Certification Means Credibility

Challenges

Consumer demand for environmentally friendly products is rising, especially in Europe and the United States. As a result, the demand for certified timber is currently exceeding availability and the certification of sustainable forest management (SFM) has gained importance. SFM certification is intended to decrease deforestation and create a long-term and market-based utilization of wood resources. Certification supports the development of effective national forest policy, legislation and planning. It is also an important supplement that can stimulate the implementation of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest stewardship. Certification has become a marketing tool for private and public forest owners worldwide so that increasing quantities of certified wood and fibre products compete with each other.

In this context, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) plays a crucial role. FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established in 1993 to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. Today, FSC is the only internationally recognized organization for responsible forest management supported by the corporate sector as well as environmental organizations and social groups. FSC is a certification system that provides internationally recognized standard setting, trademark assurance and accreditation services to companies, organizations, and communities interested in responsible forestry. Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that these products originate from FSC certified forests. FSC does not issue certificates itself but the certification process is carried out by independent bodies – one of which is GFA.


GFA Services

GFA certifies private and public forest as well as wood/fibre/paper trading and processing companies according to FSC standards. After receiving FSC accreditation in 2000, GFA Certification is one of the leading FSC certification bodies. In cooperation with other partners, GFA offers dual chain of custody (CoC) certifications according to FSC and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) standards. This saves administration, time and costs. Because of its global network of projects and partners, GFA is in an excellent position to carry out certification evaluations worldwide on a short notice and in a cost-efficient and competent way. GFA has also developed and carried out a variety of certification-related services for clients such as the World Bank, WWF Forest Alliance, GTZ, FSC, and FAO. For example, GFA experts were involved in activities comprising capacity building in forest certification, support in founding and establishing of national working groups for SFM or studies on certification and sustainable forest management. Also, our team has developed and tested forest management and certification standards, and reviewed concession management plans.

Forest Management Certification

The main aspect of forest management (FM) certification is the quality and compliance of a company’s management of its forests based on FSC FM principles and criteria. The FSC has developed internationally recognized standards comprising ten principles for environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable forest management. Private or public parties intending to promote and sell round wood based on FSC standards needs to undergo a FM certification process. GFA has certified more than 80 FM operations amounting to more than 10 million hectares of forests in Russia, Latin America, China, Europe and Africa.

Chain of Custody Certification

Chain of Custody (CoC) certification according to FSC and PEFC is all about the ability of tracing certified products back to the forest of origin. This represents a guarantee that the forest raw material contained in a labelled product indeed originates from a certified forest. Process and standards are similar to quality management systems established in other industry sectors. Enterprises in the supply chain with legal ownership of certified forest raw material and the intention to promote and sell it as FSC certified have to be CoC certified. The process applies all along the value chain from the forest to the consumer, including all successive stages of processing, transformation, manufacturing and distribution, but excluding retailers. GFA has so far certified over 500 CoC operations in more than 30 countries worldwide.