Five national forest certification systems achieve re-endorsement

13 August 2014 PEFC system news

This re-endorsement confirms that these five systems continue to meet PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks and ensures that certified forest owners and companies in these countries continue to benefit from the global acceptance of PEFC.

In total, these five systems account for six and a half million hectares of sustainably managed forest, including some four million hectares of tropical forests located in Malaysia. For Slovenia and Malaysia, this is the first time their national systems have been re-endorsed, with Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland achieving re-endorsement for the second time.

“We are heartened and encouraged by the continuing strong commitment of local stakeholders in the revision of their national forest certification standards, and we applaud everyone for their efforts,” said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General and CEO. 

“We truly appreciate the expertise, knowledge and time that local stakeholders invest in advancing forest certification and sustainable forest management within their countries and we are proud to be able to provide them with international recognition through PEFC endorsement.”

PEFC International remains the only global forest certification system to limit endorsements of national systems to five years, requiring standards revisions before a system can re-apply for endorsement, which is only granted after a comprehensive, third-party assessment of compliance with PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmarks.

Revisions are required to ensure that latest scientific research, practical experiences and best practices from the field, but also evolving values, expectations, and aspirations of society towards sustainable forest management are systematically incorporated in these revisions and then implemented at national, regional and local level.