German, Malaysian Forest Systems Achieve PEFC Re-Endorsement
According to a release by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday (June 13), Germany has now become the second country to successfully achieve program re-endorsement of its national forest certification system for a third time. The Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for Forest Plantations standard have also been reported to have received PEFC re-endorsement.
The PEFC promotes sustainable forest management through forest certification. This endorsement not only confirms that the two countries continue to meet the program's globally recognized "Sustainability Benchmarks", but also ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of the PEFC.
Germany was one of the first countries to achieve the program's endorsement of its national system back in 2000. It joins Finland as the only other country to gain re-endorsement for a record third time. As of today, there are nearly 7.4 million hectares of PEFC-certified forests in the country, equivalent to two thirds of the whole German forest area, including all state-owned forests.
The Malaysian Criteria and Indicators (MC&I) for Forest Plantations is a complementary standard to the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which includes the MC&I for Natural Forests. The endorsement of this second edition of the MC&I for Forest Plantations, which is designed to assess the management practices for, and enable the certification of, forest plantations, follows the re-endorsement of the MTCS in 2014.
"These re-endorsements show both the commitment of our members and underlines PEFC’s leadership in the continuous improvement of forest certification," said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. "We appreciate their continued commitment, as well as the contributions of all the stakeholders who have participated in the standards revision and assessment processes."
PEFC International remains the only global forest certification system to limit endorsements of national systems to five years, requiring revision of the standards before a system can re-apply for endorsement. Endorsement is only granted after a comprehensive, third-party assessment of compliance with PEFC Sustainability Benchmarks.
Revisions are required to ensure that latest scientific research, practical experiences and best practices from the field, but also evolving values, expectations, and aspirations of society towards sustainable forest management are systematically incorporated in these revisions and then implemented at national, regional, and local level.
TAPPI
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