approach to determining whether the forest management meets FSC standard requirements.
We don’t get involved in issues that are beyond the scope of the certification standard, however we can record them for information.
We don’t act as a mediator between the applicant or certificate holder and stakeholders. Instead, we will:
clarify the objectives and limits of the certification process to ensure expectations are realistic
acknowledge your feedback and comments
ask for the forest manager’s perspective on the issues raised
keep your comments confidential
In our audit report, we include a summary of all issues raised and explain how they were evaluated. We anonymise these reports and keep all your comments in confidence. We’ll also let you know when and where the public audit report will be made available.
What we want to know
Whether you are commenting as an individual or on behalf of an organisation, you can let us know about a range of issues.
Individuals and organisations
You can let us know about any of the following:
issues caused by current or historical forest uses
unreasonable access refusal
issues related to hunting
forest land conversion disputes
evidence that local people are losing, or no longer have, legal or traditional rights
lack of reasonable effort to employ and train workers from local communities
employees being deterred from joining unions or negotiating as a group
indigenous or traditional peoples living in or near the forest area
local communities who rely on the forest for their needs
Statutory bodies
You can let us know about any of the following:
ongoing claims that laws have not been followed
evidence that codes of practice, guidelines and agreements are not being followed
lack of consultation about culturally important places
serious harm to the environment caused the forest management
You can access audit reports on our website or via the FSC online database. We publish these within three months of a certification decision (except for pre-assessments).
