FOREST CERTIFICATION

A worldwide growing preoccupation is to mitigate negative environmental impacts of productive activities, and is particularly sensitive for the forest sector. In fact, unlike other industries that are based on the use of non renewable natural resources or characterized by polluting processes, forestry encompasses more emotional considerations because of direct links to forests which are not only seen as wood suppliers, but also as a multiplicity of environmental and cultural services. Such services include the production of oxygen, CO2 sequestration which reduces global warming, water regulation, soil protection, beauty and scenery, biodiversity conservation, and others.

The manner in which management sustainability is faced by forestry, is as specific as the requirements forestry has to face concerning the environment. If in other industries a certification process like ISO 14.001 is enough to demonstrate the commitment of a company with its social and environmental context, forestry requirements are higher and materialize through what it is known as performance standard certification or specifically, forest management certification.

The forest managing certification (SFM) is a relatively new tool that serves to verify formally and voluntarily that the forest managing of a certain agent fulfills with certain standard. Generally it is associated with a chain of custody (CoC) of the products originated in the certified forests, which gives origin to an eco-labeled that serves to join the offer and demand of forest products that the products have been produced satisfying social and environmental standard.

The Certification System CERTFOR has developed two types of Forest Certification standards and certificates.

SFM
The main goal of Sustainable Forest Management Certification is to assure that the management carried out in the forests comply with the environmental, economic and social standards of sustentability. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) requires the forests to be used in such a way that they do not compromise the needs of future generations, in the mentioned aspect.

Chain of Custody
The main goal of a Chain of Custody (CoC) is to guarantee a connection between the input of certified wood to a process and the products exiting the given process. To achieve a chain of custody and to be able to label the final products as certified, each unit responsible for the wood, from the forest up to the minor distribution channels, must have a CoC certificate that endorses that the wood comes from forests handled under recognized criteria of sustainability.