PEFC endorsement opens opportunities for Indonesia’s smallholders
Until now, the high costs and the complex procedures were major obstacles in the way to forest certification for smallholders. The newly endorsed system makes PEFC certification affordable and more feasible for them.
PEFC endorsement opens opportunities for Indonesia’s smallholders
31 July 2019 PEFC system news
With the endorsement of IFCC’s sustainable community forest management certification, PEFC forest certification is now more accessible for Indonesia’s community forest management.
The system was developed by the Indonesian Forest Certification Cooperation (IFCC), our national member for Indonesia, in collaboration with local communities, and supported by the 2015 PEFC Collaboration Fund.
“It is fantastic to see that our Collaboration Fund has paved the way to forest certification for Indonesia’s small- and family forest owners,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International.
"As of 1 June 2019, Indonesia has a total of 3.09 million hectares of forests managed by 679,467 households included in the Social Forestry program,” said Dradjad Wibowo, Chairman of IFCC.
“To help promote and advance sustainable management of those forests, we developed a certification system for sustainable community forest management. The system also aims to help small and medium enterprises in the downstream industries adopt a sustainable chain of custody, as required by their markets.”
“To all the stakeholders involved in the development of the system, most notably the members of IFCC Standardization Committee, IFCC extends its highest gratitude. IFCC also gratefully appreciates the PEFC alliance for voting to endorse the system,” Mr. Wibowo continued.
The special importance of community forests
The sustainable management of community forests is of special importance in Indonesia. Forests managed by communities support the livelihoods of 3.4 million households.
Until now, the high costs and the complex procedures were major obstacles in the way to forest certification for those communities. The newly endorsed system makes PEFC certification affordable and more feasible for them.
The fruits of a successful collaboration
IFCC developed the system after thorough research into past and current certification procedures, which included the gathering of local knowledge within the forest communities.
After a phase of pilot testing, the system and certification procedures were further refined through the input and feedback from local communities and other expert partners.