is a certification system for low impact logging, based on the principles & criteria for sustainable management and utilisation of the tropical rainforests of the Guyana shield. The system prescribes ecologically sound timber harvesting operations, while respecting biodiversity and other forest functions, including the livelihoods of forest depending communities.


is a timber trademark, registered and controlled by CELOS, the Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname, a semi-government research institute. The trademark is implemented, managed and sustained by ESS-environment, an independent local organisation, aiming at sustainable management and wise utilisation of the Guyana shield natural resources.


is based on the principles of the CELOS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS), a sustainable forest management system that was developed in the late seventies and early eighties of the past century in Suriname. Researchers from both the Centre for Agricultural Research in Suriname (CELOS) and Wageningen Agricultural University (WAU) in The Netherlands developed the CMS, a combination of two sub-systems: the Celos Silvicultural System (CSS) and the Celos Harvesting System (CHS). The latter, now completed with additional environmental and social criteria & indicators, is the core of the certification scheme. Dr. Ir. John Hendrison, who was the WAU lead researcher and founder of the CHS, is now associate senior consultant with ESS-environment.


offers a sound and reliable base for full certification of sustainable forest management. Although FSC forest certification is its ultimate goal, ESS encounters various constrains in its day-to-day practise for meeting this standard. Long-term tenure and use rights to the land and forest resources (FSC principle # 2) are among the most constraining conditions for full forest certification.


rewards 'good behaviour' instead of punishing 'missing links'; rewarding forestry contractors and logging companies for their efforts towards full certification, motivating them to continue in this transition process and offering an incentive by certifying these sound operations.


is based on the Modular Implementation & Verification (Proforest), covering legal, technical, social and environmental aspects of forest operations. The impact of low impact logging is audited by predefined indicators, verifiers and norms. Diameter limits, allowable cut, the use of directional felling techniques and the efficiency of skidding (tracks) are just some examples of indicators for wise resource management. The logging company's programme for occupational safety & health (OSH) is one of the indicators to verify the company's social responsibility.


will be linked to the 'Regional code of practice for wise forest utilisation'. This logging code, already available for Guyana, will be transformed into a regional standard in the near future. CELOS, supported by the TBI-programme who was involved in the Guyana code as well, will launch this regional code early next year.


certifies actually applied forest operations and logging techniques that favour the forest ecosystem at best and respect local community livelihoods. This also means that these communities agree with the operations and at least receive a fair price for the timber harvested from their forests. However, because the company does neither own the land nor hold long-term title on it, it cannot take long-lasting responsibility for the future of the forest resource, its biodiversity and the well-being of its local communities. But it does guarantee that, as long as it is engaged in managing and harvesting the forest, these oparations are environmentally sound and socially just.


is a voluntarily certification scheme, open for forest managers, companies and contractors who are engaged in logging operations in the Guyana shield forests. Before entering the scheme, the applying company will be fully examined (pre- and main audit) before the certificate is granted. For maintaining the certificate, annual follow-up audits are conducted. For applicants -in future- a complete set of criteria & indicators, verifiers and norms can -in future- be downloaded from the internet www.eco-logging.org or can be obtained from the ESS office in Paramaribo (www.ess-environment.com).

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Text: ESS-Environment

Photography: Emil Roes