FSC is on the Map: Showing certified forests on a map
Loa Dalgaard Worm
On a mission to make the World sustainable. Using communication and tech innovation as primary tools. Focus on forests.
It sounds simple, doesn’t it : see the certified forests on a global map, making it easy to find the nearest certified forest, of interest to you.
Reality though is that it isn’t simple.
To produce a map of certified forest areas online, a series of things must be in place.
For starters, one would have to have exact digital boundary maps of each certified forest in the world in a consistent and structured format. FSC’s standards don’t require digital maps of forest owners, but only that the certification bodies have access to detailed maps. These will then often be paper-based maps or plot-images.
Secondly one must have a platform which can compute these boundary data maps and put them in a geospatial representation – that is to place them on a satellite image in the right position and mark the edges of the area. This requires a Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, which can display the data.
Luckily for FSC and all of our stakeholders now there is!
We are so happy and proud to introduce FSC on the Map!
Presenting FSC on the Map
FSC on the map is the first geospatial platform within FSC and is the first expression of the new GIS capacity, which we now have.
Today, FSC on the Map is available with four independent maps, which are fairly straight forward and simple to use but nevertheless will become a powerful resource for FSC stakeholders and staff. These maps are FSC’s Facts and figures, country representation of FSC members, locations of FSC offices, and FSC certified forests (Beta).
Truly dive into the facts and figures of FSC
The first map is a new representation of our Facts and Figures. If you’ve ever needed numbers representing FSC over time, you will know, that FSCs ability to provide you with data on FSC has been limited. Your only option was basically to pull data and information out of monthly published pdfs and generate information yourself. With this new representation of facts and figures this all changes!
On FSC on the Map you can dive into FSC figures for a given geographic area, country or region and see development over time in e.g. certified area, number of certificate holders, distribution of certificate types, etc. You will also be able to compare different countries to each other in a split view.
Find the international members of FSC
The second map enables you to dive deeper into the data on FSC International Members. (National members are not represented on the map today).
This enables you to see the distribution between the different chambers in FSC, how many individual vs institutional members there are, where each member is placed and even search for members by the name of the organization.
This map makes it easier for new organizations wanting to join FSC to find current FSC members, and it makes the composition of FSC members easier to dive into for stakeholders, researchers and FSC ourselves. The map also provides users the ability to search for members based on their name, contact or part of it.
Where is my nearest office?
The third map is a local map for FSC offices around the globe. This map makes it much easier for stakeholders to find the nearest FSC office to their location and get in contact with that office.
The map also shows FSC regional coverage, which is makes it easier to find the right point of contact in countries, which do not have a national representation.
Show me the certified forests
This brings us to the fourth and most revolutionary map: the map of certified forest areas. For the first time we are on a mission to gather and make available as many spatial boundary data of certified forest areas as we can. The map is based on voluntary contribution from certified forest owners or other partners when data is available through public platforms.
The data on the map is in other words not FSC data but instead geospatial datavoluntarily contributed to us by certificate holders. We are very grateful for the many forest owners, who have already chosen to collaborate and are proud that we with the launch of the platform, we have had contributions of geospatial data of +40% of the global FSC certified forest area. We are grateful for contributions to the map and the desire for this additional level of transparency, and we are pleased to show their forests in the FSC on the Map platform.
This map has been launched in a beta version for us to be able to gather input from stakeholders before a full launch. We welcome and am looking for feedback on the map layer, its functionality and usability. (Feel free to write maps@fsc.org)
Open data structures behind the maps
The data behind the map is stored in another digital improvement within FSC that is also newly launched: the FSC Open Knowledge Repository at Open.fsc.org. With the launch of the repository FSC start implementing standardized data structures across all platforms with an aim of making our data more interoperable.
The FSC Open Knowledge Repository is based on Open Data Standards, which essentially mean that it is built on commonly agreed upon data structures. This does not mean that data, you voluntarily provide, or data such as contact details or core certificate information provided on your company by your certification body, will be publicly available for anyone to use. All data access will follow the existing contractual lines within FSC and our subsidiaries.
We’ve only just dipped our toe in the water
For us, the beta version of FSC on the Map is only the beginning.
In the future we will be able to create interoperability functionality between our different platforms and tools. Right now, you will have to go to info.fsc.org and search for the certificate, you found on the map, to access more data like species composition, audit reports, etc. We aim to improve this so we can have links between maps and our public information database going forward, so that from the map you can directly access audit reports, species information, advanced search information, etc. This would also enable reverse searching when you are e.g. looking for a supplier within a specific region of a country. You would then be able to mark the area of interest, species wanted or potentially even product groups you are searching for and see a list of potential suppliers within your defined geographic scope.
We will also be looking into how we can instantly update maps, if for example, certified area changes, which happens daily around the globe. Today in the beta version, a new map needs to be contributed and verified, where you in the wanted feature would be allowed to just update your existing map.
Amongst other ideas being investigated is visually representing the controlled wood risk assessments, how these tools may be used in risk-based auditing, and even provide a reliable digital platform based on GIS and Earth Observation tools, to assess the dynamics of the Forest and assist the auditing process.
One thing is certain: with the launch of FSC on the Map, we have started our journey towards the wealth of opportunities that lies in earth observation and GIS, and we can’t wait to take the next steps and the next steps after that.