PEFC in the spotlight in South America

15 April 2015 News

Current and future opportunities for PEFC in South America to expand forest certification and the uptake of PEFC-certified products is set to be the focus of an upcoming PEFC regional conference in Uruguay. Stakeholders from around the continent with an interest in promoting sustainable forest management are encouraged to attend.

“Forest Certification: Current Situation and Prospects”, which is taking place in Montevideo on 21 April 2015, will update participants with the present status of PEFC in South America, setting the stage for a discussion about current and future market opportunities for PEFC-certified products.

The conversation will seek to explore how the various stakeholders can best contribute towards increased demand and visibility of PEFC, also in light of fact that consumers demand certification – the recent PEFC/GfK Global Consumer Survey found that more than 80% of consumers globally want companies sourcing certified material from sustainable managed forests to use certification labels

Furthermore, representatives from national PEFC members in South America – CERFOAR (Argentina), CERFLOR (Brazil), CERTFOR (Chile) and PEFC Uruguay – will share their experiences of developing and running PEFC certification systems with practitioners from across the continent.

“Our goal is to bring more forests under sustainable forest management, and with this first regional gathering we aim to enable internal and external stakeholders to join forces to better reach out to everybody along the timber value chain: from forest owners to companies to consumers,” said Atilio Ligrone, National Secretary of PEFC Uruguay and the Manager of the Society of Forest Producers. “For our country, and in particular PEFC Uruguay, it is an honor to host this first regional meeting.”

The conference is part of a larger, four-day PEFC Regional Workshop bringing together the South American-based PEFC organizations, external stakeholders and countries interested in developing their own national forest certification system, such as Guatemala. By coming together in this way, current and potential South American PEFC members are looking to further their level of collaboration and cooperation, enabling the development of a much strong presence of PEFC on the continent.

The workshop will be rounded off with a field visit to two PEFC-certified companies in Uruguay, showcasing the activities the companies undertook to achieve PEFC certification of their sustainable forest management practices and highlighting the benefits they derive from it.