Alan Thorne
Tembec
Economic North
Canada
5130 Hwy 101 West PO Box 1100
Timmins, Ontario, Canada
P4N 7H9
Tel: +1 (705) 360-1280
Email: [email protected]
Nominated by:
Seconded by:
Self-nomination.
Dave Pearce, Wildlands League, Environmental North. Canada.
Colin Maunder, Timberlands Limited, Economic North. New Zealand.
Objective
It would be an honour and a privilege to serve as a Director on the FSC IC Board of Directors as a representative of
the Economic Chamber North. I hope to be able to use my 25 years of broad experience in forest management and
more than 10 years of involvement with FSC certification to bring tangible solutions and a proactive approach to the
Board.
Background
My involvement with FSC began in 1998, while working in British Columbia, where I helped complete one of the first
ever FSC scoping analyses in Canada. Since 2006, I have been involved directly with FSC certification as Chief Forester
for Tembec in Ontario. I have been involved on many projects including: an IGI field test in 2014; chain of custody
certification, FPIC pilot in 2014; controlled wood pilot in 2015; carbon model testing 2014 – 2015; and the large
forests project.
Within the FSC system, I was an active participant on the Principles and Criteria committee as Economic Chamber
North representative. This experience was invaluable in learning how to build trust and strike balance with other
Chamber representatives.
I supported the work of the IGI project as well as an “ambassador” to provide assistance to the committee.
Other international FSC work includes being one of the early members of the ad hoc CANZUS group and helping with
implementation of the pesticides derogation policy.
I have also been an active participant in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. I helped lead a process to balance
environmental conservation with socio-economic interests on a 4 million ha forest working with ENGOs, First
Nations, and communities.
Board Experience
I have broad and varied experience in being a member of a number of Boards in leadership positions:
 In 2014, I became President of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce which has ~ 750 business members.
 In 2015, I became President of FSC certified Abitibi River Forest in Ontario. This Board contains representatives
from local area First Nations, other businesses, and with a strong connection to local communities
 In 2014, I became Vice President of the FSC certified Hearst Forest Management Inc.
Intentions
Going forward, I intend to use my experience to help continue to build the FSC brand in a responsible way. This means
prioritizing the ongoing core policy work to achieve the right balance of modernization to ensure FSC remains the
leading certification standard, while also moving forward at a suitable pace to allow Organizations to properly adjust.
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Including more smaller organizations (SLIMFs) in the FSC system is a core element that requires clear focus. I intend
to be supportive of measures that provide a realistic approach that acknowledges the principles of scale, intensity
and risk to ensure smaller Organizations can benefit.
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Question
What do you expect to contribute as a member of the FSC Board of Directors?
I plan on contributing a spirit of cooperation and problem solving as a member of the Board of
Directors based on my experience working with other Boards and my 25 years experience in the
forest industry. In addition, I intend to help the Board focus on key priorities for FSC to ensure we
move forward in a sound strategic fashion that ensures our existing certificate holders are
properly supported. Based on my experience with the P&C committee, I also plan on bringing a
spirit of problem solving, cooperation, forestry experience and good governance
What international FSC activities - for example FSC General Assemblies and formal
working groups - have you been involved in?
I was one of the original members of the Principles and Criteria subcommittee as the Economic
Chamber North representative and remained through the final approval of the project 3+ years
ago. In addition, I participated with the CANZUS group some 7+ years ago in the pesticide
derogation process in Bonn. Finally, I attend the GA in Kota Kinabalu 3 years ago. I also
participated in the pilot test of the IGI’s with Tembec last year and was an “IGI ambassador”
What are the issues you are particularly keen to drive as a Board of Directors member?
(maximum of three issues)
1: Completion and implementation of the new global strategic plan to ensure projects are properly
prioritized with clear directions to staff. 2: completion of the regional implementation of recent
initiatives such as controlled wood and the new IGI’s. It is important to respect the existing
certificates that have been in place for many years to ensure new requirements are reasonable to
achieve in using an orderly transition approach. 3: review the requirements for smaller potential
certificate holders in the North and in the South as I believe there are opportunities to lower costs
while keeping the integrity of the FSC system.
