Displaying items by tag: PEFC

With the German Forest Certification Standard seeking endorsement by PEFC for the third time, interested parties from around the world are encouraged to input into the independent assessment by 13 August 2010.

"Certification of small- and family forest owners is considered to be one of the major challenges for forest certification globally, a challenge that also applies to Germany," said Dirk Teggelbekkers, PEFC Germany General Secretary. "The size of an average forest holding in Germany is only 2.4 hectares, yet about two-thirds of all forests in Germany are PEFC certified. This indicates that we have successfully managed to adapt PEFC's globally applicable Sustainability Benchmarks to the specific conditions in our country, paying particular attention to the needs of small forest owners."

In total, one third of Germany is covered by forests. It is estimated that 1.1 million people work in the forest and wood sector, with the forest industry contributing to the German economy with an annual turnover of €108 billion.

The German forest certification standard was originally endorsed in 2000 and re-endorsed in 2005. With PEFC endorsements only valid for five years, national forest certification standards are required to undergo revisions every five years with the participation of all interested stakeholder groups. Revised national standards are then independently assessed for compliance with PEFC International's Sustainability Benchmarks. Global public consultations are part of the assessment process, providing all stakeholders with the opportunity to comment on the standard.

Please submit your comments by 13 August 2010 using PEFC's Online Consultation Tool.

Further Information

  • Participate in the national public consultation
  • Revised Scheme Documentation (WinZip_icon_2 434 kb)
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“PEFC membership provides a forum to meet and discuss the various challenges in the field of forestry and forest product markets amongst different stakeholders," explained Mikko Ohela, Senior Vice President of International Affairs at the Metsaliitto Group, one of the first five members of PEFC International's Stakeholder Membership category.

PEFC created this membership category for International Stakeholders in 2009, and has been receiving applications from entities wishing to become members since the beginning of 2010.

The other four entities to become International Stakeholder Members are the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), European Network of Forest Entrepreneurs (ENFE), the International Family Forestry Alliance (IFFA), and StoraEnso.

Commenting on ENFE's motivation for seeking PEFC membership, Simo Jaakkola, ENFE's Chairman stated, "our International Stakeholder membership will enable us to get more engaged in global forestry issues, whilst PEFC will gain a better understanding of the important role of contractors for sustainable forest management."

From CEPI's perspective, their involvement as an International Stakeholder Member is a positive step, and one that reflects industry's commitment towards sustainable forest management. This was mirrored by Stora Enso's Environmental Manager, Pekka Kallio-Mannila, "PEFC is very influential in promoting Sustainable Forest Management, and therefore it is important to strengthen stakeholder involvement to include all parties with environmental, social and economic interests."

Speaking on behalf of the International Family Forest Association, Chairperson Lea Jylhä commented that, "family forest owners have been one of the main driving forces behind PEFC since its early days, and the stakeholder membership category is a natural step in this development."

"We want to actively participate and share our most up-to-date knowledge to support PEFC's role in the enhancement of sustainable forest management. Forest owners all around the globe are contributing to sustainable forest management through their daily activities in the forests, and through PEFC we want to highlight this commitment to all parties interested in sustainable forestry," Ms Jylhä stressed. "This cooperation will offer clear benefits for PEFC as well since IFFA can inform its members and partners both in family and community forestry about PEFC's work, and in the new areas such as the tropics."

"PEFC has enjoyed a strong relationship with these organisations for many years now, and we warmly welcome them as International Stakeholder Members," said Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC International. "We look forward to enhanced opportunities to cooperate in promoting sustainable forest management around the world."

Further Information

PEFC International Stakeholder Members

 

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Sydney-based print shop Macdonald & Masterson has merged with Southern Colour Printing in a move directors say will boost its presence in the market without going further into debt.

Peter Bounas director of Macdonald & Masterson told Australian Printer the decision to merge was influenced by Southern Colour’s equipment and accreditation portfolio. The company hosts two A1 Heidelberg presses as well as its ISO, FSC and PEFC certifications.

He says, “Our business was getting to the point where we had to make some important choices so we decided to go with Southern Colour as they already had the equipment we wanted and the accreditations, which are becoming more important in the market.”

Bounas continues, “The industry is ripe for consolidation at the moment and our two companies were an ideal fit in terms of the markets we operate in. We also had a healthy respect for each other.”

Around half of Macdonald & Masterson’s 22 staff will make the move to Southern Colour’s premises in St Leonards with the rest to be made redundant. The majority of the equipment from the company’s Botany site will be sold.

