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The author begins by providing a brief overview of the concept and reasoning behind certification of forest products. She states that, at the outset, one of the aims of certification was to provide market access and other benefits for small-scale, low-impact, community run ‘eco-timber’ projects. However, she argues, current figures of forest enterprises certified under the scheme of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) suggest that rather than giving market access to social forestry enterprises, certification might work in favour of classical‘industrial forest management'.Despite these figures, the paper argues that certification can help to strengthen social forestry approaches through external recognition and internal consolidation of management capacities and that forest certification, rather than blocking reform, can act as a catalyst for structural and institutional change in the forest sector.Limitations to certification's impact on social forestry are considered to be that certification has no mechanism to facilitate consistent access to the market potential for certified products. Moreover, current certification practice and standards are not well adapted to match the diverse land management objectives and social equity issues of forest managing communities.Registration is necessary before access to this free document
