FBD Talks #004: Effective Information Dissemination Across the Globe
FUTURE BY DESIGN Talks with Jannicka Murphy
Policy Outreach Manager at the Forest Stewardship Council
Jannicka Murphy is the Policy Outreach Manager for FSC. We've had the opportunity to work with her across multiple projects and have found her commitment to the FSC stakeholders and their understanding of policy admirable. She makes sure no one is left behind in comprehending the process and creates an open and transparent atmosphere for everyone she works with. We continue to work with Jannicka and FSC on many great projects.
Please introduce yourself to us.
My name is Jannicka Murphy and I am a California native living in Germany, working at the Forest Stewardship Council. I have been passionate about the outdoors and the environment as long as I can remember; growing up hiking and camping in California and frolicking in the Swedish outdoors in the summer. I studied Environmental Economics & Policy at UC Berkeley then built a career in people with social justice, events and association management jobs before getting an MBA in Germany and finding FSC.
How long have you been with FSC and what steps led you to the organization?
As a master’s student in Bonn, Germany getting an MBA in Non-profit Management & Corporate Social Responsibility I was a working student in the dispute resolution team at the Forest Stewardship Council. I was excited to find an international and English-speaking organization in the same city as me, with a close alignment to my personal values. I have now been here for over 5 years and have the role of Policy Outreach Manager.
A lot of your work is around effective communication of complex policies- what have you found works the best in engaging your stakeholders?
“I think it is our organizational responsibility to simplify our concepts and requirements through interactive tools, visuals and simple documents and then further build more detailed information from there as comprehension builds and people want to dive deeper.”
What I think works best for our audiences is taking stakeholders on a journey towards understanding our standards and policies. We have stakeholders who are experts in the topics, which tends to alienate those who could be interested in the topics but don’t have the comprehension yet.
I also find that ‘live’ engagement is still a preferred method, such as webinars and in-person events, to test the messaging of materials and give people a chance for authentic engagement.
What are your key projects for this year?
My key work projects are the publications of standards related to aligning our requirements with the EUDR, a deforestation-free legislation in the EU. In addition, I will continue working on my favorite project, which is building a library of communications tools for community and family forests.
What really excites you about the work FSC does?
I think that the most exciting thing is the breadth of the work that we do so there is always an opportunity to learn more and address the topic of responsible forestry through an interdisciplinary approach. FSC is based on a three-chamber system, namely environmental, economic and social, and balancing these interests is always an exciting challenge that reflects our current reality in the world.
We recently worked on the 'Journey to FSC' project together, which won multiple awards- why do you think that project was such a success?
I think it was a success because of the strong partnerships! At FSC, we had the idea of making something fun and interactive with a game component to teach people about our work. Future by Design and Fantasive Studio were able to really take the idea to the next level by building tokens in a virtual forest for users to answer questions and learn more.
“Learning can be fun, and the forests are a beautiful landscape, which Future by Design was able to marry together in a fully functional website that continues to awe our stakeholders.”
© FSC / Kitchenware (H&M Home); Brazil Nuts (GHF)
What advice would you give to consumers who want to live more consciously?
Access to sustainable products and lifestyles isn’t available to all, and even when it is, I think it’s important that we all just continuously try better without giving up and too much self-criticism. I have a lot of advice, but mainly, it’s to know what you are buying.
“Buy less and higher quality, and believe that your purchasing power actually makes a difference!“
What opportunities are available to people who sign up for FSC certification?
Users benefit from certification through access to the following:
Brand recognition
According to the independent Global Consumer Research Insights 2021, FSC is the world's most trusted and recognized forest certification scheme to protect the world’s forests. 56% of global consumers recall seeing the FSC label. No other forest-certification scheme tested came close.
High satisfaction rate amongst FSC-certified companies
Results from the latest Global Client Survey 2022 show that over 75 per cent of Forest Management and Chain of Custody Certificate Holders and 70 per cent of Promotional Licence Holders are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with FSC.
Access to markets
Many major companies have policies that state a preference for FSC-certified products. Green building standards provide incentives for using FSC-certified materials. Increasingly, consumers are requesting FSC-certified products in retail stores. Many governments require the use of FSC-certified products as part of their green public procurement policies.
Access to sponsorship with verified ecosystem services impacts; and supporting transition towards governmental regulations (such as EUDR).