What is forest certification?
Forest certification is a well-established tool to ensure that responsible forest management practices are implemented in the forest, and that wood from certified forests can be identified throughout the supply chain. Certification systems, like FSC and PEFC (incl. SFI) establish specific forest management, woodfibre sourcing, Chain of Custody tracking and marketing requirements for certified organisations; provide a framework for third-party auditing; and govern the use of promotional and product claims.
Why is forest certification important?
Certification enables conscious consumers to choose responsibly sourced wood-based products. It gives consumers the assurance that the woodfibre used to manufacture the products they are buying has been legally harvested in accordance with sound environmental practices, and that social aspects, such as indigenous rights, have been taken into account. Forest certification and other voluntary codes of conduct are key tools for promoting sustainable consumption and production, and for combating deforestation, forest degradation and illegal logging by providing proof of legality and responsible management, harvesting and manufacturing practices.
To fully understand the fundamental importance of global, credible forest certification systems coupled with rigorous tracing practices, we need to understand the value and state of the world’s forests. The sale of illegally or unsustainably harvested timber contributes to the loss of biodiversity, degraded watersheds, unhealthy forests subject to destruction from wildfires or pests and pathogens, and deforestation, not to mention the possibility of unsafe working conditions and civil/traditional rights conflicts. Deforestation leads to biodiversity losses and increased greenhouse gas emissions, as forests capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air during the process of photosynthesis and store it in their leaves, wood, roots and soils, acting as ‘carbon sinks’. After the oceans, forests contain the world’s second-largest stores of CO2.
Forest certification’s positive impact on the world’s forests is a result of the improved forest management practices in certified forests coupled with the stringent sourcing and due diligence requirements for non-certified woodfibre inputs. Certificate holders must ensure that all non-certified woodfibre inputs mixed with certified material are from controlled, non-controversial sources. This means that the impact of forest certification extends far beyond the certified forests. Additionally, forest certification requires certificate holders to implement procedures to track and trace the origin of the wood, which is necessary to drive change and support sustainable and transparent supply chains.
Fast facts about forest certification with Sappi
- We recognise credible third-party forest certification systems including the FSC™, PEFC, SFI® and other PEFC-endorsed systems.
- Forest certification provides assurance that our products originate from responsibly-managed forests.
- All our mills are Chain of Custody certified.
- We require suppliers to provide evidence that all woodfibre is sourced from controlled, non-controversial sources.
- Sappi’s timber plantations in South Africa are both FSC and PEFC certified.
- Knowing the origin of wood is a fundamental prerequisite to ensure responsible sourcing.
- Our global goal to increase certified fibre supplied to our mills is supported by regional targets.
- We promote the increased use of certified woodfibre throughout our supply and value chains.
How does forest certification work?
Forest certification systems encompass three separate, yet closely interlinked, focus areas, each requiring annual, independent, third-party assessments of compliance to pre-determined standards.
Forest Management (FM)
Forest Management (FM) certification is a process for verifying the compliance of forest management practices with standards and criteria for responsible forest management. Forest landowners/managers wishing to promote their forests as responsibly-managed and their forest products as responsibly-harvested in compliance with one of the certification standards, must achieve and maintain FM certificate(s).
Chain of Custody (CoC)
Chain of Custody (CoC) certification is a mechanism for tracing certified woodfibre from the forest to the final product. CoC certification empowers consumers to make responsible purchasing decisions by providing assurance that the fibre in a product about which a claim is being made can be linked back to a certified forest. Manufacturing sites that purchase certified woodfibre and sell forest-based products with certification claims must achieve and maintain CoC certifications. Forest certification claims are only valid if each link in the chain is certified. For a final product to qualify for CoC claims, all entities who take legal ownership of the material/product along the supply chain must be CoC-certified to ensure an unbroken chain from the certified forest to the final certified wood-based products.
Fibre Sourcing / Controlled Wood
Fibre Sourcing / Controlled Wood certification ensures avoidance of controversial/unacceptable sources for fibre mixed with certified content. Procurement and manufacturing companies that mix certified and non-certified fibre must implement Due Diligence System (DDS) procedures to assess geographic and supply-chain risk. (Note, in the case of PEFC this is part of the CoC standard.) Product that is not sold with CoC claims may be eligible for verified responsible sourcing claims under a SFI Fiber Sourcing and/or FSC Controlled Wood.
Forest certification standards establish a common “language” by establishing core criteria and indicators that address long-term sustainability; these standards, in turn, underpin a consistent global governance structure. Forest certification requires forest management and procurement operations to be in compliance with all applicable laws/regulations, with a primary focus on ensuring wood is harvested in accordance with sound environmental practices. This includes a focus on sustained yield (growth minus removals), forest health, regeneration, conservation of biological diversity, soil and water protection, invasive species management, etc.
Forest certification standards are periodically revised via transparent and inclusive processes to incorporate best-available scientific research and understanding of emerging issues. Certificate holders are required to undergo annual audits conducted by independent, third-party accredited certification bodies to measure and verify conformance to the standard(s). Successful completion of audits enables certificate holders to sell certified products in the marketplace with verified claims of responsible forest management, sourcing and/or chain of custody tracking.