SLSI to help launch national standard in forest stewardship

Ruwanthi ABEYAKOON

Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) will initiate the formulation of a national standard, which could be used in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, Wasantha Meewaddana, Marketing and Promotion Director, SLSI told the Daily News.

"Forest certification is the process of evaluating forests or woodlands to determine if they are being managed according to an agreed set of standards," he said.

Meewaddana said that the goal of FSC is to promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the forests.

"Forest management is a series of productive management activities aimed at regulating the use of forest products.

This will also prevent the negative impacts of forest exploitation," he said.

He added that the Export Development Board (EDB) submitted a project proposal to SLSI for the formulation of a national standard to answer the increasing global demand for certified timber verities and timber-based products.

"This is done with the intention of certifying varieties of timber and timber based products. A separate national standard was necessary, as the international standard prepared by FSC could not be directly used for Sri Lankan conditions," Meewaddana said.

He explained that the standard will be formulated based on FSC guidelines and criteria.

"The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the facilitator for the project. Eminent Sri Lankan experts representing Scientific, Environment, Economic and Social sectors are now working with the officials of SLSI in the preparation of this standard.

Once this is declared as a national standard, SLSI will issue FSC certification in addition to the nine-certification schemes. The management system and SLSI hope to complete the project by September this year," he said.

He added that this will promote the best use of forest resources while avoiding over-consumption and over harvesting.