Forestry: Another Gisborne company loses sustainability accreditation

A second Gisborne forestry company has lost its sustainability accreditation within two months.

Aratu Forests’ Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificate was suspended on March 28 by Swiss auditing company Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS).

This after the FSC certification of forestry company Ernstlaw One was suspended in February.

Aratu Forests CEO Neil Woods declined to comment on the suspension but said the company is working to become reaccredited.

Gisborne’s certifiers were recently in the spotlight after a report from Audit Services International (ASI) revealed shortcomings.

FSC certifiers SGS and Preferred by Nature faced four major non-conformities, just one non-conformity short of ASI’s policy to consider a suspension of both certification bodies.

The FSC certification can be found on products worldwide and is a condition for the sale of tree trunks, wood and paper products on the international market.

It means to consumers that the wood associated with the product meets responsible environmental standards, has undergone cultural impact assessments and is not linked to deforestation or environmental crime.

Ernstlaw One was able to maintain its certification after being fined in December 2022 for its role in the damage to homes, farms and infrastructure during a storm in Tolaga Bay over the Queen’s Birthday weekend in 2018.

Similarly, Aratu Forests retained its qualification in 2020 after being fined $379,500 by Gisborne District Council under the Resource Management Act for discharging pollutants from forestry waste and sludge into waterways.

This fine is inherited from an event in 2018, which occurred under the previous ownership of Hikurangi Forest Farms (HFF). Aratu owner New Forests bought HFF in July 2019.

Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT), a Gisborne group that organized a local petition calling for changes to land use rules, contacted FSC last year to ask why companies convicted of illegal harvesting practices could retain global certification .

MTT spokesperson Manu Caddy said after contacting the certification body, FSC sent an independent auditor from ASI to New Zealand who audits companies internationally.

Another MTT spokesperson, Mere Tamanui (of the iwi Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti) said it was good to see FSC and ASI taking the situation in Tairāwhiti seriously.

“We are happy to hear that they are coming to look at the audits of the Aratu forests in the Ūawa basin,” Tamanui said.

Tamanui said their whānau had not had access to cultural practices in their kura on the Mangatokerau River since 2018.

“We no longer have access to our Olympic swimming pools (what the community calls their waterholes), let alone engage in other culturally important activities and connections.”

They were also unable to set fishing nets or access te manu kai sites.

“No cultural impact analysis has been carried out. The cost of our kura and mangatunatanga (local knowledge, whakapapa, lifestyle and essence of the country) has been enormous.

“Our school does not have access to intergenerational knowledge that is passed on,” she said.

“We are in a time of mourning. An important part of land management should be protecting cultural practices.”

MTT member Tui Warmenhoven said it was pleasing to see they were taking this seriously.

“But clearly something needs to change to reassure customers and communities that FSC standards can still be trusted in New Zealand,” she said.

A representative from MTT plans to visit FSC headquarters in Germany next month to discuss the situation in New Zealand.

Following the recent suspensions, MTT has said auditors will return to New Zealand to review audits of three more companies.

Gisborne District Council declined to comment on the latest suspension.

Local Democracy Reporting is local journalism, co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.