Chhattisgarh Forest Department

NWFP Certification

The members arrived at a consensus to the proposition for having a local certifying agency having representatives from the following:

After having agreed upon having institutionalized a Local Certifying Agency (CGCERT)*, the group further deliberated upon the processes involved in the certification of NWFP.

For this, answers were searched for questions like:  

• Institutional framework  

• Institutional  Structure  

• Functions and responsibilities of the Institution  

Furthermore, the group discussed:  

• Whether the Local Certifying Agency (CGCERT) will meet the requirement of Chhattisgarh?  

• Who will bear the cost of maintaining CGCERT?  

• How will the CGCERT meet the need for-  

• Validation  

• Accreditation

Other recommendations of the group are as follows:  

• Certification at the international level should not be done during the initial phase of the programme.  

• Emphasis should be laid on developing domestic market  

• Forest department will validate the forest management

• With further expert consultations, some mechanism for validation will have to be evolved subsequently.

• Certification should be people centered and local village level committees will have to be involved in the process.

• Certification process may be done in a phased manner on a pilot basis in selected PPAs rather than thinly spreading the efforts.  

• There should be an enhancement in understanding and capacity building at different stages of the process so that it should lead to international certification.  

• The members discussed the roles and responsibilities of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) and his involvement as the Managing Director of the Primary Forest Produce Societies, in the certification process and according to them, DFO is already overloaded with work. Therefore, he should be supported by other members comprising local producers and other stakeholders at the local levels.  

• Priority must be given to addressing the food security of the local communities and produce should not be diverted to commercial purposes without meeting their food requirements.  

• Diversity of local economy should be based on local availability.  

• Rate of extraction must be determined on the basis of site specific locations.  

• Business philosophies need to be developed.  

• Quality has to be maintained.