PEFC 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."
More Information
- Access PEFC's Online Consultation Tool
- PEFC ST 1001:200x – Standard setting (download document
120 kb or access consultation) - PEFC ST 1002:200x – Group forest management certification (download document 101 kb or access consultation)
- PEFC ST 1003:200x Part 1 – Requirements for SFM in boreal and temperate forests and forest plantations (download document 187 kb or access consultation)