“PEFC – the success story” Promoting Sustainable Forest Management Mr Ben Gunneberg Secretary General, PEFC Council International

Rise of Forest certification  Grew out of concerns about deforestation in the tropics  Procurement of timber problematic – weak compared to plastic, aluminium, steel and concrete  Intergovernmental Processes to promote sustainable forest management Role of Forest certification  Improve Forest Management  Provide assurances on management where required  Improve market access for timber products

What is Forest certification? An assessment from an independent, qualified and accredited expert who verifies in writing that the forest management practices comply with a series of collectively agreed performance standards for sustainability What is Chain of Custody certification? An assessment from an independent, qualified and accredited expert who verifies in writing that the wood flow accounting system, applied by an enterprise to trace the flow of wood from certified forests through the enterprise, meets the exacting requirements of the certification scheme

Elements of Forest Certification BODYACTIONRESULTS Standard-setting body Certification body Accreditation body Environmental labeling body Standard setting Auditing Verification of chain of custody Accreditation evaluation Licensing of companies Forest certificate Certificate of chain of custody Registration of certification body Forest certification standard Environmental label

The Target is credibility Credible certification systems must have the following characteristics: 1. Separate independent bodies for Standard setting (incl. the definition of Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management) Accreditation of certification bodies Dispute settlement 2. Peer review between accreditation bodies to guarantee equally high quality of accreditation (i.e. International Accreditation Forum – IAF.)

In PEFC System Standard setting: National Working Groups Certification: Certification companies accredited by national accreditation bodies to do the work Accreditation: National Accreditation bodies (i.e. SWEDAC in Sweden, COFRAC in France, etc.) Environmental labelling: National PEFC Governing bodies on behalf of PEFC Council Dispute Settlement: Independent Dispute Settlement Board set up by National Governing Body to deal with disputes not covered by the accreditation or certification bodies dispute settlement procedures

PEFC basic pillars PEFC Council Regional Political Processes for SFM Subsidiarity and Independence of National Schemes Internationally approved certification and accreditation procedures Multi- stakeholder process “Bottom up approach”

PEFC globalisation continues PEFC members with endorsed schemes Other PEFC members October 2003

PEFC globalisation continues PEFC members with endorsed schemes Other PEFC members October 2003

PEFC globalisation continues Members: National PEFC Governing Bodies in 27 countries: Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK International: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Malaysia and USA. 13 schemes already been endorsed which amount to more than 48,69 million hectares with another 14 candidate schemes in various stages of development. Australia, Chile and Italy have just submitted their schemes for the assessment process.

Certified forests in the world by region Source PEFC, ATFS, CSA, SFI, FSC- October 2003 Total:158,91 mill. hectares

Forest certification Situation in Northern America and in Europe Total Mill. hectares North America CSA and ATFS + SFI are members of the PEFC Council Total Mill. hectares Europe October 2003 FSC 34% PEFC 66% FSC 10% SFI 53% CSA 23% American Tree Farm 14%

Certified forests in the world by scheme Source: PEFC, FSC, SFI, ATFS, CSA – End of October 2003 Total:158,91 mill. hectares

Certified forests of PEFCC Endorsed Schemes October 2003 Schemes Endorsed by PEFCCHectares certifiedCertified C-o-C Austrian Forest Cert. Scheme Belgian Forest Cert. Scheme05 Czech Forest Cert. Scheme Danish Forest Cert. Scheme70680 Finnish Forest Cert. Scheme French Forest Cert. Scheme German Forest Cert. Scheme Italian Forest Cert. Scheme02 Latvian Forest Cert. Scheme Norwegian LFS Cert. Scheme Spanish Forest Cert. Scheme Swedish Forest Cert. Scheme Swiss Q Label Holz Scheme UK Cert. Scheme for SFM TOTAL

Co-operation with schemes on other continents is ongoing …  National PEFC Governing Bodies in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Malaysia and the USA  Contacts and communication with other international, regional and national schemes

PEFC logo utilised especially in business-to-business communication of the certified products  More than 940 Chain of Custody certificates (this figure is increasing rapidly)  Most of the companies with CoC have also applied for the PEFC logo license

Lessons learned – PEFC Mutual Recognition Process …  PEFC is a successful MR process which 13 national schemes have gone through and 3 are in the process of going through  Another 11 candidate schemes are working towards mutual recognition through the PEFC process  More schemes are interested in the PEFC approach Key Word 1: Quality of the Schemes

Lessons learned – PEFC Mutual Recognition Process …  An audit of the PEFC Framework and review of the comments on the PEFC resulting in a comprehensive revision of the PEFC documentation and processes Key Word 2: Transparency and credibility

Challenges  Increasing awareness of PEFC member schemes (brochures, website, lobbying).  Integrating certification schemes based on other inter-governmental processes.  Making sure SFM and CoC certification remains cost-effective, efficient and accessible to all.  To share the experiences of schemes on other continents within the PEFC’s framework for mutual recognition.  Ensure procurement policies and assessment matrices include PEFC endorsed schemes.

Challenges contd.  Assisting in processes on other continents e.g. Pan African Forest Certification.  IAF dialogue to facilitate harmonisation in accreditation.  International Chain of Custody.  Integrating Forest Certification’s role into related initiatives such as combating illegal logging, CO2 certification, etc…  Continue the dialogue with forest certification and other initiatives outside the PEFC to promote mutual respect and recognition.

Labelled Products on the market…

Conclusions  Respects political processes supported by multi- stakeholder involvement in democratic manner.  Provides bottom up process for Mutual Recognition of national forest certification schemes.  Relies on internationally approved accreditation and certification procedures.  World’s biggest forest certification scheme, growing rapidly, delivering to the market.

Conclusions  International scheme working to accommodate all inter- governmental processes.  Has endorsed 13 schemes, – totalling 48.6 Million ha.  Encourages all those who have not yet done so to get actively involved

For more information: PEFC Council- Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes Tel: (+352) Promoting Sustainable Forest Management