100 Million Hectares of Forest is now FSC Certified
Friday, May 16th, 2008The FSC certification is widely recognized as the most rigorous social and environmental certification program in the forestry industry. Basically, FSC certification helps save the world’s forests by ensuring that land owners manage their forests responsibly.
The good news is that the amount of forest that is being FSC certified is increasing at an impressive rate.
he following chart demonstrates the amount of land that has been FSC certified since 1995:
Furthermore, as of March this year, over 100 million hectares of forest is now FSC certified. To be more precise, 103,456,399 hectares of land across 79 countries is FSC certified.
This represents a significant increase in the amount of forestry land that has been approved for certification. Consider these facts:
- Within 10 years, FSC certified land has increased from less than 10 million hectares to more than 100 million.
- In 2006, FSC certified acreage grew by 33 percent.
- Globally, FSC certified land now represents 7 percent of production forests.
Andre de Freitas, FSC Head of Operations, commented…
The larger the forest area certified to FSC standards, the larger the forest area that is managed socially and environmentally responsibly. Each additional hectare certified to FSC standards brings us closer to achieving our mission: to improve forest management world wide.
About FSC
Established in 1993, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests.
As mentioned, the FSC certification program is a rigorous social and environmental certification program for the forestry industry.
To learn more about FSC, visit the official FSC website.
