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RONA a ‘leader in forest sustainability’ with new procurement policy, says Greenpeace
Research shows that intact areas of the Boreal Forest—those areas that remain in their natural states—will be better able to resist and recover from global warming impacts than those areas fragmented by roads, logging, mining, or other human activity.
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On the heels of Greenpeace's high profile campaign to protect the Boreal Forest, a number of companies who purchase from the Boreal are developing procurement policies to indicate to their suppliers their intention of moving away from products originating from high conservation value forests and giving preference to products certified to the FSC.
The RONA policy is the strongest procurement policy for wood products in North America and it confirms their commitment to sustainable development and outlines the tools they will be using to demand that their suppliers embrace sustainable forest management. Their policy demonstrates the need to protect high conservation value and endangered forests which is crucial in helping to protect nationally threatened species such as woodland caribou.
Greenpeace believes that RONA's policy will lead to positive change on the ground in the forests of Canada and will hold their suppliers to a high standard. The policy gives purchasing preference to suppliers who work for the conservation of ecological and cultural values of forests.
Other major strengths of the policy are a clear preference for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of wood products and the adoption of targets accompanied by a realistic timetable for increasing its purchases of FSC certified lumber. Greenpeace sees that this approach supports responsible forestry and will result in restrictions on suppliers who have a negative impact on forest health.
The protection of intact forests must go hand in hand with adopting FSC certification and the RONA policy is strong because it deals with both pieces. More than two thirds of Canada's commercial Boreal Forest has already been fragmented and degraded by development. Intact forest areas store more carbon than fragmented areas and are best suited to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Greenpeace is publicly applauding RONA for setting the bar high and developing a policy that will lead to change on the ground and better protection for the most ecologically important areas of Canada's forests. Consumers want their retailers to be green and this is a major step in the right direction
