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Principles of Responsible Timber Trade of Russian Wood

Company and its suppliers may fulfil the Principles of responsible timber trade of Russian wood stepwise.

Step 1. Company shall not use timber of forests of the greatest ecological and social value and participate in illegal wood trade

1.1. Company does not use timber from the following areas:

• Protected areas unless industrial harvesting (final logging) in them is legally allowed.
• Areas officially planned for protection according to federal or regional plans approved by regional or federal authorities.
• Intact forest landscapes until all interested parties manage to find mutually acceptable socially, economically and ecologically responsible solution on conservation/use of these forests.
• Other high conservation value forests included in existing credible maps of valuable nature areas proposed for protection, which are recognized by scientific and nongovernmental environmental communities at the regional level.
• Areas where there is an evident violation of traditional, customary or civil rights, or of serious extant disputes with indigenous peoples or other social stakeholders.

1.2. Company does not use timber that has been illegally harvested and/or traded:

• If harvested without logging permits.
• If represented by tree species, whose industrial logging (final felling) is legally prohibited .

1.3. Company should trace the geographic origin its timber suppliers with accuracy allowing them to meet the requirements 1.1 and 1.2.

• The wood tracing procedure should be open to such a degree that interested parties could conduct an independent evaluation of its efficiency.
• Information on the exact geographic origin of the timber should be available for the general public.

Step 2. Company shall use timber only from well-managed forests

Step 2 starts only after all the requirements of Step 1 are fulfilled.

2.1. Company promotes development/improvement of the system of areas set aside avoid sourcing from).

• If no credible and recognized by scientific and nongovernmental environmental communities map of high conservation value forests important from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation (HCVF) exists at the regional level, the company shall initiate the process of identification of such forests or actively promote it.
• Company within its competence shall provide the openness of the process of HCVF criteria development as well as development and implementation of HCVF identification and management programs.
• In case if HCVF are identified within the whole supply area (particular leskhoz or leasehold area), the company shall develop and implement a special program for conservation/use of such forests.

2.2. Company does not buy timber from the following 1st group forest categories, in which industrial logging (final felling) is legally prohibited :

• Forest protecting spawning grounds of valuable fish.
• Valuable forest areas.
• Reserved forest areas.
• Subtundra forests.

2.3. Company procures timber only from areas, which fulfil at least the following criteria as a first step towards good forest management:

• Harvesting volumes for the whole supply area (leskhoz or leasehold area) should not lead to depletion of forest resource available for economic exploitation during the whole rotation period.
• deforestation. Forest practices (e.g., large-size clearcuts), which lead to such consequences, should within the reasonable term be replaced by environmentally sound practices in accordance to programs adopted by logging company.
• The preference should be given to those forestry practices, which exert the least adverse impact on biological and species diversity and environmental conditions of forest.
• Reasonable and efficient system for prevention of human-induced fires shall exist for the whole supply area (leskhoz or leasehold area).

In order to fulfill these requirements:

2.4. Company and its suppliers should trace the geographic origin of its timber supply with sufficient geographic resolution and evaluate the fulfilment of these requirements in their supply areas (leskhoz or leasehold area).

• The procedure for evaluation of the following fulfilment of these requirements should be open so that interested parties can conduct independent evaluations of its efficiency.
• Information on results of such assessments and on logging sites should be publicly available.

2.5. Company should clearly define persons in charge of these issues among its staff.

2.6. Company shall actively assist its suppliers to meet these requirements.

• The company should inform its suppliers on results of the evaluation how the last fulfil the requirements 2.1-2.3 and provide them with reasonable recommendations on how to meet these requirements.
• The company and their suppliers develop and approve a program for introducing good forest management, implementation of which allows suppliers to completely meet the requirements above within a reasonable timeframe.
• The company assists its suppliers in the implementation of such a transition program and timely verify its fulfilment.
• Information on the results of assessment of program implementation by the company or its supplier should be available for all interested parties.
• If the supplier fails to fulfil the program, the company should refuse to procure timber from it.

Step 3. Company shall use timber from certified forests only

Step 2 starts only after all the demands of previous steps are met, even if the company already has a certificate of sustainable forest management.

3.1. Company should verify the fulfillment of the steps 1 and 2 by their suppliers through certification. The certification system should meet the following key criteria :

• The forest management standards should be developed within a multi-stakeholder process with equal and balanced participation of business, environmental and social stakeholders.
• The independent 3rd party assessments with adequate control mechanisms and stakeholder consultations.
• The forest management standards should be objective, comprehensive and performance-based with clear environmental and social thresholds.
• Labeling system of timber, including a credible chain of custody.
• The certification scheme should have a complaint mechanism open to all relevant stakeholders.
• Certification at the forest management unit level, rather than at country or regional level (oblast, krai etc.), repeatable and consistent.
• Full transparency to all concerned parties and the public.
• The fulfilment by the company and its supplier of sustainable forestry standards should be verified by an independent certifier not less than once per year based on obligatory ground checking.

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