Istanbul, Turkey – The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released a statement recently that promotes the expansion of forest certification across the supply chain. The statement marked a significant step towards the growing trend of recognizing all credible forest certification programs as a proof point for responsible forestry.
The WBCSD Forest Solutions Group, led by 26 of the world’s leading companies along the forest products value chain responsible for nearly 40 per cent of annual global forest, paper and packaging sales, said its members would work with stakeholders to spread sustainable forest management; support and promote the expansion of forest certification; set 2020 targets to increase the use of certification when sourcing forest products and fibre; and grow markets for certified forest products. The WBCSD statement specifically, “… recognizes and supports the assurance of management performance and fibre flows provided by the following independent forest certification and associated chain-of-custody systems: the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®), the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®).”
“The WBCSD Forest Solutions Group’s leadership statement calls on all stakeholders to join forces to innovate and grow markets for sustainably-produced forest products. Approaches to expand, reach and impact of existing certification standards should better address the needs of small forest owners, community forestry, indigenous peoples and agroforestry operators,” said James Griffiths, managing director at the WBCSD.
“SFI applauds the decision made by these global market leaders to support responsible forest management,” said SFI president and CEO Kathy Abusow, who participated in the WBCSD Forest Solutions Group meeting that discussed the new statement. “As the world’s largest single forest certification standard, SFI looks forward to continuing to work with WBCSD to encourage landowners and brand owners to promote responsible forest management around the world.”
SFI Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that is solely responsible for maintaining, overseeing and improving the internationally recognized Sustainable Forestry Initiative™ (SFI™) program. Across the United States and Canada, more than 240 million acres/more than 100 million hectares are certified to the SFI forest management standard. Learn more at www.sfiprogram.org/ and http://sfiprogram.org/Buy-SFI/.
