Bulgaria joins the PEFC alliance

“The benefit of PEFC is that we are responsible for the development of our own national forest certification system,” said Antony Stefanov, from the Council for Sustainable Forest Management and Certification in Bulgaria.

“This means we can ensure that our specific needs are taken into account, which is particularly important for our many small- and family-forest owners.”

“We are delighted to have been accepted into the PEFC alliance,” Mr. Stefanov continued, following the acceptance of Bulgaria as a PEFC national member.

The acceptance of the Council for Sustainable Forest Management and Certification in Bulgaria as a PEFC member is an important step towards preparing their national system for PEFC endorsement.

A national sustainable forest management standard is currently being developed by a multi-stakeholder process. It is expected to undergo pilot testing and public consultation in 2017.

It is important to highlight that the work of the Council goes beyond technical work: “The Bulgarian council will not only be responsible for managing the certification system, but also for providing comprehensive support to the country’s forest owners,” emphasized Mr. Stefanov.

“We have seen fantastic progress in Southeast Europe over the last year,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International. “Both Macedonia and Romania joined the PEFC alliance last year, and now we are delighted to welcome Bulgaria to the family.”

Forests play an important societal and economic role in this region. More than half the population lives in rural areas and forests are a significant source of income, jobs and resources.

We have been actively supporting projects within the Balkans since the first Collaboration Fund back in 2011. Thanks to our International Stakeholder member Connecting Natural Values and People Foundation (CNVP), from 2016 we moved to a regional approach to increase forest certification throughout the Balkans.
http://pefc.org/news-a-media/general-sfm-news/2392-bulgaria-joins-the-pefc-alliance

Related Posts

PEFC International Office Move

PEFC is moving its office. Beginning April 3, 2018, its new office address will be: PEFC International ICC Building C Route de Pré-Bois 20 1215 Geneva 15 Switzerland

Responsible Forestry in Kamloops Is Saving Wood From Slash Piles

In British Columbia specifically, the wildfires of 2017 and 2018 rendered unusable a lot of high-value wood that would have been used to build homes and furniture. While the wood wasn’t destroyed, it was no longer considered suitable for high-quality purposes. Now, however, it’s perfect for use as biofuel. Under the mill’s partnership with FESBC, announced in January, those types of low-value wood – in addition to branches and treetops that were previously discarded into slash piles and burned at logging sites – will instead be chipped and transported to the mill for use generating renewable power. “We are very pleased to play a role in this project that allows us to access otherwise unused fiber from the forest, and use it to generate green electricity,” Kamloops Mill Manager Jean-Claude Allaire said.

Walmart Continues To Progress Beyond the Plastic Bag

Walmart continues to reinvent the retail experience as we move toward a more sustainable future. At the heart of these efforts is something that seems simple: the plastic bag. Our journey to go Beyond the Bag began early last year, when we joined Closed Loop Partners’ Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, collaborating with CVS Health, Target and other major retailers to lead industry-wide change around viable alternatives to the traditional plastic shopping bag. The good news is we’ve made progress. In fact, we’ve found opportunity for true change at the intersection of new technology and sustainability. As our stores work to test the innovative winning solutions of the Beyond the Bag Innovation Challenge, we’re seeing firsthand that the future isn’t just bright for alternatives — it’s more sustainable, and it’s on the immediate horizon.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search