Sustainable Forests and Forest Certification

8/14/2019 Sustainable Forests and Forest Certification

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sustainable forestrysustainable forestryand forest certification

Its what you

sell that makes

the difference

How can I get involved?

Wood-processing enterprise, business-to-

business customer/supplier, trader or

retailer you may wish to get your

product flow certified. Doing so gives

your products access to the PEFC logo

for communication purposes. If you use

a trademarked logo in your marketing

communications for wood/paper products

that have successfully passed along any

part of or all of the chain of custody, you

encourage your customers and the general

public at large to make a positive choice

for sustainable forest management by

buying products carrying the PEFC logo.

Your national PEFC representative(www.pefc.org) will be happy to provide

you with the background information

necessary to obtain a PEFC chain of

custody and logo for your enterprise.

End customer/consumer you can

purchase a PEFC-labelled product or ask

to see the chain of custody certificate to

be sure that you are contributing to the

sustainable management of forests and

their certification.

Woodland owner you may want to

obtain a PEFC certificate for your forest

management. To do so, contact your

national PEFC certification scheme at

www.pefc.org which will provide details

of certification bodies operating in

your area.

Interested parties if you are interested in

sustainable forest management and its

certification and wish to become involved

in PEFC in your country or to promote

sustainable forest management through

PEFC for educational purposes, contact

your national PEFC representative at

www.pefc.org

The PEFC CouncilRegistered as an asbl in Luxembourg

No. 1999-61-02192

17 Rue des Girondins

L-1626 Luxembourg

Tel: +352 26 25 90 59

Fax: +352 26 25 92 58

E-mail: [email protected]

www.pefc.org

PEFC has also launched a fully

interactive database on the

world wide web at www.pefc.org

There anyone can search and

find information on any

certificate or logo licence

number relating to any forest or

chain of custody certification in

every PEFC-endorsed scheme.

Check it out for yourself online.

For more information please visit our web pages to find out the local PEFC contact

in your country: www.pefc.org

DesignedandproducedbyWyattInternationalLimited,

Birmingham.

PrintedinEngland.

Photo

graphycourtesyofONF,FinnforestCorporation,

Villac.


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The challengefor wood

By and large wood-based products have a

better overall environmental record than

competitor materials, but questions have

arisen about the management of the forests

from which the wood originates. In order

to address this and to reassure their

customers, industry and retailers need toprovide proof that the products they sell

come from sustainably managed forests.

In addition, a voluntary private sector proof

mechanism can be useful in complementing

government law enforcement endeavours to

combat illegal logging.

Certification a ready-made

assurance mechanismPEFC provides an assurance mechanism

to purchasers of wood and paper products

that they are promoting the sustainable

management of forests. Sustainably

managed forests are those whose

management implements performance

standards based on internationally agreed

environmental, social and economic

requirements that form the cornerstones

of sustainability. Although many forests

are sustainably managed, the only way to

provide credible proof of this is through

independent checking.

Therefore someone who is independent,

qualified and impartial a certifier needs

to check that the forests are managed on

the ground according to these cornerstones

and other key elements such as international

conventions including the International

Labour Organisation (ILO) core conventions.

This is called forest certification.

Similarly, a certifier has to check that

enterprises have wood accounting systems

in place, so that wood from a certified

forest can be traced from harvested tree

through to finished product. This is

called chain of custody certification.

Every enterprise is a link in the overall

chain for the wood from forest to the

final product. It is therefore important

that all enterprises dealing with wood

have their area of responsibility certified

to ensure that this chain is complete.

Consumers in growing numbers are seeking evidence of environmentally sound

business practices. Public authorities and enterprise procurement policies

increasingly demand reassurance and proof from the wood-processing

industries that the wood they use comes from sustainably managed sources.


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Certification whats in it for you?

Forest and chain of custody certifications play

different roles for different stakeholders:

q consumers can support sustainable

forestry through the purchase of products

that use raw material harvested from

certified forests.

q retailers/traders (customers of the

wood-processing industry) can support

their business activity by promoting

the use of wood/paper products from

sustainably managed sources,

fostering their public image as

responsible corporate citizens and

increasing access to their markets.

In addition, more and more customers

now specify wood from certified

sources only and, in some markets,demand is outstripping supply.

q the wood-processing industry can

improve the image of its sector and

promote the use of its products.

q woodland owners can provide

independent proof that their forests

are managed according to sound

environmental, social and economic

practices adapted to local conditions,

and so improve market prospects for

their timber.

Sustainably managed forests are a

competitive benefit for the woodland

owners and wood-processing industry.

But this benefit will not be fully

realised until it is communicated to the

customer in an understandable and

convincing manner. This is what PEFC,

the worlds largest forest certification

scheme, really offers.


