Great day for forest certifiation worldwide - PEFC endorses certification systems in three continents

Today the PEFC Council International announced the endorsement of the national forest certification systems from Australia, Chile and Italy.

The endorsement of the first two non-European national schemes reinforces the increasing global nature of the PEFC Council. In all more than 55 million hectares of forests have now been certified by PEFC endorsed certification systems worldwide.

The endorsement followed a rigorous and lengthy assessment process of several months that included a detailed review of the schemes through independent consultants. Stakeholder groups and the general public were given the opportunity to comment on the certification schemes in a public consultation period.

During a ceremony at the PEFC's General Assembly held in Santiago, Chile, representatives of the three certification systems AFS, CertforChile and PEFC Italy were presented with their official endorsement certificates by Henri Plauche-Gillon, President of PEFC Council.

Following the new PEFC Council regulations, the assessment reports of the independent consultants for the newly endorsed schemes are made public on the PEFC website. For details see member schemes Australia, Chile, Italy at www.pefc.org.

Photos: Mr Henri Plauche-Gillon presents the PEFC endorsement certificates to the representatives of the newly endorsed certification systems (Aldo Cerda - Chile, Geoff Gorrie - Australia, Pierluigi Ferrari - Italy).

All schemes (from left to right: Pierluigi Ferrari, Antonio Brunori, Hans Drielsma, Geoff Gorrie, Gisella Barrera, Aldo Cerda, Eduardo Morales)

Editor Notes

Forest Certification
Forest certification is a process which provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that the wood used in the products comes from sustainably managed forest. Sustainably managed forest are those whose management implements performance standards based on internationally agreed environmental, social and economical requirements.

Schemes endorsed by PEFC Council
PEFC Council has to date endorsed 16 national forest certification systems worldwide. See attached slide: PEFC Council member schemes - World Map
Four more PEFC member schemes are currently undergoing the PEFC assessment process, Canada, Brazil, Luxembourg and Portugal.

PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes)
PEFC is a framework for the mutual recognition of credible national or regional forest certification schemes that have been developed based on internationally recognised requirements for sustainable forest management. Since its launch in 1999, PEFC has become the largest forest certification umbrella organisation covering national schemes from all over the world, delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of wood to the processing industry and then onto the market place from over 52 million 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