What precautions and safeguards do you think FSC needs to address when it comes to
making policy decisions about certification in high risk regions or with high risk
companies?
FSC, needs to always maintain the integrity of the FSC system in all parts of the world and trust
in the rigour of the policies and rule sets in place. Objectivity is always paramount for auditors
and they need to ensure the evidence presented meets the requirements of the standard.
Auditors also need to remain objective in their assessments – especially when there may be
substantial lobbying one way or another to ensure their decisions are defendable based on
credible evidence. Also, FSC needs to remain true to the requirements of the Policy of
Association to prevent against the perception of “greenwashing”
What does FSC need to do to improve its overall on-the-ground performance?
While improvements are always possible, it is important to remember that FSC already has a
good reputation for solid on the ground performance. To keep this credibility, it is important for
audits to focus on results as much as possible and not as much on documentation and plans
only. In addition, the caliber of auditors needs to be continually reviewed to ensure people with
solid experience are chosen and excellent credentials in their fields of experience. Finally, striving
for consistency on audit reports and monitoring of the system through ASI would help improve
consistency.
What are the most burning issues for you with respect to improvement of the FSC
system? (Maximum of 3 issues)
There seems to be a lot of policy initiatives ongoing right now that are stretching resources in
many directions for everyone in the system. Therefore, number 1 for me is a prioritization
exercise. A second priority for me is to ensure an orderly transition of new procedures and
policies to respect existing certificates already in place and the needed time to adjust. A third
priority for me is to ensure we can find a better way to make FSC attainable for smaller
Organizations by reducing costs by focusing on ground results and not expensive plans.
What are the greatest weaknesses of the current FSC system? (Maximum of 3 issues)
I believe the first priority for FSC is to prioritize all the initiatives ongoing right now as too many
members are being overwhelmed right now and do not have the resources to do everything
required at once. Another weakness in the system is trying to find the right balance between
centralization and de-centralization. It is important to have consistency of FSC globally but the
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need for Regional flexibility is necessary. A third weakness is to ensure there are practical
experienced people throughout the system to ensure new requirements can be achieved on the
ground.
What are the biggest strengths of FSC?
FSC’s main strengths include its governance structure through the membership approach to
developing policies. Having sound discussions with the 3 Chambers and a substantial focus on
Indigenous involvement builds trust and collaboration among all the groups to ensure policies are
truly balanced. Another strength is the principled desire to focus on results and not plans. This
maintains credibility. A third strength is the FSC brand. The focus on marketing to educate people
that they can indeed acquire products and services from forests with the knowledge that these
were produced with true sustainability in mind.
FSC works through national network partners in many countries around the world. Moving
forward, how should the split of operations be made between national, regional and
international offices?
Small forest owners and communities, especially in the Global South, are losing
certificates because they cannot afford the cost of certification and do not receive the
same market advantages as medium and big forest owners. Did you have experience with
this problem? How do you propose to solve it?
While I have not experienced this first hand, I have heard this issue very clearly while developing
the P&C’s. As a result, we chose not to use the term “document” in the criteria but use the phrase
“demonstrate” as much as possible. The goal here is to reduce requirements for expensive plans
and allow smaller holders to reduce costs in developing plans and time for audits as well.
Perhaps the size requirements of SLIMF’s can be reviewed as well as better opportunities for
group certificates.
How would you ensure FSC certification is relevant and accessible on the ground, and
provides credible solutions to challenges facing timber producers?
Getting certified is challenging enough but keeping it can be even more difficult. FSC has set an
ambitious standard to ensure that becoming certified requires true commitment and is not an
automatic result based on past practices. Therefore, the standard has found a good balance so
far as evidenced by the numerous certificates in place. Challenges going forward include the
pace of change of new policies as well as the practicality of new ideas that are becoming very
hard to demonstrate on the ground. Therefore, a practicality test is needed for new policies
before being rolled out.
