Verified Impact Workshop, Sandton, South Africa
FSC hosted a Verified Impact Workshop on 3 October, following the ESG Africa Conference at the Sandton Convention Centre.
The workshop was attended by representatives of the commercial forestry sector, pulp industry, saw-millers, conservation organisations, financing organisations and ESG Consultants.
The workshop was a full day workshop. Candice Stevens, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Sustainable Finance Coalition gave an insightful presentation on innovative conservation financing. Ondrej Tarabus, FSC International Senior Advisor, Ecosystem Services then explained the Ecosystem Services (ES) Procedure, and how the measurement of the data was now referred to as a Verified Impact. We then had presentations from the FSC Africa regions – Southern Africa, Congo Basin and Eastern Africa on the current Ecosystem Services Claims in their respective regions. Dennis Kavuma, CEO from the Uganda Timber Growers Association shared their organization’s journey through certification and subsequent registration of and ES claim.
We then had a perspective from another continent, with Dr Guillermo Olmedo, Sonae Aruaco sharing their Ecosystem Services journey across their plantations. FSC Latin American Regional ES Lead César Galarza shared insights on Latin America’s 45 ES Claims. Then Felix von Eynern, FSC Global Sales Manager - ES, and Bernarndo Mateluna, Programme Manager Value Selling, shared some thoughts on sponsorship matchmaking, and using Verified Impact to support corporate social responsibility initiatives
and other opportunities and
César José Galarza from FSC shares Latin American Experiences
implementation of Ecosystem Services.
The workshop was a success in terms of sharing an integrated view on Ecosystem Services from an Africa perspective, as well as bringing a diverse group of participants together to share experiences. The team looks forward to building on this workshop to drive the Ecosystem Services Programme to new heights.
