Trees outside Forests: PEFC reaches beyond forests

Last year, PEFC revolutionized forest certification by moving it out of the forest. Now, people and organizations owning or managing trees growing outside of forests can achieve PEFC certification of their sustainable management practices. 

This is a big leap forward. But what does it really mean on the ground?

Trees outside forests are immensely important for rural communities around the world. Millions of people rely on this resource to provide them with food, materials and their livelihoods. If managed sustainably, they can contribute to rural development, food security and reduced poverty – vital Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We find these trees throughout landscapes, from scattered on farms and settlement land, to growing in hedgerows and alongside fields. Often, trees are just one of many crops grown by a farmer or a community. 

The challenge

For many smallholders, farmers and communities, managing their trees sustainably is second nature, and they have been doing so for generations. However, with no certification suited to their specific conditions, they face challenges accessing markets to sell their timber or non-wood forest products. 

This is why we developed our pioneering approach towards certification of Trees outside Forests, also known as TOF.

Starting in 2015, we focused on an approach that would be practical and affordable to farmers and other land managers, while maintaining the stringent requirements of PEFC sustainable forest management certification. In this way, we have made it possible for landowners and managers to demonstrate the sustainable management of their trees.

“I have always been concerned that smallholders growing trees in agricultural landscapes are disadvantaged or even discriminated against in international markets. This is because it is difficult for them to meet international standards that apply to larger forest areas. So this is much needed,” said Tony Bartlett, Advisor to the ACIAR Forestry Program, speaking about PEFC TOF certification at the World Agroforestry Congress.

The next steps

In 2018, the PEFC General Assembly approved the requirements for Trees outside Forests, as part of the revised PEFC Sustainable Forest Management benchmark.

Following this approval, national forest certification systems need to develop their own TOF certification in line with the international requirements, but adapted to local conditions. Leading the way is India. Currently in a draft state, stakeholders will soon submit it to PEFC for endorsement.

Once the Indian TOF standard has achieved PEFC endorsement, smallholders in the country will be able to apply for PEFC certification for their trees outside forests – the first in the world to do so.

Implementation of TOF

Part of the PEFC Sustainable Forest Management benchmark, specific requirements within the benchmark have been adapted for the unique TOF context. For example, rather than the management aiming to maintain or increase forests and their ecosystem services (8.1.1), the management instead aims at maintaining or increasing the cover, value and/or diversity of trees in the landscape and their related ecosystem services.

source: https://pefc.org/news/trees-outside-forests-pefc-reaches-beyond-forests

PEFC governance & standards development: Clarifying roles and responsibilities

The PEFC General Assembly is PEFC’s highest decision-making body. How much fame can it claim for our most widely known output, our internationally recognized forest certification standards? The short answer is: close to none. The General Assembly has important decisions to make, but the actual content of our technical documentation is not part of it. 

“In PEFC, standards are developed by standard setting working groups,” explains Dr Michael Berger, Deputy Secretary General and Head of Technical Unit at PEFC International. 

“These working groups, comprising all relevant and interested stakeholder groups, are instrumental in the development of our standards and responsible for building consensus on a final draft standard.” 

The role of the PEFC General Assembly, as well as the PEFC Board of Directors, is limited the formal approval of the final draft standards. 

“This formal approval is necessary so that the final draft standards can in fact become PEFC standards. Without this approval through the PEFC governance bodies, they could be anybody’s standards,” highlights Dr Berger. “The General Assembly and the Board of Directors approve the standards – or can decide not to do so – but don’t have a say about the content. Neither can change a single word.”

Responsibilities of the PEFC General Assembly & the Board of Directors

So what is the PEFC General Assembly responsible for? It has quite a number of important task, focusing on the administration and management of PEFC as an association. This includes decisions about our statutes, budget, appointing the Board and membership.

Our Board of Directors supports the work of the General Assembly by preparing the budget and the meetings of the General Assembly and members meetings, as well as formal oversight and guidance of our work within the secretariat.

Impartiality at heart

That our governance bodies do not have much of a say concerning the content of our standards is done by design, explains Dr Berger. 

“We wanted to ensure that our standards benefit from the best available knowledge, from the best practices on the ground, and from the latest scientific information. This means that we needed to ensure that everyone involved in the standard setting process can speak their mind, that there’s no vested interest, no hidden agenda. To achieve this, our standards are developed independently from our governance, ensuring a high degree of impartiality.”

source: https://pefc.org/news/pefc-governance-standards-development-clarifying-roles-and-responsibilities

Our Board of Directors – in the service of PEFC

At PEFC, key decisions are not made by one person alone. We ensure that decision-making is done through consensus-driven processes that involve a wide range of parties, and that no single stakeholder or stakeholder group can become too powerful.

