Group Certification Field Dialogue
Group Certification Field Dialogue
Event
PEFC International, PEFC Germany, Certification Experts and the Forest Owners Associations organised the 3rd biannual event to:
- Showcase innovative large-scale group SME certification systems, including the role of the national governing, accreditation and certification bodies to deliver sustainable forest management and chain of custody.
- Explore synergies with regulatory and non-regulatory use of quality infrastructure such as PEFC and other trade initiatives such as FLEGT, especially the SVLK system of Indonesia.
The Field Dialogue took place the weekend before PEFC Forest Certification Week 2019, held in Würzburg, Germany. The first day provided an introduction to Germany's forests and group certification, along with a field trip. Sunday was dedicated to action planning between countries in order to share innovations in group certification and quality infrastructure.
Our group certification field dialogues
This trip to Odenwald Forest is the third in our series of group certification field dialogues. Two years ago, 25 representatives from 10 countries travelled to Finland to learn about the country's long history of small private forest owners, well-established associations, sustainable forest management practices and PEFC certification through group certification.
The first field dialogue was in 2015 in Madrid, Spain. Over the two-day event, delegates from Cameroon, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Viet Nam received first-hand knowledge from the Spanish national forest certification system (PEFC Spain), Regional governments, forest owners, companies and service providers.