PRINCIPLE # 10:PLANTATIONS
Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with Principles and Criteria 1 - 9, and Principle 10 and its Criteria. While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benefits, and can contribute to satisfying the world’s needs for forest products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.
The production of NTFPs in plantations may range from purely agricultural settings to forestry settings. Regional forest standards and consultations with experts will help in determining when to treat certain NTFPs as forest or agricultural products.
NTFPs plantations in forestry settings may be created through sowing, planting, intensive silvicultural treatments or intensive understory clearing in natural forests or timber plantations. NTFP plantations that exhibit few or none of the characteristics and key elements of native ecosystems, and are not established on lands committed to long-term forest cover, will normally be disqualified from certification.In addition, extensive cultivation of exotic understory plants not found in local ecosystems will normally be excluded from certification.Such crops may be better addressed by agroforestry, organic or fair trade initiatives that primarily focus on pesticide use, fair wages and working conditions and actions that seek to mitigate biodiversity losses due to intensive agricultural production.In the case of forest gardens that retain some of the characteristics and key elements of native forests, SmartWood may work in tandem with other initiatives to provide certification on a case by case basis.
NTFP production can balance management objectives and outputs for some plantation systems, and as such should be encouraged, particularly if production of the NTFP in question from natural forests is endangered or otherwise controversial.NTFPs provide potentially additional challenges to the plantation principle because
many products are understory plants that are not well covered by existing FSC criteria.
10.1 The management objectives of the plantation, including natural forest conservation and restoration objectives, shall be explicitly stated in the management plan, and clearly demonstrated in the implementation of the plan.
The NTFP plantation management plan articulates objectives for NTFP production.
10.2 The design and layout of plantations should promote the protection, restoration and conservation of natural forests, and not increase pressures on natural forests.Wildlife corridors, streamside zones and a mosaic of stands of different ages and rotation periods, shall be used in the layout of the plantation, consistent with the scale of the operation.The scale and layout of plantation blocs shall be consistent with the patterns of forest stands found within the natural landscape.
Intensive management, enrichment planting, or cultivation of understory NTFPs in natural forests does not adversely impact the overstory or understory diversity across the forest landscape.
10.3 Diversity in the composition of plantations is preferred, so as to enhance economic, ecological and social stability. Such diversity may include the size and spatial distribution of management units within the landscape, number and genetic composition of species, age classes and structures.
10.4 The selection of species for planting shall be based on their overall suitability for the site and their appropriateness to the management objectives. In order to enhance the conservation of biological diversity, native species are preferred over exotic species in the establishment of plantations and the restoration of degraded ecosystems.Exotic species, which shall be used only when their performance is greater than that of native species, shall be carefully monitored to detect unusual mortality, disease, or insect outbreaks and adverse ecological impacts.
10.5 A proportion of the overall forest management area, appropriate to the scale of the plantation and to be determined in regional standards, shall be managed so as to restore the site to a natural forest cover.
10.6 Measures shall be taken to maintain or improve soil structure, fertility, and biological activity. The techniques and rate of harvesting, road and trail construction and maintenance, and the choice of species shall not result in long-term soil degradation or adverse impacts on water quality, quantity or substantial deviation from stream course drainage patterns.
Intensive management or cultivation of understory NTFPs in natural forests does not cause erosion, reduce water quality or adversely impact soil structure or fertility.
10.7 Measures shall be taken to prevent and minimize outbreaks of pests, diseases, fire and invasive plant introductions.Integrated pest management shall form an essential part of the management plan, with primary reliance on prevention and biological control methods rather than chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Plantation management should make every effort to move away from chemical pesticides and fertilizers, including their use in nurseries.The use of chemicals is also covered in Criteria 6.6 and 6.7.
10.8 Appropriate to the scale and diversity of the operation, monitoring of plantations shall include regular assessment of potential on-site and off-site ecological and social impacts, (e.g. natural regeneration, effects on water resources and soil fertility, and impacts on local welfare and social well being), in addition to those elements addressed in principles 8, 6 and 4.No species should be planted on a large scale until local trials and/or experience have shown that they are ecologically well-adapted to the site, are not invasive, and do not have significant negative ecological impacts on other ecosystems. Special attention will be paid to social issues of land acquisition for plantations, especially the protection of local rights of ownership, use or access.
Establishment of NTFP plantations does not adversely impact resources or rights of local communities or local people.
NTFP plantations must not contribute to reducing the value of the environmental, social and economic functions of similar NTFPs in natural forests.