After the merger is finalised Macdonald & Masterson will be operating under the Southern Colour name. Peter Bounas will be employed by Southern Colour as an account manager.

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pefcint-logo-medPEFC International is pleased to invite all stakeholders to comment on the enquire drafts of three of its core standards by 30 June 2010. With more than two-thirds of the world's certified forests managed in compliance with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks, PEFC is the world's largest forest certification system and the certification system of choice for small- and family forest owners.

"The sustainable management of the world's forest concerns all of us. Forests have a vast potential to contribute to tackling climate change, they are the most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystem, and they directly or indirectly support the livelihoods of millions of people." said Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC International.

"With PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks defining the management of more than 220 million hectares of forests globally, it is our collective responsibility as forest stakeholders to integrate best practice, new scientific knowledge, societal expectations, as well as practical experiences on the ground, into standards that are globally relevant and locally applicable."

Led by multi-stakeholder working groups comprising representatives from a broad range of sectors including forest owners, industry, customers, the scientific community, environmental groups and trade unions, PEFC has been revising its standards defining requirements for sustainable forest management and the development of certification standards at national level over the last two years.

The efforts by the working group have been complemented by a series of workshops in which specialists in topics including labour rights, free informed consent, biodiversity conservation, pesticides, and GMOs participated to contribute expert knowledge to the revisions process.

The global public consultation is complemented by two Stakeholder Dialogue in Geneva, Switzerland (26 May 2010) and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (16-18 June 2010) to provide additional opportunities for all stakeholders to discuss and elaborate on the enquiry drafts.

In addition to the three standards published today, the PEFC requirements for sustainable forest management standards for tropical natural forests will become available for public consultation shortly.

"The opportunities that forest certification provides in improving and verifying sustainable forest management are enormous, though the barriers to a further expansion are increasing", Mr. Gunneberg explained. "With the vast majority of the world's certified forests located in the Global North, there is a real need to revisit forest certification requirements in detail and ensure their applicability in countries with less favorable structures, especially in the tropics, in Asia, South America and Africa – regions in which arguably the most vulnerable forests are located, and in which the potential of forest management to lift people out of poverty is greatest."

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Four of Europe's largest retailers - Carrefour, Kingfisher, IKEA and Marks & Spencer - have announced that they are setting up the Timber Retail Coalition (TRC).

The TRC supports the European Commission’s efforts to create EU-wide regulation as a crucial step towards the widespread adoption of responsible timber sourcing practices.

Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman, Marks & Spencer, said: "Under Plan A, our eco and ethical plan, M&S is committed to sourcing key raw materials such as wood, from the most sustainable resources available to us. Whilst we and our fellow TRC members are committed to responsible procurement, a lack of regulation means illegally harvested timber products can still enter the European market. Working together, the TRC aims to send out a clear message that this is not acceptable."

PEFC certification, as a voluntary, market-based mechanism, provides assurance concerning the sustainability of timber, with compliance to all relevant national and international laws being a fundamental pre-requisite for certification. With two-thirds of the world’s certified forest area is certified to PEFC, it offers the widest supply of certified fibre and timber.

PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks go far beyond the concept of legality. PEFC sets the highest standards for forest certification and sustainable forest management aligned with the majority of the world's governments and offers a number of unique features that make it especially attractive to responsible companies.  PEFC demands the highest percentage of certified material in labelled products, and it is the only global forest certification system that requires compliance with the fundamental ILO conventions not only in signatory countries, but in all countries globally.

PEFC is looking forward to working closely with all companies committed to increase the quantity of certified materials on their stores' shelves.  

The simple action of procuring PEFC-certified products communicates to the customer in a clear, concise and transparent manner that products have been sourced from sustainably managed forests and that illegally harvested wood is not tolerated.

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Over the past two years, forest stakeholders have collaborated to revise part of PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks, with the enquiry draft becoming available for public consultation shortly.

As the new standards will impact the management of the majority of the world's certified forests, PEFC has organized a number of seminars and workshops during the revision process to gather stakeholder input, culminating in a Stakeholder Dialogue on 26 May 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland, to provide opportunities to gather additional feedback, input and suggestions from all interested parties.

Venue
Maison des Associations
Rue des Savoises 15
1205 Geneva - Switzerland

Date
Wednesday, 26 May
2010
9:00 – 17:000 hrs, followed by a cocktail.

Click here to register

Background
PEFC as the world's largest forest certification system and the system of choice for small and family forest owners has a special responsibility in the promotion of the sustainable management of forests globally and locally.

