SFI Small Lands Group Certification Module achieves PEFC endorsement

3 December 2019 PEFC system news

The SFI Small Lands Group Certification Module offers certification of a group of small family forest lands, under one certificate, that are supplying the SFI Program Participant that is certified to the SFI 2015-2019 Fiber Sourcing Standard.

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), one of our PEFC members in North America, submitted the new SFI Small Lands Group Certification Module to PEFC in 2018. It achieved PEFC endorsement on 12 November 2019, following a vote by the PEFC General Assembly. 

The Small Lands Module takes the burden off the landowner, and instead places it on the organization that has a need for more certified forest content. This approach directly engages small landowners that are interested in growing and selling timber and places added emphasis on accomplishing many land management objectives.

Revised Luxembourg system

The revised national forest certification system of Luxembourg achieved re-endorsement on 8 November 2019. PEFC Luxembourg joined the PEFC alliance back in 2002 and first achieved endorsement of its system in 2005. 

The national system was re-endorsed in both 2010 and 2014, and there are now over 35,000 hectares of PEFC-certified forest area in the country. 

The PEFC endorsement process

To achieve PEFC endorsement, national systems go through a rigorous assessment to confirm they were developed in line with our requirements and meet our demanding international benchmark standards.  

As all systems go through the same independent assessment process, we can ensure they not only meet global expectations, but that our international requirements are applied consistently at national level.

We also require that all PEFC endorsed national systems are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to meet expectations and the latest best practices.