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.