Forest genetics and certification: Global and local issues facing tree breeders, policy-makers, and forest managers in British Columbia

Since the early 1990s, forest certification has become an internationally recognized mechanism for assessing and encouraging the practice of responsible forest management. Markets are increasingly demanding independent assurances that forest products come from sustainable sources. BC forest managers, the provincial government and other stakeholders are keenly aware of these pressures; creating significant interest in assessing how BC’s present forest management regulations, standards, requirements and practices compare to the requirements set by the various certification initiatives. In this report, we examine one such issue. Our attention focuses on the way four different forest certification initiatives address the conservation and management of forest genetic resources. The intention being two-fold: 1) Describe how certification has developed internationally to deal with forest genetics issues and; 2) Relate these findings to the BC situation to uncover the current and potential future issues that face BC tree breeders, silviculturalists, forest companies, forest managers, and policy makers as they attempt to evaluate the application of certification to how BC’s forests are managed.<br />The analysis includes the following initiatives:<br />• The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) sustainable forest management initiative;<br />• The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC);<br />• The Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) initiative and:<br />• The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).<br />Using document analysis and interviews with individuals involved in these certification initiatives we investigate how the standards and field audits assess the maintenance and conservation of forest genetic diversity. These findings were compared to provincial standards and requirements specific to genetic diversity, to determine where conflicts exist. The document analysis indicated that this issue has received limited attention by all four initiatives. For CSA certification, managers are required to address the conservation of genetic diversity. Company operations are measured against a set of indicators developed at the local level by a required public consultation process. Forest genetics receives variable attention, depending on the local standards setting process. No requirements are set regarding the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Overall, the audits are reported to focus more on the conservation of biodiversity. For the FSC, the standards differed based on whether an operation was classified as plantation or natural forest management. In the former, genetic diversity was promoted to reduce the risk of disease and pest outbreaks; the standards encouraged planting genetically appropriate seed or vegetative material. In natural forests emphasis focused on maintaining natural processes, promoting natural regeneration, and protecting phenotypic variation in stand and landscape level set-asides and protected areas. Documentation of origin was generally required for any planted material. While most of these provisions vary between regional standards, there is an across the broad ban on the use of and research on GMOs in FSC certified forests. Requirements of the PEFC place an emphasis on maintaining natural processes, promoting natural regeneration, and reserving areas for the protection of genetic resources. Like the FSC, the provisions vary significantly among national standards. In some instances, GMOs are also banned. For the SFI, little attention was given to the conservation of genetic diversity. SFI requirements focused more on planting high quality genetic stock or vegetative material and genetic diversity as a resource for ensuring the future productivity of managed forests. Companies are open to use GM technology. Audits were reported to focus on biodiversity broadly rather than genetic diversity specifically. Overall, the analysis indicated that existing BC standards and requirements specific to the forest genetic resources are not in conflict with the standards and requirements of the certification initiatives reviewed. However, it is likely that certification will give genetics more consideration in the future, focusing on the following issues:<br />• Documentation on leave tree and set aside characteristics (i.e., rationale outlining why characteristics ensure the conservation of genetic diversity);<br />• Information on prevalence of intensive selection, clone deployment, inbreeding or other factors reducing the genetic variability of regenerated forests;<br />• Information on source of natural regeneration and justification for the reliability of natural regeneration in providing adequate genetic diversity;<br />• Documentation on seed origin and effective population size used for seed and vegetative material production;<br />• Information on adaptability of seed or vegetative material for a given site and;<br />• Seed and vegetative material certification.<br />Our findings indicate that existing approaches for broadly assessing genetic diversity with reasonable costs and requirements for expertise are limited. Natural processes, such as promoting natural regeneration or population demographics are presently being proposed as proxies for more elaborate measures of genetics. Clearly, there is a need to develop tools for determining what management practices act to appropriately conserve this resource. We recommend action on the following points:<br />• Develop practical tools for operational assessment of maintenance of genetic diversity<br />• Promote dialogue among the certification initiatives, the provincial government and academic experts in forest genetics to ensure that existing systems for the conservation and management of forest genetic resources are not overlooked or re-invented by certification initiatives.