At the recent general assembly of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, an ESA project team joined some 400 stakeholders to discuss how Earth observation services can be integrated into the FSC certification scheme for responsible forestry.FSC is an international association of forest owners, timber industries, social groups and environmental organisations that promotes responsible forest management. Only products that adhere to its strict environmental and social criteria are certified to carry the widely used FSC label.
Criteria include appropriate monitoring to assess the condition of the forest, maintenance of the ecological integrity of the forest and respect of indigenous peoples’ rights.
Over the last five years, ESA has been collaborating with the FSC to demonstrate how satellites can improve the quality of monitoring in forest management and increase public accountability of certification.
Looking back on this collaboration, FSC Executive Director Andre de Freitas said, “This technology has the unique capability to increase transparency and efficiency in forest certification.” Read More
