森林认证
Basic knowledge
What is forest certification?
Forest certification is a voluntary process whereby an independent third party (the “certifier”) assesses the quality of forest management and production against a set of requirements (“standards”) predetermined by a public or private certification organization. Forest certification, and associated labelling, is a way of informing consumers about the sustainability of the forests from which wood and other forest products were produced.
There are two types of forest certification:
- certification of forest management, which assesses whether forests are being managed according to a specified set of standards; and
- certification of the chain of custody (sometimes referred to as CoC certification), which verifies that certified material is identified or kept separate from non-certified or non-controlled material through the production process, from the forest to the final consumer. To label an end-product as certified, both forest management certification and chain-of-custody certification are required.
Most forest management certification standards address a wide range of economic, social, environmental and technical aspects of forest management, including the well-being of workers and of families living in and around the forest area subject to certification.
The PEFC’s criteria for SFM standards
Criterion 1: Maintenance and appropriate enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle
Criterion 2: Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality
Criterion 3: Maintenance and encouragement of productive functions of forests (wood and non-wood)
Criterion 4: Maintenance, conservation and appropriate enhancement of biological diversity in forest ecosystems
Criterion 5: Maintenance and appropriate enhancement of protective functions in forest management (notably soil and water)
Criterion 6: Maintenance of other socioeconomic functions and conditions
Criterion 7: Compliance with legal requirements
The FSC principles
Principle 1: Compliance with laws
Principle 2: Workers’ rights and employment conditions
Principle 3: Indigenous peoples’ rights
Principle 4: Community relations
Principle 5: Benefits from the forest
Principle 6: Environmental values and impacts
Principle 7: Management planning
Principle 8: Monitoring and assessment
Principle 9: High conservation values
Principle 10: Implementation of management Activities
In more depth
The concept of forest certification arose as a way of addressing public concerns about tropical deforestation and forest degradation. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which pioneered forest certification in the early 1990s, was created as a result of collaboration between environmental non-governmental organizations, forest product companies and social interest groups. Today, there are more than 50 certification schemes addressing a wide variety of forest types, tenure and management regimes.
The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is the largest certification framework in terms of forest area, accounting for about two-thirds of the total certified area worldwide, while the FSC is the fastest-growing scheme (by certified area). By 2013, the FSC and the PEFC combined had issued more than 10 000 certificates for nearly 400 million hectares of forest, of which approximately 90 percent was located in Europe and North America.
Some countries have developed their own national forest certification standards, procedures and agencies, usually based on an international model. Some logging companies and their representative organizations have also established forest standards, although these are generally less rigorous than those set by the major certification schemes. It has been noted that the existence of so many certification schemes and standards may confuse consumers and thus jeopardize one of the original aims of certification, which was to provide consumers with clear, reliable information on the status of the forests from which their timber purchases were obtained.