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| Slovenia is the newest and now 30th member country in PEFC Council, the international framework for the assessment and endorsement of credible forest certification systems. The PEFC Council members unanimously approved the application of the Slovenian Institute for Forest Certification, the official representative of the Slovenian standard.
Slovenia joins the growing number of eastern and southeastern European countries going for PEFC certification. PEFC certification allows these countries to achieve access to markets for eco-friendly and socially responsible produced timber and paper products worldwide.
Around 60% of Slovenia is covered by forests; making the country the third most densly forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. Remnants of old growth forests can still be found in several regions, the largest in the Kocevje area.
Together with Slovenia, PEFC Council now has 30 member countries on six continents around the globe, of which 17 already have successfully passed the PEFC endorsement process allowing them to use the global PEFC logo for labelling of wood and paper products.
National forest certification systems from Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and the Slovak Republic are currently undergoing the PEFC endorsement process, while the remaining six, among them the forest certification systems from Malaysia, Gabon, Poland, Russia and the USA are preparing for the stringent PEFC assessment process.
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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.
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 57 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.
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