Why Portugal?

You may know Portugal as the largest producer of cork in the world.  Indeed, Portugal has a thriving forest product industry that accounts for 11% of the country’s industrial GDP and 11% of its exports.  The industry includes pulp and paper, panels and furniture production, and it directly or indirectly provides some 260,000 jobs.

Spanning an area of 3,456,000 ha (UN FAO, State of the World’s Forests 2011), Portugal’s forests cover more than one third of the country’s land. Yet only 268,441 ha of forest (less than 1%) are FSC certified, distributed over 17 forest management certificates.

Considering more than 86% of the forests are privately owned and distributed between 400,000 private forest owners (over 6.5 million properties), smallholders are a linchpin to successfully rolling out certification in Portugal. The average size of properties in the north and center of the country is less than 1 ha.

To date, smallholders represent approximately 3% of the FSC certified area around the globe. However, certification of smallholders has been an important issue for several years. A key international FSC event took place in May 2008, coined as ‘The Lisbon Process’, which brought some 60 participants from around the world to approach certification of smallholder and community-based forestry operations with a renewed vigor.  At the FSC International Center, the Social Policy Program and Smallholders Support Unit are working on new policies and initiatives to get more smallholders certified.

> Brochure on CeFCo (in Portuguese)

Developing the check-lists: on-going

Following an analysis of relevant FSC, PEFC and ENFE standards, two-check-lists were developed: one for forest contractors; one for forest managers. The analysis took into considered the FSC forest management standard for Portugal (currently in the process of endorsement by FSC IC), the PEFC endorsed national forest management standard, and core criteria and indicators for contractors’ qualification developed by ENFE and indicators from the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartLogging Standard.

> Sub-standard/ check-list for Portugal (in Portuguese) 

Testing and verifying the check-list: on-going

The project was broadly advertised in Portugal and has resulted in great interest, especially among forest contractors. The successful applicants represent three main sub-sectors – pine, eucalyptus and cork – with a special focus on pine and eucalyptus, which are dominant among in the central and northern Portugal where the largest percentage of smallholders exists.

The check-lists, which specify the requirements for certification, were used by the forest managers and contractors to help them divide the requirements for which they would be audited.

At the end of June 2011, NEPCon conducted the first pre-assessment audit.  The pre-assessment is an initial brief visit to prepare the landowner and/or contractor for a full assessment, at which time all certification requirements are checked.  NEPCon will carry out the remaining pre-assessments and follow up full assessments in late 2011.

Below is a list of organizations that are taking part in the pilot tests:

• Forest contractor: Célia Marques, L.da based in Figueira da Foz, works mainly with Eucalyptus plantations
• Forest manager: Cooperativa Beira Central, located in Oliveira do Hospital, a forest cooperative that works with very small forest owners of pine and eucalyptus plantations.
• Forest manager: Associação de Produtores Florestais dos Concelhos de Alcobaça e Nazaré, a forest producers association working mainly with pine producers as well as eucalyptus, in the Pataias region.

Awareness raising and training: on-going

In May 2011, the first national workshop brought more than 25 contractors, land owners and NGOs to Lisbon, as well as international project partners. The event served to address some important questions, e.g., regarding costs, advantages of participation and requirements for certification. 

The costs of the pre-assessment are covered by the project.  Each pre-assessment will result in a report detailing where the contractor and/or forest manager needs to make improvements to obtain certification. Half of the full assessment costs are covered by the project.

The workshop was well received and resulted in several new applications for participation in the project. A second workshop is planned for December 2011.

> Workshop in Lisbon, Portugal 27.09.2010 (in English)
> Workshop in Lisbon, Portugal 19.05.2011 (in English)