## 3 Forest Sustainability Certification Programs
FSC's ten principles illustrate the types of rules and policies that form forest certification systems: compliance with all applicable law and international treaties, demonstrated and uncontested land tenure and use rights, respect of indigenous peoples' rights, maintenance and enhancement of forest workers and local community well-being, equitable use and sharing of forest benefits, minimization of the environmental impact of logging and maintenance of ecological functions, an appropriate and continuously updated management plan, appropriate monitoring and assessment activities on forest conditions and impacts, maintenance of high conservation value forests that are significant or critical, and reduction of pressure on and promotion, restoration, and conservation of natural forests. FSC standards may be more appropriate in less developed nations where land use systems and ownership rights may not be well established. Sustainable forest management and forest certification have gained wide acceptance over the last twenty years and around ten percent of the world's forest area is now under some forest certification [24]. The acres managed under certified sustainable forestry have grown steadily and the concept has found strong support from environmental groups, non-governmental organizations, and even forest industry/timber investment groups [1]. The original impetus for increased forest sustainability and certification was tropical deforestation, but the majority of growth in forest certification has been in North America and Europe. Strong environmental pressure to gain forest certification in tropical forests should be expected; at the same time substantial social and economic pressures will continue to fuel deforestation in the tropical regions. Environmental groups have taken their efforts to impact environmental performance on both public and private forest lands directly to the marketplace. They have applied pressure on retailers that sell forest products to limit their procurement to certified products. Many major corporate chains agreed to the limitation. One of the major means of strengthening forest certification will be _via_ the marketplace [2]. Consumers have not yet sent strong market signals to suppliers that they demand certified forest products (willingness to pay a premium for certified wood). Most of the market pressure for certification has been on \"buyer groups\", like home improvement chains. This consumer pressure is fundamental to the long-term success of these environmental groups. All certification systems have costs. Forest management activities and plans must be changed, special inventories might be required, and tracking systems will be needed. Production costs can sometimes increase by up to 25 percent. Especially in developing countries these costs can be prohibitive [17]. Major net importers of forest products, like East Asia, would be most affected and could suffer. The cost of certification will continue to be a factor in its growth at least as long as there is not a full accounting of the societal costs of uncertified forest products. To date, most of the certified forests have been industrial and investment ownerships. A significant portion of the world's forest are in small private holdings. These ownerships will need to be addressed as certification grows [25]. Measures to assist these owners may be necessary. The ATFS, for example, allows independently managed groups of small private landowners to obtain a group certification.