PEFC Group Certification Dialogue Webinar Series: Knowledge sharing amongst members and industry stakeholders
Smallholders, local communities, and indigenous peoples own or manage nearly half of the world’s forests and the way those forests are managed can have an influence on the climate, biodiversity, and health of our planet. It is therefore vital that smallholders can gain certification, not only to benefit from the advantages it brings to their livelihoods, but to ensure that these forests are responsibly managed so they are around for generations to come. To achieve this, we must make sustainable forest management certification accessible to these smallholders. This is where PEFC group certification comes in, enabling smallholders to group together and organize themselves, pool their resources and work as a team to achieve certification. Since 2010, our Smallholder Group Certification programme has enabled the sharing of experiences and facilitated cooperation amongst family forest owners, community forest groups, and indigenous peoples in implementing sustainable forest management and pursuing forest certification.