"As the world's largest forest certification system and the certification system of choice for hundreds of thousands of small-and family forest owners, it is our collective responsibility to integrate best practices, new scientific knowledge, stakeholder and customer expectations, as well as practical experiences on the ground into standards that are globally relevant and locally applicable," said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General, commenting on the recently released draft standards for sustainable forest management and forest certification schemes.

"Therefore, PEFC is comprehensively reviewing and revising its benchmarks, and to do this most effectively, stakeholder engagement and input is essential," emphasized Mr. Gunneberg.

The PEFC Geneva Stakeholder Dialogue (26th May 2010), one of several events complementing the global public online consultation, provided stakeholders with the opportunity to discuss and elaborate the revised standards, especially critical changes that aim at further improving the balance of the environmental, social and economic benefits that sustainable forest management offers, including:

• maintenance and increase of biodiversity benefits, specifically on issues such as forest conversions, chemical use, GMOs and special biotopes
• the recognition of the rights of indigenous people and forest-dependent communities
• labour, health and safety standards
• balanced stakeholder participation in the development of national forest certification standards.

"The currently revised draft standards are an important part of PEFC's Sustainability Benchmarks, which provide the framework for the certification of two-third's of the world's certified forest area," Mr Gunneberg pointed out. "We need to ensure that the international requirements contribute to our common goal of promoting sustainable forest management globally by making forest certification available to stakeholders in all countries without compromising on any of our shared values."

"In order to do so, our requirements need to be flexible enough to be applicable to all national processes, feasible, realistic and cost effective, whilst at the same time demand the same rigour and robustness to achieve the same high level of sustainability everywhere in the world."

Further Information

• Stakeholder Dialogue – Revision of PEFC Requirements for Forest Certification Systems (view or download document 1.7 MB)

Ongoing Consultations

• Access PEFC's Online Consultation Tool
• PEFC ST 1003:200x Part 1 – Requirements for SFM in boreal and temperate forests and forest plantations (view document, download document  187 kb or access consultation)
• PEFC ST 1003:20xx, Part 2 - Requirements for Sustainable Forest Management Standards (view document, download document 211 kb or access consultation)
• PEFC ST 1001:200x – Standard setting (view document, download document 120 kb or access consultation)
• PEFC ST 1002:200x – Group forest management certification (view document, download document 101 kb or access consultation)
• Social Requirements in Chain of Custody Certification (Appendix 4: Social, health and safety requirements in chain of custody) (view document, download document  37 kb, or access consultation)