Forest certification is one of the few tools that can directly connect the consumer to the forest. It enables each of us to make a difference to the world’s forests through buying certified products.
We are reaching out to consumers to show that forest certification is about so much more than only trees – and online campaigns are an increasingly important aspect of this work. In the past year, we have been reaching out to, interacting with, and hearing from people around the world through a number of online communication campaigns.
20 years of caring for our forests
The campaign to our 20th anniversary kicked off last July. After a soft launch at the beginning of 2019, the “year of celebration” began the day after PEFC’s anniversary on 30 June. It was on this day back in 1999 when European small-forest owners came together to create PEFC – an international forest certification system that had their needs at heart.
Our 20th anniversary campaign told the story of PEFC in a series of chapters, from the early ideas until today. We have been publishing texts, photos and videos about PEFC’s history, approach, members, stakeholders and much more, to make both forest certification and what we do at PEFC more understandable and tangible.
This is the final chapter of the campaign, and as we are looking back to an exciting anniversary year, it’s time to say THANK YOU for the interest, likes, shares and the feedback from around the world!
Head to Facebook, Twitter or the news section on our website to discover different elements of the campaign and learn more about PEFC and our history and future!
The ‘Experience Forests, Experience PEFC’ Photo Contest
Through awe-inspiring forest photos, our ‘Experience Forests, Experience PEFC’ Photo Contest takes us to the magical world of forests.
Every year from April to June, we invite photographers and forest lovers from around the world to enter their forest photos. Running for the fourth time this year, the photo contest has brought us thousands of fantastic images of forest landscapes, wildlife and people living, working or playing in the forest.
National photo contests are run by our PEFC national members around the world, and everybody, from amateur to professional photographers, is welcome to enter their forest photos on Instagram. The best photos from the national contests enter the international contest to compete for the PEFC Photographer of the Year award.
Stay tuned as we will be highlighting the winners of those contests over the next few months, before announcing the overall winner in November.
#ForestFactFriday
Do you know how many people depend on forests for their livelihoods? How old the oldest tree is? And how many tree species there are?
Our newest social media campaign #ForestFactFriday shares interesting and unexpected facts about forests and the plants, animals and people living in them.
Every Friday, we are publishing another forest fact that will for sure surprise you and make you see forests through different eyes.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and learn more about the world’s forests!
Humans of the Forests
Humans of the Forests is a video campaign launched early last year. In this micro documentary series, we look beyond the facade of forests only being nice places to spend one’s leisure time, to show how vitally important they are for so many people around the world. In the videos, we hear the inspiring stories from people who are in touch with forests and timber in their daily lives, and get a sneak peek at different professions within the forest.
For the first instalment we went to Italy, where we learnt about the daily work of a forest manager, women in forestry and timber as the ideal construction material in earthquake regions. The second instalment took us to Chile, where we met Chile’s first female forest fire monitor, a forestry worker who has spent his entire professional life in the forest, and an indigenous Mapuche woman who has reached economic independence thanks to the forest.
The Humans of the Forests videos have not only been shown at film festivals, the United Nations and a number of seminars, but also made it into the international press, among others on the cover page of the Australian magazine Timber & Forestry e-news.
To hear the full stories, head to YouTube and meet the Humans of the Forests!
Be ready for more!
As our 20th anniversary campaign comes to a close, there are already some new campaigns on the horizon. Our future campaigns will see more photos, more videos and more chances to win fantastic prizes! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date!
source: https://pefc.org/news/spreading-the-word-around-the-globe-our-online-communications-campaigns