PEFC—Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes
About
The PEFC Council (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in 1999 which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification. The PEFC provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they are promoting the sustainable management of forests.
PEFC is a global umbrella organisation for the assessment of and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes developed in a multi-stakeholder process. These national schemes build upon the inter-governmental processes for the promotion of sustainable forest management, a series of on-going mechanisms supported by 149 governments in the world covering 85% of the world's forest area.
PEFC has in its membership 35 independent national forest certification systems of which 22 to date have been through a rigorous assessment process involving public consultation and the use of independent consultants to provide the assessments on which mutual recognition decisions are taken by the membership. These 25 schemes account for over 200 million hectares of certified forests producing millions of tonnes of certified timber to the market place making PEFC the world's largest certification scheme. The other national members schemes are at various stages of development and are working towards mutual recognition under the PEFC processes.
Some PEFC Milestones
October 2007 – Unanimous adoption of the PEFC Strategic plan. PEFC’s core objective is to consolidate clear market leadership, over the long term, in the credible certification of sustainably managed forests and to leverage this leadership to the measurable benefit of its members and stakeholders throughout the whole forest products supply chain. The achievement of this overall strategic objective will be delivered via three individual, but inter-related, operating strategies: growth objectives, governance and operational elements objectives and market access and communications objectives.
December 2007 - New search function in the PEFC database. Certificates are now listed as valid, suspended, withdrawn, expired or other. By early 2008 there will also be a new search function for product categories.
March 2008 - endorsement of the Estonian and Polish national FM standards. The UK, Belgian, Swiss and Danish national standards were re-endorsed. The Latvian Forest Certification Scheme, initially endorsed in 2001, is currently undergoing its re-endorsement process but is currently not PEFC recognized. The assessment of ATFS is still underway and the assessment and public consultation period is expected to start soon for Chile and Spain.
March 2008 – There are several new documents available on the PEFC International website (www.pefc.org): Carbon and Forest Certification, Conversions, and the new WWF Paper Scorecard. In addition to these communication papers, PEFC International has participated in press interviews with TTJ and Print Week, published their 2007 Annual Report as well as their March 2008 Newsletter
April 2008 – PEFC commissions Social Criteria study with the Royal Institute of International Affairs (also known as Chatham House)
May 2008 - PEFC International expects their move to the World Trade Center in Geneva, Switzerland to be complete by mid-May and is in the process of recruiting new communications, development and administration staff. The move, which is also part of the PEFC Strategic Plan, will facilitate better international access and is closer to key stakeholders and partners.
PEFC in Figures
PEFC has become the world's largest forest certification umbrella organisation with 33 independent national schemes in membership from all over the world. 25 of these 35 certification schemes have been endorsed by the PEFC Council, delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of wood to the market place from over 200 million hectares of certified forests.
Countries from 6 continents have joined PEFC
Click here to view Statistic figures on PEFC certification
Canada's Contribution to PEFC and FSC Global Certifications (January 2008)
Go to the PEFC Council interactive database to find up-to-date information about PEFC certified forests and PEFC certified companies including a summary of hectares certified by country.
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