Regional Forest Stewardship Standard for Smallholders in Vietnam approved

“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.”

At Domtar, we continue to lead in environmental sustainability, with our work rooted in responsibility, efficiency and engagement. We were the first forest products company to become FSC-certified, and now we’re working to understand what’s next in sustainable forestry. As we move forward in our sustainability journey, we’re exploring blockchain technology as a way to increase transparency in our supply chain. “It’s natural that we are looking ahead to what may come next,” says Paige Goff, Domtar’s vice president of sustainability. “We’re researching ways to incorporate blockchain technology into our sustainability efforts so that we can demonstrate even greater transparency to our stakeholders. We think this technology can work hand in hand with our existing certification efforts and with environmental organizations to make our sustainability reporting process more robust and less complex.”

The PEFC Balkan Forest Certification Scheme was submitted to PEFC for endorsement earlier this month. The public consultation, which is your chance to give your feedback on this new system, will run from 4 August to 2 October. Our national members for Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Slovenia developed a harmonized framework for their national forest management standards to create this regional system for the Western Balkans. This is the second regional system submitted for endorsement. It follows the Congo Basin regional system, which is currently under assessment. By developing a regional system, it enables our members to maximise their impact and reach, share resources and knowledge, and reduce the costs in developing and running a forest certification system.