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The History of
FSC-US (from the FSC-US website)
In the days leading up to and following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio,
world attention was focused on the challenges faced by cultures around
the globe as demands on their natural resources increased. Poverty,
disease, land use change, climate change, and pollution all continue
to threaten our resources and the stability of cultures worldwide.
The challenges at Rio remain largely unmet. However, the conversations
that occurred there contributed to one solution — the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC).
Driven in part by the failure of an intergovernmental process to agree
on a global forest compact, and the compelling question — what is sustainable
forestry? — loggers, foresters, environmentalists, and sociologists
came together in the first General Assembly to form the FSC in 1993.
The Forest Stewardship Council was created to change the dialogue about
and the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide. This impressive
goal has in many ways been achieved, yet there is more work to be done.
FSC
sets forth principles, criteria, and standards that span economic, social,
and environmental concerns.
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Our Residential Group Manager, Chris Moline, holds the US Green Building
Council LEED AP accreditation (Commercial Interiors track). To attain
this title, a foundational understanding of FSC standards, chain of
custody and many other green building criteria must be thoroughly studied
and mastered.
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The FSC standards represent the world's strongest system
for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. Like
the forestry profession itself, the FSC system includes stakeholders
with a diverse array of perspectives on what represents a well-managed
and sustainable forest. While the discussion continues, the FSC standards
for forest management have now been applied in over 57 countries around
the world. In 1995, FSC-US, located in Minneapolis, MN, was established
as the national “chapter” of FSC. It's purpose is to coordinate the
development of forest management standards throughout the different
biogeographic regions of the U.S., to provide public information about
certification and FSC, and to work with certification organizations
to promote FSC certification in the U.S.FSC-US has a national presence
through the work of its Board of Directors, members, staff, and regional
standards coordinators. The FSC's international headquarters are located
in Bonn, Germany. FSC has contact person and national offices in more
than 40 countries, creating a global FSC network. For more information
on FSC at the international level, please visit www.fsc.org.
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