Why Is Buying FSC Certified Products Important?

The demand for tropical wood patio furniture is booming. But do you have any idea the environmental cost paid for getting this furniture to your local store?

Driven in part by the failure of an intergovernmental process to agree on a global forest compact at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, 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 (FSC) 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. 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.

The vast majority of the world's tropical hardwood patio furniture is manufactured in China and SouthEast Asia - notably Vietnam. Yet few consumers are aware that a significant portion of this wood comes from clear cut forests in China and Laos, the latter of which has a national moratorium on logging (yet, ironically, it's corrupt government and police officials in Laos that are selling this timber to Vietnamese manufacturers). Additionally, there are FSC wood products that are made in Asia from timber felled in Canada & South America. So while the forests in those countries meet FSC standards, the act of shipping that timber all the way across the Pacific Ocean to be manufactured in Asia, only to be shipped back to North America & Europe, is hardly an eco-friendly process.

Look for products that carry the FSC certification, and ideally are made from FSC woods - like Eucalyptus - harvested in the local economy where the furniture was made.

For more information on the Forest Stewardship Council in the US, please visit http://www.fscus.org/

HomeandBackyard.com is an online retailer that sells primarily FSC Certified tropical wood furniture, as well as hundreds of other eco-friendly products for the patio, backyard and garden.