The opportunities that forest certification provides in improving and verifying sustainable forest management are enormous, though the barriers to a further expansion are increasing. With many of the forests in countries with well-designed and –enforced forest laws, long traditions of forest management, and good governance certified to one of the two global forest certification systems, there is a real need to revisit forest certification requirements in detail and ensure their applicability in countries with less favorable structures, especially in the tropics, in Asia, South America and Africa.

At the same time, forest certification must demonstrate continuous improvement in countries where it enjoys broad support to increase its effectiveness in contributing societal challenges such as climate change.

Ultimately, mainstreaming forest certification is required to safeguard forests as the world's most valuable terrestrial ecosystem, with global and local stakeholders joining forces to further develop certification systems such as PEFC to fully utilize the potential it offers.

Objective
PEFC, an international non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management, works throughout the entire forest supply chain to promote good practice in the forest and to ensure that timber and non-timber forest products are produced with respect for the highest ecological, social and ethical standards.

As a learning organization, PEFC understands that sustainable forest management is an evolving process, and the parameters defining it change over time based on the latest scientific knowledge and society's understanding of the concept.

Over the past two years, the organization has been revising its forest management standard, its requirements for developing national certification standards, and requirements for group certification, a tool that is of specific importance for family- and community forests owners. PEFC's benchmark applies globally, though it promotes local adaptation.

The specific objective of the Stakeholder Dialogue therefore is to discuss the relevance and appropriateness of the suggested revised internationally applicable criteria at global, regional and national levels.

Have your say: Discuss and provide feedback on the revised criteria from a global – and local – perspective. Share your knowledge and engage with stakeholders from the region on issues relevant to sustainable forest management.

Who Should Participate?
All stakeholders working to improve the forest management at global, regional and national levels. Participants will include representatives from:

* Non-governmental and community-based organizations
* Forest managers and owners
* Forest-based industries
* Governmental and intergovernmental entities
* Certification initiatives
* Members of the Standards Revision working group and  EFC Members

Content
The Stakeholder Dialogue will feature plenary sessions with presenters providing in-depth information about

* PEFC revision process
* Draft requirements for standard setting
* Draft requirements for group certification
* Draft requirements for sustainable forest management

and roundtables on topics centered around the following issues:

* Standard setting
* Group forest certification
* Sustainable forest management boreal, temperate forests and plantations
* Sustainable forest management – natural tropical forests

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More than 55.000 hectares of forests have been certified as being in compliance with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmark, the Estonian Forest Certification Council announced earlier this month.

"This group certification covers 44 forest owners and represents the first-ever PEFC forest management certificate to be issued in Estonia", said Mart Kelk, Secretary-General of the Estonian Forest Certification Council. "This achievement demonstrates responsible practices by Estonian forest owners, while at the same time offering potential economic benefits."

"The wood industry is one of the largest industries in Estonia, providing employment for about 16.000 people," continued Mr. Kelk. "With two-thirds of the total timber production exported, PEFC certification is essential as it provides access to global markets for certified timber."

The awarding of the certification marks the successful completion of a pilot project, which started in early 2009 to pioneer PEFC certification in Estonia.

"We have already received indication of further interest by Estonian forest owners to become PEFC-certified and hope to rapidly increase the area of forests in Estonia certified as sustainably managed", emphasized Mr. Kelk.

Further Information

  • Estonian Forest Certification Council
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PEFC Luxembourg and the Slovak Forest Certification Association have revised their forest certification schemes in line with PEFC's requirements of five-yearly revisions of national systems and submitted their application for re-assessment by PEFC.

As part of the process, PEFC seeks comments and feedback from all interested parties to ensure full compliance of the national schemes with PEFC's Sustainability Benchmark during a 60 day global public consultation.

"We require stakeholder engagement throughout the standards development and endorsement processes at both national and international levels", says Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General. "In-depth involvement of all interested parties ensures that a scheme reflects the best practices and incorporates available knowledge and expertise, and is aligned with their expectations and needs."

PEFC is the only global forest certification scheme that requires and implements regular revisions of all national certification systems, and that subjects all standards to independent evaluations. All comments received during the global public consultation will provide valuable information for the third-party assessor in determining whether the respective national system is in compliance with international requirements.

Please submit your comments directly to the assessor at latest by 31st March 2010.

