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| PEFC, the international scheme promoting sustainable management of forests through credible independent third party certification, has just become bigger. Two more schemes, namely those from France and Latvia have just completed the thorough assessment procedure to become endorsed by the PEFC Council.
Mr Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC Council, said, "There are now eight independent forest certification schemes endorsed by the PEFC Council. Soon forests certified under the French and Latvian schemes will be able to be counted towards the 36.42 Million hectares already certified. - an area equal in size to the total land mass of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands put together !"
Mr Genest, PEFC France Vice Chairman, said, "I?m delighted to see that the French scheme has been endorsed as meeting the stringent requirements of the PEFC Council. This is good news for the environment and the scheme is a good an example of how environmentalists, woodland owners, the forest industry and social interests can work constructively together to safeguard the future of our forests". Mr Genest, is also a Director of "France Nature Environnement", the umbrella body for environmental organisations in France, and a recently elected Director of the PEFC Council.
Dr Skaidrite Albertina, Chairwoman of PEFC Latvia and a former Vice Chairwoman of the Environmental Protection Commission of the Latvian Parliament, said, "I?m delighted that the Latvian scheme has been endorsed. This is the second scheme from a country in economic transition, which has successfully completed the endorsement procedure. We expect the first forests (2500 hectares) of a potential 1.4Million hectares, to be certified shortly." The other scheme was that of the Czech Republic, endorsed at the end of June 2001.
Contacts:
For more information about PEFC please contact:
PEFC Council:
Mr Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General: Tel +352 26 25 90 59
PEFC France:
Mr Sebastian Genest, Vice Chairman: Tel +33 05 55 48 09 55
or Mr St?phane Marchesi, National Secretary: Tel +33 1 47 203 632
PEFC Latvia
Dr Skaidrite Albertina, Chairwoman: Tel +371 50 47270
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