By SCA logged pristine forest. Photo: Hans Sundström

Even though the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has revealed several major offenses against the swedish FSC-standard in the forestry praticed by SCA the company is now only given som minor Corrective Action requirements by the certifying body SGS.

– It’s astonnishing how cheap SCA gets away with this – the company have clearly broken the rules of the FSC-certification. Persistent serious offences of the rules like the logging of key habitats must have a consequense fot the forestry companies – otherwise FSC is not working the way its supposed to, says Mikael Karlsson, chairman of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

The forestry company SCA, which is one of the biggest forestry companies in the world, has gotten lots of critique lately for its forestry practices. The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation found this summer a large number of offences to the forest-certification FSC on several clear-cuts in Sweden. Five formal complaints has been made to the certifying body who has approved the FSC-certificate of SCA.

The reports concerns logged High Conservation Value forests in Västernorrland and Jämtland in mid-Sweden. The company has clear-cut among other things pristine like forest and key habitats. In the reports a large number of other concerns has been documented such as logged trees with high conservation values, poor respect for dead wood and red-listed species.

– The rules of the FSC-certification doesn’t work satisfactory when it comes to grave infringements. The certifier agrees that the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation has made a correct assessment but the consequences for SCA are insignificant. This means that the certifying body SGS are legitimizing the logging of nature that should be protected, concludes chairman Mikael Karlsson.