Sustainability and the digital ‘revolution’

We pick out the positive moments of the recent COP27 climate conference in Egypt and look forward to the COP15 Biodiversity Summit. For many of the world’s environmental campaigners, global organisations, conservationists, NGOs, charities, academics, and press, this year’s COP27 climate conference offered a chance for action, an opportunity for world leaders to gather and agree on firm resolutions to reverse the increase in carbon emissions and global temperature rise. However, two weeks after the conference opened on November 6, there was a general feeling of disappointment and frustration as delegates packed their bags and left the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Many felt that the event was a failure in terms of reducing carbon dioxide, with many countries trying to pull out of the decision taken at COP26 in Glasgow to keep temperature increases to 1.5ºC, and the final text regarded as weak, without any significant progress made.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc. (SFI) is pleased to announce the election of four new members to its board of directors: Lillian “Ebonie” Alexander, Executive Director, Black Family Land Trust; Kevin Edgson, President and CEO, EACOM Timber Corporation; Brent Keefer, President, Hancock Timber Resource Group; and Dan Lambe, President, Arbor Day Foundation. These new board members will not only advance SFI’s work within its four pillars – standards, conservation, education, and community – but will strengthen the intersections between them. “These four board members join us at a critical juncture given SFI’s current work to set our strategic direction for the next five years. I’m looking forward to working closely with each of them and am confident that their diverse experience and leadership skills will bring fresh perspective to SFI’s future plans,” said Mark Rodgers, President and CEO, Habitat for Humanity Canada and Chair of the SFI Board of Directors. “The diversity and independence of our board is one of SFI’s defining characteristics and a foundation for our success. Each board member brings a range of impressive talents and skills to the table and I’m eager to see us all working together on behalf of sustainable forests,” said Kathy Abusow, President and CEO of SFI Inc. Click read more below for additional detail.

On October 5th, FSC US opened a 75-day public consultation for the first draft of a revised FSC US National Forest Stewardship Standard. Due in large part to the quality and rigor of our forest management standards, FSC is widely recognized as the world’s most trusted certification system. Draft 1 of the revised Standard offers further refinement of the respected existing standard for the United States, aligning it with the FSC Principles and Criteria Version 5 and the International Generic Indicators. Our goal is to deliver a standard that is both best-in-class and achievable by streamlining the existing standard and addressing a number of priority issues, identified below. To help achieve this goal, we will need clear, actionable input from an informed and diverse set of stakeholders during this consultation.