PEFC Luxembourg

  • Revised Scheme Documentation (2.6MB)
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Slovak Forest Certification Association

  • Revised Scheme Documentation ( 29MB)
  • Contact -->This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Systain Consulting
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Wednesday, 17 March 2010 11:00

USGBC Urged to Support Forest Certification

PEFC has called on the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to live up to its mission to truly 'transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated' by promoting the use of certified wood as one of the most environmentally-friendly building materials. building

The USGBC has ended its 3rd public comment period on the draft benchmarks to evaluate forest certification systems yesterday. The expressed intention of these benchmarks, according to USGBC, is to set high standards for forest certification systems and to incentivize 'their evolution towards more stringent requirements'.

"We have to bear in mind that after 20 years of activity, only eight percent of the world's forest are certified to the already strict requirements set out by the worlds two global forest certification systems, FSC and PEFC", said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC International Secretary General. "While wanting to raise the bar even higher is an admirable objective, it is rather unlikely that it will support efforts to increase the area of forests certified as sustainably managed."

PEFC is the world's largest forest certification system, and with about half a million certified forest owners the certification system of choice for small forest owners.

Mr Gunneberg added that the green buildings movement will lose its ability to promote changes if it settles at levels which are too demanding, elitist, and catering only for the boutique end of the market for wood. At the same time it is clear that the green buildings movement will lose its credibility if it is too undemanding, business-as-usual, and certifying the lowest common denominator.

He voiced his concern that if global certification systems have not been able to mainstream forest certification with the existing set of requirements, all that more stringent requirements will do is to continue to exclude forests from achieving certification for some time to come. "And if obtaining certification ceases to be a viable option for forest managers, there is a huge risk that they will re-focus their attention from implementing sustainable management methods to producing at low cost. And low-cost management methods are not necessarily sustainable."

Sustainable forest management is widely recognized as an essential component in tackling a number of societal issues, including climate change. Global forest leaders, gathered under the auspicious of The Forest Dialogue, an initiative hosted by Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, has identified the substitution of high-emissions materials and fuels with sustainably produced forest products as an important component of the most effective forest-based approaches dealing with climate change.

In the U.S., buildings are of fundamental importance in the climate change debate as they account for almost 40% of the total CO2 emissions. Studies estimate that CO2 emissions for wood-based buildings are 20-50% lower than emissions associated with comparable steel or concrete based buildings.

"Both global forest certification systems are based on widely accepted requirements, with PEFC basing its understanding of sustainable forest management on broad societal consensus expressed in international, intergovernmental, multi-stakeholder processes and guidelines involving thousands of interested parties," concluded Mr. Gunneberg.

"While we believe  that the USGBC is truly interested in 'enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment', its efforts must be targeted towards increasing market demand for certified wood instead of potentially excluding one – or both – global forest certification systems from  their credit system."

Further information

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Scottish Woodlands Ltd  has added PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Forest Management Certification capability for those forests in its Group and Resource Manager Schemes in the United Kingdom. The Certificate was issued to the Company by SGS Italy.

Clients of Scottish Woodlands whose forests are managed within these Schemes will now be able to access timber markets in the UK and Europe, which require PEFC certified timber. Chain of Custody arrangements are currently being finalised to allow the first volumes to move in due course.

Rob Shaw, SEQ and Contracts Director for Scottish Woodlands announced, “We had received expressions of interest from major UK timber processors about our ability to provide PEFC certified timber. This is something we have been considering for some time. The most important aspect within the UK is that there is one agreed Certification Standard which is the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS), and so we are now able to complement our existing Certification arrangements using this same world-leading standard. We would like to thank everyone who has worked hard to bring this to fruition, especially Douglas Orr and his colleagues at SGS Qualifor”.

William Walker of PEFC UK welcomed the announcement and said that “it ensures timber from the forests managed by Scottish Woodlands can enter the market with the label from the world’s largest certification programme which now has a certified area in excess of 225 million hectares spread over five continents.”

Notes to Editors:

* For further information, please contact Rob Shaw, SEQ & Contracts Director (E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: 01349 864999), Garry MacInnes, Resource and Group Scheme Manager (E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: 0131 451 5154) or Jean Nairn, Business Support Manager (E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. T: 0131 451 5154).


* Scottish Woodlands Ltd is one of the country’s leading forestry management companies and is predominantly an employee-owned company. The core activities are forest management, new woodland creation, timber harvesting, and generation of new forestry investment as well as a growing presence in utilities, landscaping and renewable energy. Scottish Woodlands operates from a network of 16 offices throughout the UK, utilising the company’s biggest asset - its staff. The business had a turnover of £40.3 million in the year to 30th September 2009. Web: www.scottishwoodlands.co.uk.


* Scottish Woodlands’ existing Resource Manager and Group Scheme now has over 82,000 hectares under management distributed across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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