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