Good news for Brazilian forests

Brazil?s national certification system for sustainable forest management, CERFLOR, has gained international endorsement through the PEFC Council, the global assessment organisation for forest certification systems. Brazilian tropical timber is now available with independent proof that it comes from sustainable forest management preserving the ecological, social and economical functions of forests. By choosing PEFC certified products, buyers of Brazilian timber and paper can support the responsible sourcing of the products with their purchase and thus help to protect the Brazilian tropical forests.

The Brazilian forest certification system was designed for both native and plantation forests and includes a wide range of requirements for logging and wood processing companies, amongst them safeguards that environmental laws for the protection of threatened species, soils and water systems are observed. Certified entities must ensure that the rights of workers as well as indigenous people are respected and that the multiple functions of forests are safeguarded.

The Brazilian certification system is administered by INMETRO, the National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality in Brazil and already nearly 900,000 hectares of the country's forests have been certified against the certification standard.

The PEFC endorsement of the Brazilian system followed a year long process, in which the system was thoroughly assessed by an independent international consultancy for its compliance with the high PEFC Council requirements for national certification systems. The system's documentation and the consultant's complete report, on which the PEFC Council member countries made their positive decision for endorsement, are publicly available at the PEFC Council website www.pefc.org.

For more information please contact:
Mr Oliver Scholz, Communications Manager PEFC Council
Tel. + 352 26 25 90 59
Mrs Maria Teresa Rezende, CERFLOR
Tel. + 55 61 340 22 11

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 forests. Sustainably managed forests are those whose management implements performance standards based on internationally agreed environmental, social and economical requirements.

INMETRO
INMETRO is a federal agency bound to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. It manages the Brazilian Program of Forest Certification CERFLOR, developed in August 2002.

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 127 million hectares (315 million acres) 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.

PEFC Council member countries with endorsed certification system, (Japan and the Netherlands)