13 US environmental groups have called on the governments of Quebec and Ontario in Canada to maintain strong forest conservation, wildlife protection and community engagement requirements for the logging industry in the Canadian Boreal forest.
The environmental groups are worrying that the logging industry are attempting to weaken protection for threatened forests and human rights.
“The provinces and the logging industry need to recognize the potential economic consequences of abandoning FSC certification”, says Ross Hammond, ForestEthics U.S. campaigns director, as quoted by Pulp & Paper Canada.
Over the last two years, significant areas of FSC certified forests were suspended in Canada. Most of these suspended or terminated FSC certificates are held by Resolute Forest Prod-ucts (Resolute FP). FSC International recently launched a mediation process to bring together stakeholders in a spirit of collaboration, to address issues raised about FSC certification. However, Resolute Forest Products said that they will not participate in this mediation process, unless it is led by the provincial governments,
