Wood procurement policy: An analysis of critical issues and stakeholders

During the last two decades, the ecological, cultural and social values of forests have received stronger priority by society. To address the changes in values in a forest products context, major wood and non-wood retailers a re being asked to develop a wood procurement policy which defines the sourc es from which a company or organization will or will not obtain the wood or wood products it requires. Many interest groups are actively advising comp anies and organizations that are currently developing wood procurement poli cies, and continue to urge other retailers to commit to developing such pol icies. However, there is a welter of inconsistent and confusing wood procur ement policy terminology that has been created, and is unlikely to successf ully advance the cause of sustainable forest management in the medium and l ong term, at least in North America. In many cases, the broader objectives of the policies are not clear and this, as well as the lack of discussion b etween all relevant parties, is likely to create difficulties in policy imp lementation and in consumer acceptance. This paper describes and analyzes t he current and emerging stakeholders and the processes that are necessary f or successful wood procurement policy implementation - setting objectives, developing terms and definitions, identifying indicators, linking with data available and verifying data. Particular attention is given to exploring t he problems with existing terms and definitions. We conclude that definitio ns and data collection standards need clarification, regional differences i n forests need to be recognized, methods for data validation developed, and target deadlines fur full implementation of a wood procurement policy poss ibly extended. The next steps could be a series of meetings between key sta keholders, including the wood and non-wood industries, forest products indu stry, certifying and standard-setting bodies, and ENGOs. These meetings are needed to advance the discussion on definitions, standards, and data to us e with the goal of effectively connecting wood procurement policy with sust ainable forest management.