We are living in challenging times for our planet and humankind. Climate change, the extinction of species and a growing disconnect between rural and urban communities are only some of the challenges the world is facing today. The good news is that our forests can be part of the solution.

Forests support over half of all terrestrial species diversity, impact 1.6 billion people directly and affect all of us indirectly. However, we can see that the world’s increasingly urban society struggles to appreciate the fundamental role that forestry, and the whole forest products supply chain, plays in delivering and maintaining a sustainable world. At PEFC, we have a vital role to play in changing this paradigm.

Climate change, population growth, urbanization, poverty and inequality... these are just some of the issues that we as society have to tackle, and forests are an important part of the solution. The PEFC family can, and will, place forests at the heart of the solutions to these challenges. Together, we have the opportunity to demonstrate the real value of sustainably managed forests and their contribution to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

2016 was a special year for the PEFC alliance as more countries joined the family than in any year since the early days of our organization. And thanks to the great work of the entire alliance, this was the year we reached 300 million hectares of PEFC-certified forest!

2015 was the year that saw the adoption of the SDGs by the UN General Assembly and important climate change commitments at COP21 in Paris. This Annual Review captures just a few of our activities and those of our members, but it already demonstrates that sustainable forest management is much more than just an environmental issue. It equally addresses the social, economic and cultural dimensions of sustainability at the core of the 17 SDGs.