Corruption perception index 2012

New figures for the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released by Transparency International in December 2012. Five countries have moved from “unspecified risk” to “low risk” for legality under the Controlled Wood requirements.

On 5 December 2012, Transparency International released the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012. The index scores 176 countries and territories from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean) based on perceived levels of public sector corruption. It is important to notice that scale has changed compared to last year, when a scale from 0 to 10 was used.

In the new CPI, New Zealand, Denmark and Finland equally scored highest 90 points. Somalia, Afganistan and North Korea rank equally lowest with 8 points.
For the purpose of FSC Controlled Wood risk assessments, it is considered that the former threshold of 5 for determining risk, now represents a threshold of 50 on the new scale.

Compared to 2011, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Hungary, Georgia and Seychelles have become “low risk” for legality under the Controlled Wood requirements. None of the countries who had previously CPI index above 5, have now fallen to a perceived corruption level, where the index on the new scale is below 50.

For further information please check the report at Transparency International’s website: http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results .

Corruption Index: Lithuania and Costa Rica unspecified risk for Controlled Wood

With new figures for the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released by Transparency International on 1 December 2011, Lithuania and Costa Rica have become “unspecified risk” for legality under the Controlled Wood requirements.

On 1 December 2011, Transparency International released the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2011. The index scores 183 countries and territories from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean) based on perceived levels of public sector corruption. It uses data from 17 surveys that look at factors such as enforcement of anti-corruption laws, access to information and conflicts of interest.

In the new CPI, New Zealand ranks first, followed by Denmark and Finland. Somalia and North Korea (included in the index for the first time) rank lowest.

In Costa Rica, Lithuania and Oman, CPI has fallen below 5. According to the FSC Controlled Wood policy, these countries are now to be considered “unspecified risk” for legal timber. A country can be considered as low risk only if the CPI for the given country is equal to or above 5. This change in CPI is very important for companies who purchase controlled timber from Lithuania or Costa Rica, since field verification of legal harvesting is required for sourcing controlled wood from countries with a CPI below 5. Oman is not considered to be an important country in terms of forestry.

The following EU countries now have a CPI below 5: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia.  “These figures show that there is risk of illegal harvesting in several locations within the EU, which is also important to note in relation to the fast approaching EU Timber Regulation that  aim to block the entrance of illegal timber into the EU marketplace”, says Chain of Custody certification expert at NEPCon Roman Polyachenko. “Greece and Italy show some of the highest corruption levels in Europe. Some of the EU countries that have previously moved from below to above the CPI threshold of 5 are still doing well, such as Poland and Slovenia. In others, a negative development is seen. For example, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia have all had CPIs of above 5 in recent years – but none of them have managed to raise the bar back to this level again this year”.

Slovakia has fallen as low as 4, while Lithuania remains close to 5 with 4.8.  The CPI in Rwanda and Bahrain has risen over 5 but none of these countries are forest-rich.

For further information check the report at Transparency International’s website: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/ .

For longer coverage on the CPI and related threats see full article in NEPCon Certified Wood Update.

Germany low risk for Controlled Wood

The Global Forest Registry has been updated to include a new national Controlled Wood risk assessment for Germany.

Endorsed by FSC-International Center in July, the assessment concludes that all of Germany’s forests are low risk for FSC Controlled Wood. Buyers of Controlled Wood may now source wood from Germany without conducting further risk evaluations.

The Controlled Wood risk assessment was carried out by the German FSC Working Group. All five risk categories of the FSC Controlled Wood Standard were assessed as low risk. The Risk Assessment was carried out for all types of German forests including plantations. The definition of forests and plantations in Germany can be found in the German FSC Forest Management standard.

Public consultations for stakeholders were held in March and April 2011 and assessment of the documentation by the FSC International Center for formal recognition took place in June 2011. The list of participating groups and the stakeholder consultation report can be found in the file attached to Germanys risk assessment.

The relevant contact persons at FSC Germany are Thomas Häbe & Uwe Sayer, FSC Deutschland, Nussmannstr. 14, 79098 Freiburg, Tel.: +49761 38653-62, Fax: +49 761 38653-79, email: thomas.haebe@fsc-deutschland.de .

New risk assessments for the UK and Portugal

The Global Forest Registry has been updated to include two national Controlled Wood risk assessments recently endorsed by the FSC International Center: the UK and continental Portugal. FSC-certified companies purchasing and using Controlled Wood in their FSC production can turn to the Risk Registry for up-to-date information on the these mandatory national assessments.

“Since these risk assessments cover five classes of grossly irresponsible forest management, including legal harvesting, they also provide good guidance for any buyer who seeks to purchase responsible timber”, explains Hando Hain,  Research & Development Manager at NEPCon.

Northern Ireland ‘unspecified risk’

The entire territory of continental Portugal is now deemed as “low risk” for controversial wood sourcing.  Within the UK, England, Scotland and Wales have also been classed as low risk for all five Controlled Wood categories.

Due to a lack of requirements for felling licenses in Northern Ireland, the country is classed as “unspecified risk” for legality. It does however pass as “low risk” for all four other categories, making the process simpler, only requiring companies to demonstrate proof of legal harvesting.  FSC UK Executive Director Charles Thwaites states, “Our expectation is that the felling licence situation in Northern Ireland will be resolved soon. We will update the risk assessment to reflect any change as early as possible.”

The Global Forest Registry is updated whenever national risk assessments are endorsed by FSC or when other relevant public information is made available.

Version 2 of the Global Forest Registry launched!

2 September 2010: The second version of the Global Forest Registry is now launched! Among its brand new features, you may now use this free online tool to get information on the risk of sourcing unacceptable wood at sub-country level.

Until now, the system could only handle information at country level. With the second version in place, informationcan be displayed at state, county or municipality level.

Another new significant feature is the ability to upload custom map data on a separate map layer. This will enable users to click on these layers and see the precise location of endangered High Conservation Value Forest, areas where violation of civil rights is known to occur, etc.

A mind-boggling task

“I am truly pleased with this amazing achievement. With its new features, the Global Forest Registry has finally got the full technical framework to fulfill its purpose as a key tool in non-risk wood sourcing. It has been a mind-boggling task for the expert team to get this far.”, says Peter Feilberg, CEO of NEPCon and member of the development team.

“Our next actions will be to improve the site’s user interface and to collect moredata. All suggestions and inputs from stakeholders are very welcome. Our key focus right now is on encouraging FSC National Initiatives to work on preparing controlled wood risk assessments and having them approved by FSC. This is an obvious way to strengthen the Risk Registry and fill in more sub-national information”.

Check the site often

Member of the Risk Registry development team Hando Hain says: “The benefits of the new features may not be very obvious at this stage, as we are still waiting for more detailed risk assessments. The new features can be seen by looking at countries with officially approved FSC controlled wood risk assessments, such as Chile or Australia, where the risk levels vary within the country. These variations are now visible on the maps. Also, mappings of globally significant High Conservation Value Forest areas – such as Intact Forest Landscapes, Global 200 Ecoregions and Biodiversity Hotspots – are visible on the map layer. More data will be added as soon as it becomes available. We strongly recommend users to check the Forest Risk Registry regularly, as the site is sure to bring much more information as we upload additional data”

NEPCon, Rainforest Alliance and Forest Stewardship Council are behind the Global Forest Registry.

The Programming and technical work was done by the Estonian company Positium LBS, who specializes on web-based GIS and positioning solutions. The Global Forest Registry is based on a variety of open source technologies enabling advanced solutions for processing large data volumes and applying complex algorithms to calculate risk relations.