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Certification is growing rapidly

There are more than 50 regional or national

forest certification systems throughout the

world. Each is structured and based on

different criteria. Since its launch in 1999,

PEFC has become the worlds largest

umbrella organisation for national forest

certification schemes all over the world

(and in particular, Europe and North

America), ensuring the delivery ofhundreds of millions of tonnes of wood to

the processing industry and then onto the

market place from tens of millions of

hectares of certified forests. PEFC has

strong grass roots support from many

stakeholders including the forestry sector,

governments, trade associations, trade

unions and non-governmental organisations.

So successful has its approach been that

many more schemes from around the

world are joining, making PEFC a truly

global opportunity.

Communication with customers is

growing rapidly

An enterprise can make use of a PEFC

logo to communicate its sustainability

principles to its customers. In most

cases, companies with a chain of custody

certificate also choose to communicate

this by using a PEFC logo specifically

registered to that enterprise.

PEFC has already authorised hundreds of

enterprises that have undergone a chain

of custody certification to use the PEFC

logo as a communications tool on their

timber, paper and wood-based products.

Wood from a certified forest can then be

traced from harvested tree through to

finished product by means of a number

of certified chains of custody.


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Forest certification what is it?

An assessment from an independent, qualified and

accredited expert who verifies in writing that the

forest management practices comply with a series

of collectively agreed performance standards for

sustainability.

Chain of custody certification

what is it?

An assessment from an independent, qualified

and accredited expert who verifies in writing that

the wood flow accounting system, applied by an

enterprise to trace the flow of wood from certified

forests through the enterprise, meets the exacting

requirements of the certification scheme.

Sustainable forest management

what does it mean?

The common definition of sustainable forest

management agreed by the Ministerial Conference

on the Protection of Forests in Europe in 1993 is:

the stewardship and use of forests and forest

lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains

their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration

capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfil,

now and in the future, relevant ecological,

economic and social functions at local, national

and global levels, and that does not cause

damage to other ecosystems.

SustainableForest

Management

Forest resources& global

carbon cycles

Productivefunctions of

forestsPublic

participation &awareness

Research andeducation

Non-wood

products

Forest areaunder

management

Balancebetween growth

& removals

Recreationalservices

Generalprotection

Threatenedspecies

Waterconservation

Generalprotection

Differentdamages

Land use& forest area

Generalcapacity

Growing stock

Carbon storage

Nutrientbalance &

acidity

Biodiversityin production

forests

Significance offorest sector

Protectivefunctions of

forests

Biologicaldiversity

Socio-economicaspects

Forest health& vitality

Employment

Rare ecosystems

Soil erosion

Air pollutants

DefoliationCultural values

Criteria and example indicators for sustainable forest management

Source: Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe


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Separate bodies Action Result

National Forest CertificationScheme

Certification Body

National Accreditation Body

PEFC Council

Standard Setting

Auditing

Assessment of CertificationBody Competence

Licensing of Logo Usage

Assessment of Certification

Scheme

Certification Standard/Scheme

Forest Certificate

Chain of Custody Certificate

Confirmation on Accreditationof Certification Body

PEFC Logo on Products

Mutual Recognition

Why is PEFC so successful?q PEFC respects and relies on

worldwide, internationally agreed

processes for certification and

sustainable forestry as the basis

on which to build national

certification standards and

schemes. These processes

include the inter-governmental

processes for sustainable forestmanagement developed in

consultation with thousands of

forestry experts and stakeholders

from interested parties.

q PEFC provides a framework

through which national and

regional certification schemes

can integrate internationally

agreed criteria with their local

circumstances. The forest

management performance

standards of national PEFCschemes are based on the

results of inter-governmental

processes such as the

Ministerial Conference on

the Protection of Forests in

Europe. This conference grew

out of the UN Conference on

Environment and Development

at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and is

an on-going process. This ensures

that, if the Ministerial Conference

(representing the governments of

37 countries) agrees on changesin any aspect of sustainable

forest management, those

changes will be put into practice

through PEFC certification.

q National forest certification

schemes remain independent

but co-operate with each other

under the PEFC umbrella to

ensure that the wood from

each scheme meets equivalent

standards and so can be

traded internationally.

q Through PEFC, customers,

trade and industry all over

the world can rely on the fact

that forest management

with PEFC certification

in any country will exceed

the internationally approved

strict requirements.

q The open, transparent and

democratic decision-making

process of PEFC ensures the

possibility of multiple stakeholder

participation at local, national and

international level. Its approach

is anchored in active participation

and implementation at grass

roots level.

q The certification model applied

by PEFC ensures that the

procedures and their monitoring

are always independent of one

another, as separate professional

bodies perform each of them.

PEFC certification process a summary

Documents

Sustainable Forests and Forest Certification