New Zealand consults on national forest certification standard

27 August 2013 News

Standards New Zealand, New Zealand's leading developer of standards and standards-based solution, is calling on national stakeholders to provide input into the draft DZ 4708, the draft national sustainable forest management standard.

This draft standard is a proposed adoption of AS 4708:2013 Sustainable forest management, which has recently been revised by Australian Forestry Standard Ltd.

AS 4708 provides forest owners and managers with environmental, economic, social, and cultural criteria that support the sustainable management of forests. By adopting this Australian standard it is proposed that New Zealand users will have a voluntary standard that:

• provides a means by which exporters of New Zealand forest products can demonstrate compliance with importing countries' requirements for legally sourced wood and wood-based products
• may be applied by farm foresters to woodlots, as well as to large plantation forests
• may be applied to native forests, whether or not they are used for production purposes.

A standards development committee comprised of a range of New Zealand stakeholders has been formed to assess the appropriateness of AS 4708 for use in New Zealand.

"PEFC supports the development of a national sustainable forest management standard, which will provide New Zealand stakeholders with a viable option to provide evidence for their sustainable practices. There is a strong interest in the international recognition and endorsement provided by PEFC, and we are looking forward to working closely with forest owners, industry representatives, Standards New Zealand and other interested parties to outline potential ways forward," said Ben Gunneberg, PEFC Secretary General, following a range of meetings with stakeholders in New Zealand.

Mr Gunneberg will speak at a seminar outlining the advantages of forest certification for New Zealand stakeholders in Auckland tomorrow.