Smallholder tree-farmers and forest certification in Southeast Asia: alternative approaches to deliver more benefits to growers

ABSTRACT The smallholder tree-farm resources of Southeast Asia are generating substantial benefits for growers and support many successful domestic wood processors. They could provide even greater benefits at all levels of the supply and value chains if they enjoyed a sympathetic policy framework; technical and specialised support and training to promote productivity gains; and greater knowledge of market trends and access requirements. This paper reviews current forest certification systems as applied to smallholder tree-farmers in Southeast Asia, with a focus on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and Viet Nam, and questions whether perceived benefits match operational realities. A critical issue in any form of transactional relationship between two or more people or institutions is to answer to mutual satisfaction the question, ‘Who benefits?’ This is particularly important in transactions between relatively weak and vulnerable and relatively strong and powerful individuals and groups, such as the relationships between smallholder tree-farmers in Southeast Asia and purchasers of certified wood products. We explore factors that drive certification and how they intersect with salient characteristics of smallholder tree-farms restricting the adoption of certification. We argue that new approaches are required to deliver the benefits necessary to expand smallholder participation in wood production supply chains, such as national codes of practice for small-scale forestry and agreed standards that encourage mutual recognition between verification systems. Innovative approaches should be adopted to deliver a fair, equitable and inclusive model that is relevant, practical, feasible and cost-effective for smallholder tree-farmers. As currently practised, certification has many positive aspects for some types of forests and wood producers but rarely for smallholder tree-farmers. A new approach to smallholder forest certification is required to ensure that the answer to the question, ‘Who benefits?’ is, ‘All participants in the supply and value chain, including smallholder tree-farmers’. To achieve this outcome, certification organisations and forest products businesses should remove existing barriers to smallholder participation and develop initiatives to more fairly link smallholder tree-farmers with others in the supply chain, based on enabling and mutually supportive partnerships.