PEFC represents smallholders as a Founding Member of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber at inaugural General Assembly

Global Plattform for Sustainable Rubber 2The inaugural General Assembly of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) was held in Singapore today with PEFC as one of its Founding Members.

GPSNR aims to provide an independent platform that will lead to improvements in the socio-economic and environmental performance of the natural rubber value chain.

Development of the GPSNR was initiated by the CEOs of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Tire Industry Project (TIP) in November 2017.

A wide range of members and stakeholders

Members of the platform include tire manufacturers, rubber suppliers and processors, vehicle makers and NGOs. Representatives from each of these stakeholder groups have contributed to the development of the Singapore-based platform and the wide-reaching set of priorities that will define GPSNR strategy and objectives.

Following a ceremonial launch in October 2018, interest in the GPSNR has seen membership grow to include civil society members. The GPSNR remains open to membership applications from natural rubber stakeholders.

The General Assembly saw the approval of the organisation’s Statutes and Code of Conduct, and the formation of an Executive Committee that has the mandate of overseeing the strategic and operational activities of the GPSNR.

As required by the Statutes, there is a multi-stakeholder committee. PEFC International Vice Chair, Genevieve Chua, attended as a voting member at the General Assembly. South East Asia Representative Richard Laity and Keterina Chong are in the Smallholder, and Strategy & objectives Working Group respectively.

Focusing on smallholders

Richard Laity drew the Global Plattform for Sustainable Rubber2attention of the General Assembly to the importance of including direct representation on GPNSR of smallholders who make up to 75% of rubber producers in South East Asia. 

“We need to ensure GPNSR has positive impacts for smallholders and we need to fully appreciate these impacts, as well as measure the risks to this initiative if smallholders are not adequately represented,” Mr Laity noted.

He explained that it is in PEFC’s DNA to meet the needs of smallholders in the forestry sector, and as approximately 85% of rubber production globally comes from smallholders, it is essential that they are meaningfully represented in this new platform.

Without analyzing the data globally, a recent field survey indicated that 3,000 hectares of rubber plantation in Riau Province, Indonesia are already within PEFC certified areas. In addition, thousands of cubic meters of product are being sold with a PEFC Controlled Source verified, meeting emerging market requirements.

The work can begin

The formation of the GPNSR gives strong commitment to sustainability by key market players in the rubber production and supply chain globally.

GPSNR Director Stefano Savi told the meeting: “We know that the real hard work lies ahead, but today from Singapore we send a clear message – the GPSNR is open for business.”

Following proceedings from Geneva, Peter Bakker, WBCSD’s President and CEO said “Today, our members are joined by a growing and increasingly well-balanced GPSNR membership of rubber value chain and civil society members – the actors are in place, and the foundations for transformative action along the natural rubber value chain have been laid. Now the real work can begin.”

Source: pefc.org

 

News Newsletters Press Information Indonesia and Japan take the spotlight at PEFC General Assembly award ceremony

ifcc winners 2017With an increase of almost two million hectares of PEFC-certified forests in Indonesia over the past year, the Indonesian Forestry Certification Cooperation (IFCC) took top prize for growth during our PEFC Forest Certification Week award ceremony.

“Without the tremendous support from everyone within the PEFC family and without the strong commitment and hard work from all members of the IFCC family, we would have never arrived at this proud state,” said Dradjad Wibowo, Chairman of IFCC.

“So, IFCC thanks everyone from the PEFC and IFCC families for this! Though we still face huge challenges, we are confident, that together we will prevail," Mr. Wibowo concluded.

In second place was PEFC Finland with an increase of 1.3 million hectares and PEFC Russia in third with 950,000 hectares.

“IFCC only achieved their first certified hectares at the end of 2015, so it’s fantastic to see them win first place just two years later,” said Ben Gunnenberg, CEO of PEFC International, following the ceremony.

“We should soon see even more certified hectares in Indonesia, but this time from community owned forests, as IFCC’s new requirements for community forest management certification come into force.”

 

Chain of Custody grows too

sgec winners 2017

We also award the top three members to grow their Chain of Custody certificates.

This year the honor went to Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC), our member in Japan, who added 117 Chain of Custody certificates. In second place was PEFC Spain, with PEFC Czech Republic in third.

“I would like to congratulate all our members who took home an award today. It is thanks to their, and everyone else within the PEFC alliance’s, continued work and dedication that PEFC continues to be the world’s leading forest certification system.”

Source: pefc.org

 

Landscapes and Livelihoods: PEFC’s Stakeholder Dialogue set to navigate new terrain

PEFC Week 2016 logo horizontal 2016 04 20

Join PEFC in Bali for the 2016 PEFC Stakeholder Dialogue: two days dedicated to discussion, debate and exchange on how the forest sector and forest certification can better contribute to sustainable landscapes for sustainable livelihoods.

The dialogue will open with two distinguished experts providing diverse views on how to ‘bridge the gap’ and better achieve sustainability across forests, agriculture and food security.

Dr. Terry Sunderland, Principle Scientist at CIFOR, will start the day off as he shares his insights on how landscape approaches can provide a framework to reconcile competition between productive land-uses and environmental and development trade-offs.

He will go on to highlight new findings that underscore the importance of forests for many aspects of sustainable development, people’s nutrition among them.