Indonesian Forest Certification Scheme Open for Public Consultation

With the application of the Indonesian Forestry Certification Co-operation (IFCC) for PEFC endorsement, Indonesia has become the third Asian country after Malaysia and China to seek PEFC endorsement. Stakeholders globally are invited to provide feedback on IFCC’s compliance with PEFC International’s Sustainability Benchmarks by 1 February 2014.

“We appreciate the opportunity that PEFC is providing independent national forest certification systems such as IFCC to develop its own standards tailored to our national and local political, economic, social, environmental and cultural realities,” said  Dradjad H Wibowo, Chairman of the IFCC. “Finding the right balance that protects forests and the people who depend on them is critical to achieving long term sustainability. PEFC’s bottom up approach has enabled Indonesian stakeholders to develop a robust standard that considers Indonesia’s unique needs and therefore has the potential of wide adaptation.”

Promoting Sustainable Forest Management - Introducing PEFC’s Unique Approach to Forest Certification

Forest certification is crucial in providing evidence of sustainable forest management. Increasingly, this proof is a prerequisite for doing business; certified forest materials are requested more and more in procurement policies around the world. In turn, forest certification has a direct economic and social impact on the communities that depend on these forests for their livelihoods.

Today just 10 percent of the world’s forests are certified. In tropical and sub-tropical areas this figure drops to under two percent. In total, two-thirds of the total certified area is certified to PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmarks that carefully balance the economic pillar of sustainability with the environmental and social, while maintaining compliance with internationally accepted requirements for sustainable forest management.

PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, is well placed to expand forest certification globally through its unique bottom-up approach to certification, developed by and for smallholders, and nowadays providing evidence for responsible management of forests of all sizes.

The brochure “Promoting Sustainable Forest Management: Introducing PEFC’s Unique Approach to Forest Certification” highlights what makes PEFC the certification system of choice for stakholders globally.