Act local: Do you know how PEFC is reaching out in your country?

28 April 2016 News

From capturing the imagination of children, teenagers and students to forging dynamic new partnerships in person and online, our members shared some of their outreach activities – and there were a lot to share!

“We have held our Czech Wooden Christmas over the last few years, and with great to success, but we wanted to do more,” said Stanislav Slanina, National Secretary of PEFC Czech Republic. “So we started to link up with YouTubers, working with them to reach out to the young people of our country. We couldn’t bel ieve the success – more than 120,000 views of the four videos!”

PEFC Czech Republic was not the only member to focus on young people; PEFC Slovakia partnered with Bauhaus to enable children to assemble their own wooden key racks, while MTCC headed to Malaysian universities with their Academic Award for students showing outstanding performance in forestry.

Media relations were also a key focus area for many members.

“Two years ago we began the revision of our sustainable forest management standard, and we asked ourselves, how can we make the most of it?” said Andre Laroze, National Secretary of CERTFOR Chile. “So we brought a journalist on board who developed a communication strategy, produced articles and got them out into the media. For us this has been a great success, enabling us to reach so much further than we thought possible.”

SFI had similar success in North America with their partnership with treehugger.com, a leading website for environmentally conscious consumers. “The social media response from our articles on the treehugger.com has been past our expectations,” highlighted Jason Metnick, Senior VP, Customer Affairs at Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).

The session came to a close with PEFC Italy showcasing some of the many sporting events they have partnered with, ensuring PEFC certified, sustainably produced materials and buildings have taken center stage.

You can find loads of on-the ground activities by national PEFC members in the latest PEFC Annual Review. You can also find a full list of all our members, including their contact details, on our website.