Italian Poplar Plantation Standard up for public consultation

PEFC Italia has applied for PEFC endorsement of its new standard for Poplar Plantation Management. The standard?s conformity with PEFC requirements is currently being assessed by an independent assessor. Part of the assessment is an international public consultation period during which comments on the standard are solicited from the general public. The public consultation starts today and all interested stakeholders and individuals are invited to send their comments directly to the assessor by 19 February 2007.

"Half of Italy's domestic timber production comes from poplar plantations and an overwhelming majority is used for ply wood production", said Mr Antonio Brunori, Secretary General of PEFC Italia. "There is a strong demand for certified poplar wood from Italian industries and we therefore decided to develop a poplar plantation standard in close co-operation with the internationally renowned Poplar Research Institute at Casale Monferrato in Italy."

"Poplar plantations in Italy are usually planted on former agricultural soils in mainly non forested areas. Thus their establishment makes a positive contribution to the environment and to the climate, both in terms of air quality improvement as well as a sink for the green house gas CO2", Mr Brunori added. "With the certification standard we want to assure that all other benefits of sustainable forest management are also implemented on the plantation areas and are annually controlled by independent certifiers."

All comments on the Italian Poplar Plantation Standard will be considered in the assessor's report, whose contact details are available below and also at the PEFC Council website www.pefc.org.

For more information contact:
Consultants
SAVCOR INDUFOR OY
Ms Hanna Nikinmaa
T??l?nkatu 11 A
FIN-00100 Helsinki
Finland
Tel +358 684 0110
Fax. +358 9 135 2552
Email: indufor@savcor.com
http://www.savcor.com

Applicant
PEFC Italia
Mr Antonio Brunori
Via Catanelli, 19 - Ponte S. Giovanni
06087 Perugia
Italy
Tel. +39 075 599 7295
Fax +39 075 599 7295
Email: info@pefc.it
http://www.pefc.it

PEFC Council
Mr Oliver Scholz
17, rue des Girondins
L-1626 Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Tel +352 26 25 90 59
Fax +352 26 25 92 58
Email: comms@pefc.org
http://www.pefc.org

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.

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 193 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.