Did FSC certification add value in BC’s Central Coast?

The Central Coast of BC, part of the larger Great Bear Rainforest (GBR), has seen decades of conflict as Environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs), First Nations, community members and industry actors have collided over forest practices. This thesis evaluates whether Forest Stewardship Council Certification, a voluntary governance scheme enacted in 2009, has added value for these actors. Added value is conceptualized as a contribution to the goals or objectives of the organizations involved in FSC Certification and forest management. Added value is then situated in the context of a cross fertilization that occurred between government regulated Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) and FSC Certification. Empirically, information was obtained primarily from interviews with key stakeholders to understand organizational goals and how they relate to Central Coast governance and their interpretations of the role of certification. This thesis concludes that FSC Certification added non-economic value for Central Coast communities, First Nations and ENGOs through landscape level planning, performance based indicators and more comprehensive monitoring. Industry experienced subtracted economic value due to increased costs that did not result in any form of economic benefit.