Requirements for the development of a standard and certification system for sustainable fuel wood trade in Sri Lanka

Abstract

A standard and certification system for sustainable fuel wood trade suitable for local context is presented. The situation analysis of fuel wood trade in Sri Lanka emphasize on the need for the development of such standard and certification system as the present supply chain system is not sustainable at large and there is an increasing demand particularly in the industrial thermal energy application due to fuel switching and an emerging demand as a source of electricity generation. Development of standard and certification system for sustainable biomass and biofuel including fuel wood has been undertaken by several developed countries such as Netherland, United Kingdom and Germany and international organization such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Energy Agency Bio-energy task 40 and Global bio-energy partnership. Usually these systems comprises of set of principles, criteria and indicators covering sustainability aspect, which are dependent on country to country and therefore need to adopt to the local context with appropriate changes. The information collected through literature survey and consultation of foreign experts in the field was used to identify 8 principles that are considered to be relevant to local context. In order to establish locally relevant and acceptable standard and certification system for sustainable fuel wood, key stake holders who are involved in Sri Lankan biomass industry were consulted. The output of the consultation process is based on the principle of consensus distillation of successful thinking and expert judgment. Accordingly, 5 principles namely legal and regularity compliance, environment values and impact, benefit to the community, group support and chain of custody (traceability) from the standing-tree to the farm-gate have been established as those relevant to Sri Lanka. Further 11 criteria and 42 indicators were identified under the five principles, covering social, economic and environmental aspects. Further a set of verifiers for each indicator is proposed. The validation of the proposed standard and certification system for sustainable fuel wood trade was done through field testing in a Community Based Organization iii (CBO) covering home garden and small plantation. In order to facilitate the enforcement of the certification system, a cell matrix was designed which could identify the applicability or non-applicability of indicators on supply chain. Further comprehensive procedure manual was developed for the conformity assessment of the fuel wood certification system. The proposed certification system comprises of 8 steps namely pre-assessment, fuel wood producer‘s preparation, document review, on-site evaluation, reporting, certification, surveillance and re-certification. The last two steps reflect the continuity and reassurance of the established system. It is concluded that the principles, criteria and indicators identified in the standard and certification system could ensure that fuel wood sector contribute to the economic development while ensuring sustainability. It is recommended to test the proposed indicators via application to a divers set of sample cases (large plantation) will help to evaluate the availability of necessary data, prioritize data and methodological efforts, and generate ideas for improvement.