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The First Steps toward Certification in Krasnoyarsk Krai

by Mikhail V. Mal'kevich

Every year approximately $100 million dollars worth of round wood, sawn wood, processed timber components, and paper products are transported out of Krasnoyarsk Krai in central Siberia, earning it the reputation as one of Russia's major forest exporting regions. Radiating from the Krai, timber and paper products end up at a variety of destinations: sawn wood and processed timber components are sold primarily to markets in Europe and the Mediterranean countries; round wood is shipped to China, Southeast Asia. and Central Asia; and paper products are distributed throughout the Newly Independent States.

The greatest volume of timber however, finds its way to the European market. This market has the highest demand for timber and accordingly, the highest prices for it, are commanded. This market also boasts an expanding segment of timber products certified by a voluntary system, such as the International Standards Organization (ISO) or the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

With this in mind, we set out to discover the degree to which voluntary certification is understood within the Krasnoyarsk timber export industry. In the summer of 1998. Alexey Grigoriev, an expert on forestry issues at the Socio-Ecological Union, and I traveled to the key logging and timber processing regions in the Krai. Altogether, we interviewed 12 directors of major timber export enterprises. Among them, only three were knowledgeable about voluntary certification. After we handed out detailed information explaining the key points of certification. three of the directors conceded that it could he beneficial to their business.

The survey results clearly show that the timber industry here does not adequately comprehend the danger of ignoring the voluntary certification process. Considering the exponential growth on the European market for certified timber products, in a few years a situation could unfold in which non-certified timber products exported from the Krai may no longer be salable on environmentally-aware markets, where timber products bring in top prices.

In order to prevent such a scenario, a regional certification working group based on FSC Principles, comprising Russian representatives from the timber industry, NGOs, the Association of Indigenous Peoples (Yeniseysky District), and regional certification agencies, was formed in Krasnoyarsk Krai in December 1998. Still in its infant stage, our group is focusing on disseminating information among the timber industry on the processes and procedures of FSC certification. We are also striving to facilitate the certification process in the industry here. Finally, we hope to attract auditing firms to Krasnoyarsk Krai, and in the not-too-distant future, we plan to establish a group of FSC-accredited certifiers.

Mikhail V. Mal'kevich, Ph.D., is the Director of Research at the Siberian Timber Industry Research Institute as well as a member of the regional working group on voluntary' certification in Krasnoyarsk Krai and a member of the coordinating council for the national working group.

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