While the General Assembly, our multi-stakeholder governance body, has the final say on decisive issues, our Board of Directors has an important role to play in support of it.

The Board comprises the Chairperson of PEFC International, two Vice-Chairs and two to twelve Board members elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term.

Development over the years

From the beginning, the diversity and equal representation of different groups was fundamental for the composition of the Board, as engraved in the original 1999 PEFC statutes:

“The constitution of the Board members should intend to reflect the major interested parties who support the PEFC, the geographical distribution of the members and the diversity of their annual cutting categories.”

Changes in society’s understanding as to what diversity entails triggered a modification in our statutes in 2002, with the requirement of “appropriate gender balance” within the Board added to promote women’s rights. 

In 2005, Kathy Bradley was the first woman to be elected into the Board. Director of External Affairs for The Paper Federation of Great Britain, she was nominated by PEFC UK. After 2005, more women followed. 

Currently, five of our 14 board members are women, including both of our Vice Chairs, and we continue to work on achieving an appropriate balance of all genders. 

Our growth from a purely European organization to a global organization expanded our own understanding of diversity, as we acknowledged the need to ensure that indigenous people are represented. We were honoured when Minnie Degawan, an indigenous Kankanaey-Igorot from the Philippines and an activist for indigenous people’s rights, joined our Board in 2010. She worked as a Project Coordinator for the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal People of the Tropical Forests (IAITPFT) when she joined our Board.

In 2013, we welcomed Juan Carlos Jintiach to our Board. A member of the Shuar, an indigenous group in the Amazon Rainforest of Ecuador, he has worked extensively with indigenous communities and organizations. He is Coordinator of the International Economic Cooperation and Autonomous Indigenous Development for COICA.

The PEFC International Chairs

In its 20-year history, PEFC has seen four Chairpersons leading its operations.

Henri Plauche-Gillon was our first Chairman and one of the founding fathers who established PEFC in 1999.

It was during his term that we opened our first office in Luxembourg, welcomed our first 31 members, endorsed the first systems and got our very first certified hectares of forest.

He was followed by Michael Clark, former Chairman of PEFC UK and Vice-President within M-real Corporation’s Consumer Packaging Division, who took office from 2006 to 2009. During his term, our area of certified forests reached the 200-million hectare mark and we relocated the PEFC International offices from Luxembourg to Geneva, Switzerland.

 

 

William V. Street Jr led PEFC International from 2009 to 2016. Working as Director of the Woodworkers Department of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Bill brought experience in directing forestry projects around the world.

During his term of office, we endorsed the first standards in Asia Pacific and Africa.

Our current Chairman is Peter Latham, OBE. He was Chairman of PEFC UK before he joined the PEFC International Board in 2011 and elected to his current position in 2016. Peter had worked for James Latham PLC for 44 years, including eleven years as Chairman.

In his term of office, we reached 300 million hectares of PEFC-certified forest and 20,000 companies with PEFC Chain of Custody certification.

Learn more about our Board of Directors here!

source: https://www.pefc.org/news/our-board-of-directors-in-the-service-of-pefc

Do you know how PEFC is governed?

Our governance is bottom up, which means it is our members who make the key decisions through a balanced voting system. This enables us to build on our national members’ local expertise, complemented by the experiences of internationally active organizations.

This unique structure allows for ethical and responsible decision-making that incorporates the combined experiences and knowledge of all stakeholders at national and international levels, including individuals on the ground as they are represented through our national members.  

Our commitment to participation, democracy and equity is a critical and central element within the governance of our organization. We have three decision-making bodies: the General Assembly, the PEFC International Board and the Secretary General

PEFC General Assembly, November 2018, Geneva

PEFC General Assembly

The General Assembly is our highest authority and decision-making body. It is made up of all PEFC members, including both national and international stakeholder members with voting rights, and extraordinary members as observers. 

The General Assembly votes on the key decisions of our organization, such as new members, statutes and budgets. It is also responsible for the endorsement of national forest certification systems (after they have successfully completed the assessment process), and the formal approval of international standards.

All national members have between one and seven votes, depending on their membership fees, while the international stakeholder members have one vote each.

