The Responsible Wood Forest Certification Scheme and the New Zealand Forest Certification Scheme are two of some 39 national schemes endorsed by the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Responsible Wood is also the national governing body for PEFC in Australia.
PEFC is an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management globally. With more than 300 million hectares of certified forests, PEFC is the world’s largest forest certification system.
PEFC works throughout the entire supply chain to promote good practice in forests and to ensure that all forest products are produced with respect for the highest ecological, social and ethical standards. Thanks to its eco-label, customers and consumers are able to identify products from sustainably managed forests.
PEFC endorses national forest certification systems developed through multi-stakeholder processes and tailored to local priorities and conditions.
Each national forest certification system undergoes rigorous third-party assessment against PEFC’s unique sustainability benchmarks to ensure consistency with international requirements.
PEFC bases its sustainability benchmark on broad consensus by society, expressed in globally respected international and intergovernmental processes and guidelines. PEFC best practice standards promote environmentally sound, socially just, and economically viable management of our forests globally.
The benchmark criteria are regularly revised through multi-stakeholder processes involving participants drawn globally from civil society, business, governments, labour and research institutions to take account of new scientific knowledge, societal change, evolving expectations and to incorporate latest best practice.
PEFC is also open to international stakeholders such as civil society organisations, businesses, government entities and intergovernmental bodies. PEFC certification is also favoured by numerous public and private timber procurement policies worldwide.
PEFC International Standards
- Sustainable Forest Management (PEFC ST 1003:2010)
- Chain of Custody of Forest Based Products – Requirements (PEFC ST 2002:2013) Second Edition
For more information see the PEFC website.