PEFC Forest Certification Week 2019
PEFC Forest Certification Week 2019
PEFC Week
PEFC Forest Certification Week is the one time in the year when the entire PEFC family meets to discuss the key issues and opportunities facing our organization.
PEFC Week has also grown to feature one of the most important annual public dialogues on the future of forest certification and sustainable forest management: the PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue.
This year we went to Würzburg, Germany, where one of our very first meetings took place, for the 2019 PEFC Forest Certification Week. Under the theme ‘Certification and Sustainability: from Niche to Mainstream’ our Stakeholder Dialogue looked to the future to see where the next 20 years will take us.
What are the next steps towards moving sustainability and certification from niche to mainstream? What are the options of forest certification to improve accessibility, expand scope and increase impact in forest management and beyond?
Our Stakeholder Dialogue elaborated these question based on feedback, input and expectations by forest owners and land managers. Together, we discussed the potential impact, opportunities and challenges for conformity assessment. We also heard from companies along the supply chain about their expectations and approaches to sustainability certification.
Celebrating our 20th anniversary
20 years ago, European small-forest owners came together to create an international forest certification system that had their needs at heart. On 30 June 1999, PEFC was born.
This year, we celebrated the achievements from 20 years of caring for forests globally and locally, telling the story of PEFC, from the early ideas back in 1999, until today.
This is why we chose Würzburg for the 2019 PEFC Forest Certification Week and PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue. In April 1999, stakeholders met in Würzburg and it proved to be a turning point in our history. It was the moment when everyone involved committed to the creation of PEFC: there was no turning back!
In 2019, we went back, and while it is important to remember our history, the Stakeholder Dialogue took a future forward approach. Together, we looked at the next steps towards moving sustainability and certification from niche to mainstream.