A delegate represents every PEFC member, and they all have the right to introduce items to the agenda of the work of the General Assembly or the PEFC International Board. Once a year the General Assembly meets in person, this is usually in November during the PEFC Forest Certification Week. The next PEFC Week takes place in Würzburg, Germany, 11-15 November 2019.

PEFC International Board meeting, November 2018

The PEFC International Board

Our Board supports the work of the General Assembly and the organization as a whole, and is accountable to all members. 

Board members are elected for a 3-year term and one third of the Board members are eligible for re-election in any one year. 

The composition of the Board should aim to reflect the major interested parties who support PEFC, the geographical distribution of members, the diversity of their annual cutting categories and an appropriate gender balance.

The Nominations Committee

The Nominations Committee is responsible for proposing a list of candidates to fill the vacancies within the PEFC International Board.

Bill Street, member of the Nominations Committee

Every year, we invite PEFC members to nominate candidates for the Board. The Nominations Committee guides our members by advising them on what qualifications and experience are sought from the nominees.

Once the members have submitted their nominees, the Nominations Committee is responsible for considering the nominations and proposing a list of candidates to fill the vacancies within the Board. This includes the Chairman, Vice Chairs and Board members. This list is proposed to, and voted on by, the PEFC General Assembly.

 

 

 

 

source: https://www.pefc.org/news/do-you-know-how-pefc-is-governed

From 12 to 81: the story of PEFC membership & governance

PEFC is much more than just the secretariat in Geneva. We are an alliance of national forest certification systems, NGOs, labour unions, businesses, trade associations, forest owner organizations and committed individuals. Together, we work towards our vision of a world that values the contribution of sustainable forests to our planet and our lives.

Our members are a vital part of the PEFC alliance. From the 12 founding members, to the current 81 members (51 national and 30 international stakeholder members), representing several hundred national stakeholder groups, we have grown and become global. But how have we got to this point – and how has it changed the very nature of PEFC?

Our founding members: forest owners

In 1999, 12 organizations came together to create PEFC. These organizations represented forest owners in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. 

Soon joined by organizations from other European countries, and then globally, these are our national members (also known as National Governing Bodies). They are independent, national organizations responsible for developing and running the national forest certification system within their country. 

One of the distinct characteristics of our national members is that they have the support of their country’s forest owners. Forest owners and managers are important stakeholders as they are responsible for implementing forest management requirements and pursuing certification. It is therefore essential that they are supportive of, and involved in, the national process. This is why we require that our national members obtain their support. 

National members manage “everything PEFC” within their respective country, as well as providing support to the PEFC-certified companies and forest owners. They can range in size from one person to a large team, but all of them are dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management within their country and globally. Meet our national members.

The early years: engaging the forest sector

It was soon clear that other organizations supporting the objectives of PEFC wanted to be involved, leading to the creation of extraordinary members. With this, we moved beyond our initial focus on forest owners, offering stakeholders from the entire forest sector the opportunity to become directly involved with PEFC. 

Organizations admitted into membership at this stage were the Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF), European Confederation of Woodworking Industries (CEI-Bois), European Landowners’ Organisation (ELO), European Timber Trade Association (FEBO) and Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI).

Achieving maturity: implementing multi-stakeholder governance

In 2008, it was time for a change. We appointed expert consultants to help undertake a comprehensive governance review with stakeholders worldwide. As a result, and in order to encourage a broader range of stakeholders to participate in the PEFC governance process, we introduced the international stakeholder member category. This enabled us to engage international actors for whom it is difficult to get involved at local and national level. 

The birth of international stakeholder membership represented a fundamental change in how PEFC was governed. But not only that: it changed the very nature of PEFC. 

Ten years on, there are 30 international stakeholder members from around the world - an integral part of the PEFC alliance. They include organizations, associations and international companies whose principles and objectives are in line with our own. These members perform a vital role in supporting the work we do. Meet our international stakeholder members.

PEFC today: a joint effort

Accepting international stakeholders into PEFC membership fundamentally changed our own understanding of ourselves. PEFC was no longer only about forest owners delivering a service to society. We became a joint effort of everyone interested in promoting sustainable forest management. 

Today, stakeholders of all realms of life not only participate in the development of our standards, but also in PEFC as a global association. They share their knowledge and offer a helping hand in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of our organization, and actively contribute to the governance of PEFC.

source: https://pefc.org/news/from-12-to-81-the-story-of-pefc-membership-governance