India Launches Process to Develop Forest Certification System

“With forestry in India being at a critical crossroad, the decision to develop our own national forest certification system will be an important driver to promote the sustainable management of our forest resources,” said KK Singh, Chairman of the Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF).

“While India is among the world’s most forested countries, we also have a growing demand for wood products, and unsustainable use of forests, for example for wood fuel, is a significant challenge,” continued Mr. Singh. “Forest certification will help us not only in mainstreaming sustainability in forest management, but also in raising awareness with companies and consumers about the importance of sourcing and buying responsibly sourced wood products.”

The process to develop India’s forest certification system was launched today at the “International Conference on Forest Certification – Positioning India”, co-hosted by NCCF and PEFC International. The conference brought together government, business and civil society stakeholders to discuss the status of forests in India and to learn from international experts about the benefits of functioning certification systems of sustainable forestry in other countries.

Organizations such as ITC, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), Chemical and Allied Export Promotion Council of India (CAPEXIL), Quality Council of India (QCI), International Network for Bamboo And Rattan (INBAR), Green Initiatives Certification & Inspection Agency (GICIA), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Lok Vaniki Kisan Samiti, Building and Wood Worker’s International (BWI), Greenply and State Forest Departments participated in the conference and pledged support for the development of an Indian national system. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Govt. of India has also extended its support to this initiative and has nominated two members in the Governing Council of NCCF.

“It is promising and inspiring to learn about the strong support in India for the development of a national forest certification system in alignment with PEFC’s globally recognized Sustainability Benchmarks,” said Sarah Price, Head of Projects and Development at PEFC International, welcoming the announcement.
read more/source:  http://pefc.org/news-a-media/general-sfm-news/1822-india-launches-process-to-develop-forest-certification-system

Related Posts

The Hidden Face of Digital

Every day we send email, navigate the web and store our videos, photos or music in the Cloud. We often have the impression that the whole process is trivial and nearly free, but this is not at all the case. So says L’Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie (ADEME), an agency of the government of France which, promotes an environmental approach to the workplace and to daily living. In a recent Guide, La Face Cachée de Numérique, (The Hidden Face of Digital), they describe the widespread environmental impacts of the growing number of digital devices (increasing energy consumption, use of primary minerals, pollution and waste production) and how to reduce them. In the Guide, it is estimated that there are 2 billion smartphones, 1 billion computers, 5 to7 billion other connected devices and 45 billion servers worldwide and that 8.4 billion connected devices would be sold in the world in 2017, 31% more than in 2016. The forecast for 2020 is 50 billion connected devices. In one hour, there are 8 to 10 billion emails sent (not including spam) and 180 million Google searches and the average distance a piece of data travels is 15,000 km. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Canada’s Forests and Its Natural Cycles

A recent World Resource Institute (WRI) report indicates that forest fires have increased in Canada’s boreal forest which puts Canada second on a global list for tree cover loss in 2013. It is important to define what WRI means by tree cover loss. The distinction between natural cycles and man-made land use changes are necessary considerations when calculating tree loss. Permanent forest loss from urbanization and agriculture expansion is vastly different from temporary tree loss caused by harvesting or natural occurrences like forest fires and pest infestations where trees regrow. Forecasts using climate change scenarios suggest that fire and pest activity will increase across much of Canada’s forests. The forest products industry continues to collaborate with governments, academics and other stakeholders on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Help protect forests and prove it with PEFC

Consumers and public and CoC Video 2private organizations are increasingly requesting forest products from sustainably managed forests. But how can they be sure about the origin of the products they buy? The answer is PEFC Chain of Custody certification. PEFC forest certification demonstrates that forests are sustainably managed. But there are many steps of processing before a product reaches consumers. Click read more below for additional detail.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search