NZ’s revised FSC Risk Assessment open for consultation

Friday 17 Apr 2026

 
FSC invites stakeholders to participate in the first and only public consultation on the revised FSC Risk Assessment for New Zealand, prepared by consulting firm PT Hijau Daun in collaboration with FSC.

Once finalised, the Risk Assessment will help FSC certificate holders sourcing material from non-certified forests in New Zealand to assess and mitigate the risk of sourcing material originating from unacceptable sources.

How to participate

Stakeholders are encouraged to submit feedback via the FSC Consultation Platform between 13 April and 13 May 2026. To ensure the quality of the feedback received, all comments should be supported by objective, verifiable, and reliable evidence. Professional opinions alone are not sufficient.

Following the consultation, all submissions will be reviewed PT Hijau Daun and the Risk Assessment amended accordingly. Respondents may be contacted for clarification. All stakeholder feedback will be included in a publicly available Stakeholder Feedback Report, which will detail how input was addressed or justify any feedback that was disregarded. Anonymity may be requested via the Consultation Platform.

FSC’s next-generation Risk Assessments

In line with FSC’s updated Risk Assessment Framework, the revised Risk Assessment for New Zealand expands from five to 12 risk categories and from 32 to 64 Indicators. Most new Indicators represent a more detailed breakdown of existing Indicators, while seven Indicators address new areas of risk. The Risk Assessment evaluates the risk related to each of the 64 Indicators and sets out measures to address risks identified as non-negligible.

Find out more about FSC Risk Assessments here. 

Key proposed changes
  • The revised Risk Assessment identifies non-negligible risk for 18 indicators, up from one in the previous Risk Assessment.
  • Only three of these Indicators apply nationwide; the other 15 are limited to very high risk erosion zones as defined by the National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry (NES-CF)
As a result of these changes, certificate holders, particularly those sourcing from very high-risk erosion areas, will face increased due diligence requirements.

Supporting resources

To assist stakeholders, the consultation materials include an infographic summarising risk designations and their geographic applicability, as well as a table outlining justifications for non-negligible risk designations and associated risk mitigation measures.

For further details, refer to the Risk Assessment document provided on the Consultation Platform, in particular the “Assessment of Indicators” and “Risk Mitigation (RM)” tabs.

Contact information Source & image credit: FSC



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