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II/HEN it comes to certification, Y Y two orsanizations dominate the field: the Forist Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forest Initiative. Deciding which one to use can be difficult.

"Both have a three-chambered system at this point-environmental , social, and economic-but who is sitting in each of those chambers is different," said Connie McDermott, who directs Yale University's programs on forest policy and certification.

She said that one of the underlying reasons for all the debate and competition between the two programs "has to do with perceived and, to some extent, real differences in the way that decisions are made: who is most supporting the systems, who is on their governing board. On the one side, it is more weighted toward environmental groups and on the other side it is more weighted toward the producers."

McDermott and her colleagues recently completed a detailed comparison of the two systems for the U.S. Green Building Council and found they share many of the same sustainability issues-but they handle them differently.

"What you see is a tendency in the FSC regional standards to be more specific about the on-the-ground practices that are supposed to occur, as opposed to more flexible standards, which is a difference with the SFI," she said.

She believes that much of the debate comes down to trust. "That's really kind of a key issue. You tend to see environmental groups don't trust industry to use flexible standards appropriately. That gets to be a bigger and bigger problem the larger scale the system is."

FSC was created first. in 1993. to "change the dialogue about and the practice of sustainable forestry worldwide" by developing and enforcing "principles, criteria and standards that span economic, social and environmental concerns." Although it is based in Germany, the international group has offices in more than 46 countries and is endorsed by such groups as USGBC and the Rainforest Alliance.

"FSC is well positioned to meet the growing desire to choose products that conserve and enhance our ecosystems and ensure a triple bottom-line approach to management of the world's vital natural resources," said president Corey Brinkema. "While the discussion continues, the FSC stan-