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About PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes)
The PEFC Council is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, founded in
1999 which promotes sustainably managed forests through independent third party certification.
The PEFC provides an assurance mechanism to purchasers of wood and paper products that they
are promoting the sustainable management of forests.
PEFC is a global umbrella organisation for the assessment of and mutual recognition of
national forest certification schemes developed in a multi-stakeholder process. These
national schemes build upon the inter-governmental processes for the promotion of sustainable
forest management, a series of on-going mechanisms supported by 149 governments in the world
covering 85% of the world's forest area.
PEFC has in its membership 32 independent national forest certification systems of which 25
to date have been through a rigorous assessment process involving public consultation and
the use of independent consultants to provide the assessments on which mutual recognition
decisions are taken by the membership.
Some 30 Schemes account for nearly 200 million hectares of certified forests producing
millions of tonnes of certified timber to the market place making PEFC the world's largest
resource of certified timber. The other national members schemes are at various stages of
development and are working towards mutual recognition under the PEFC processes.
The UK Certification Scheme for Sustainable Forest Management is currently undergoing a
major revision and will be submitted to the PEFC Council for re-endorsement, in early 2008.
This process will adopt the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) as the model for forest
management standards in the UK. UKWAS has been developed by a partnership of forestry,
social and environmental organisations. It is recognised by international forest certification
schemes, including PEFC, which means that wood products from UKWAS certified forests can carry
the label of one of these schemes, if the rules of the individual scheme have been met.
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