Protect and Thrive

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) recently scored a double whammy by attaining dual certification for UK forests. This leaves the UK as one of the leading countries in the world with protected woodlands.

IN FEBRUARY, PEFC was delighted to announce that one million hectares of forests in the UK have been awarded PEFC Forest Management certification by International Certification Body, SGS Qualifor. The certification includes all the Forestry Commission forests in England, Scotland and Wales and 500 privately owned forest estates, including a number in Northern Ireland that are managed through the Scottish Woodlands and UPM Tilhill forest certification group schemes.

The UK has become the first country in the world to have the majority of its productive forests certified under both the FSC and PEFC programmes. This has been possible as both schemes use the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) as the basis for certification in the UK and both are recognised by the Government’s Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET) as providing appropriate evidence of legality and sustainability for public-sector timber procurement purposes.

Dual certification will enable sellers of timber and other forest products from these certified forests to display the PEFC logo as well as the logo of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as
an assurance that these products come from responsibly-managed forests.

The UK forestry industry, along with other enterprises selling timber across Europe, recognises that a number of buyers of timber and other forest products are keen to source PEFC-certified products and, in some cases, buyers look for both PEFC and FSC certification.

This is particularly the case for overseas buyers looking to source UK timber. This move to dual
certification will now provide industry in the UK with greater flexibility to meet their customers’
requirements for certified timber.

PEFC is a framework for the mutual recognition of credible national or regional forest certification schemes that have been developed based on internationally recognised requirements for sustainable forest management. PEFRC is now the world’s largest forest certification programme. Two thirds of the world’s certified forests (over 225, 000,000 hectares) are managed by PEFC-endorsed certification systems, delivering millions of tonnes of certified timber and wood products onto the global market.

For more information on the PEFC programme visit: www.pefc.co.uk or e-mail: info@pefc.co.uk