forest certification systems
A number of international and national systems exist for the certification of responsible forest management. NEPCon works with the two most widely recognized, international forest certification systems: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for Endorsement of Certification Systems (PEFC).
FSC and PEFC are two international organizations which both aim to support responsible forest management. PEFC as well as FSC certification takes place based on a set of national or regional standards, and the process of certification is similar for the two systems. The main differences between FSC and PEFC are generally found in the precise requirements of the standards. Because these vary geographically for each system, this difference is more pronounced in some countries than in others.
In some cases, forest owners choose certification according to both FSC and PEFC, or they add an ISO 14001 or ISO 9001 certificate to their forest management certification.
Forest stewardship council (FSC)
Among the distinguishing features of the Forest Stewardship Council is that this system is stakeholder-driven and is a unified system based on a set of global standards.
FSC invites participation by all stakeholder groups at global as well as at local level, and ensures equal influence of social, economic, and environmental interests in developing certification standards. The FSC has extensive support from all sectors - business as well as NGOs. It is the world's most successful forest certification scheme in terms of market recognition and penetration.
The FSC is also the world's largest certification scheme in terms of certified area, if compared to the areas covered by other single forest certification schemes - i.e. not taking into account that some areas are covered by several schemes through mutual recognition.
More about FSC certification
Programme for endorsement of forest certifications schemes (peFC)
PEFC is a global umbrella organisation for the assessment of and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes. These national schemes must build upon the inter-governmental processes for the promotion of sustainable forest management.
PEFC originated among forest owners in Europe, and is a popular scheme among private forest owners. Counting all areas endorsed by the PEFC through mutual recognition (including several single schemes), PEFC is the world's largest certification scheme in terms of certified area.
More about PEFC certification |