What disadvantages might there be to having two Board members for a chamber i.e.
Environmental North, from the same country? How would you address these disadvantages?
I see this as largely a perception issue. Being a member of any Board requires the individual to
act in the best interest of the Organization first, while also required to represent the individual’s
constituencies secondly. Board governance training could help with this. Finally, I do not believe
Board members represent their country as part of their duties.
How would you contribute (as a Board member) to the growth of FSC certification in the
Global South and/or in tropical forests?
We need to find solutions that make FSC accessible to southern and tropical regions by
addressing the cost structure associated with the evidence required as a priority and ensure we
review the excellent work that has been done on SLIMF’s and using the scale, intensity, and risk
mindset going forward. To do this practically, we should identify those areas that are ready and
willing to go and the market drivers to help with the success.
What key benefits and challenges do you believe the transaction verification system (as it is
laid out in the current Draft FSC-STD-40-004 Vs. 3-0) pose?
How do you - as a candidate for the FSC Board - propose to increase the percentage of FSC
certified timber products from natural forests, including those owned by families?
We need to better understand that forest management can occur in these areas and maintain
the natural condition these forests are in. In many areas, there are good policies already in place
that need to be better understood. If we carefully review our policies and P&C’s, the
requirements tend to speak to desired forest conditions regardless of whether they are natural,
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semi-natural, or plantations. As for families, I believe the issues are the same as for small forests
in general - the need to reduce the costs with plans and audits.
FSC has a long to-do list, what should FSC postpone until after the strategy revision is fully
implemented?
I support the direction laid out in the global strategic document so that priorities are
established. That said, I agree there are too many initiatives ongoing at the same time and we
need to determine which ones can be moved to later so as to not overwhelm our membership.
Which is better – for 5% of the world’s forests to be managed to an FSC standard or for 50% of
the world’s forest to be managed to a “good enough” standard? (Good enough means circa
85% FSC compliant)
In my 25 years of forest management, I have learned our knowledge of best practices continues
to evolve and at times; what we thought were best practices, have now changed substantially.
Therefore, I believe FSC needs to continue to focus on being an excellent standard and not
necessarily the standard most easily achieved. Only 10% of the world’s forests are certified to
any standard now. As a result, I suggest FSC protect its brand by remaining the excellent
standard it is and the direction outlined in the global strategic plan is preferred for responsible
growth.
How much practical forest management experience do you have?
I graduated university in 1990 and have worked in the forest industry ever since. I am currently
a registered professional forester and have worked in most aspects of forest management in
different parts of Canada. I have been involved with certification for almost 15 years
participating in one of the first scoping exercises done by Smartwood in British Columbia in
western Canada. For the last 9 years, I have been Chief Forester for Tembec in Ontario
If a plantation meets FSC requirements and is delivering measurable social benefits to the
local community, and helping protect adjacent natural forest, does it matter that the trees in
the plantation are genetically manipulated vegetative propagated clones vs simply vegetative
propagated clones? Please list 3 specific reasons only.
The issue of genetically modified organisms is indeed a passionate topic within FSC. I would
support the idea of an open dialogue within FSC to explore this matter more fully so that fact
based information can be obtained and discussed across the membership involving all
chambers. Based on this feedback, FSC could decide if there are opportunities to revisit the
GMO policy.
How many FSC audits have you participated in directly, either as an auditee or an auditor, in
the last two years?
Approximately 10 as an auditee
A major portion of FSC’s revenues are derived from certificate holders. How would you
enhance the value of certification for certificate holders?
It is important to remember that FSC certification is a voluntary choice made by Organizations
and they do have other systems to choose from. Therefore, to continue to demonstrate value,
FSC should continue to build the brand of FSC globally for the market place that helps create a
“pull” by customers who then actively seek FSC certified forest products. In addition, the costs
associated with FSC need to be reasonable with the primary focus to keep costs fair. Ever
changing requirements and not necessarily the audit costs themselves, are a major concern now
for certificate holders
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