FOREST ECO-CERTIFICATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE IN THE LOW BUENOS AIRES DELTA OF THE PARANÁ RIVER

(ARGENTINA)

Gonzalez Adrian; Rosenfeld Adriana; Casaubon Edgardo

23rd Session of the International Poplar Commission

Forest eco-certification aims to promote the sustainable management of all type of forests and to link demands from the market of forest products produced in a sustainable way, with producers that offer those products. The certification is an action carried out by a third party, that asserts with an appropiate level of security, that a certain product or service is made according to specified standards.

In wetlands of the low Buenos Aires Delta of the Paraná River, almost 95,000 hectares of commercial plantations of Salicaceae (Populus and Salix), natural forests, lagoons, flats and other areas have been environmentally protected in the last decade.

In the year 2,000, UNESCO declares Reserve of Biosphere 88,624 hectares of islands of the Municipality of San Fernando, with the purpose of conserving the natural environment, the social sustainability and the economic competitiveness of the diverse island’s productions.

In 2,002, a private timber firm, FAPLAC S.A., certified 2,050 hectares of commercial forest plantations with the environmental Standard FSC (Forest Stewardship Council),

and in 2,004, another private company EDERRA S.A., certified its commercial and silvo-pastoral plantations, in a surface of around 1,800 hectares, with the environmental management system standard ISO 14,001.

Considering possible economic and environmental benefits, during the current year, a group of 5 small forest producers of the low Buenos Aires Delta, indicated their interest and began to organize themselves individually, in order to demonstrate their “environmental performance”, in around 700 hectares of plantations of their property, using the non-certifiable Standard ISO 14,031.

The demonstration of their environmental performance, constitutes an alternative to the certification’s costs, allowing producers to communicate to the interested parties the type of forest handling they are doing. This group of small foresters tries to differentiate its production and achieve competitive advantages for its products, inserting itself in the market of quality Salicaceae’s wood for diverse uses, taking into account the criteria and indicators suggested in the manuals of good practices of forest management in wetlands.

Thank you very much for your attention !