PEFC welcomes Vietnam as the 50th member of the family
Vietnam was voted in by the PEFC General Assembly through a postal ballot, and is already developing the national forest certification system.
PEFC welcomes Vietnam as the 50th member of the family
17 June 2019 PEFC system news
Just in time for our 20th anniversary, the PEFC Alliance welcomes Vietnam as its 50th national member.
“Besides celebrating 20 years of caring for our forests, we have another reason to rejoice. The 50th national member marks an important milestone for PEFC,” said Ben Gunneberg, CEO of PEFC International.
“We started with eleven European national members, and now we have more than 50 spread across the entire globe. We are very happy and grateful to everyone who made this success possible.”
Together with Myanmar, Vietnam was voted in by the PEFC General Assembly through a postal ballot. The Vietnam Forest Certification Office (VNFOREST) is actively working on the development of their national forest certification system.
“Being part of the PEFC family will help us to promote forest certification in Vietnam, and to meet the requirements of domestic and international markets,” said Dr. Bui Chinh Nghia, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Forest Certification Office.
“We are looking forward to enhancing biodiversity and sustainable forest management in Vietnam.”
Big plans for the future
Becoming a PEFC member is only one step on the way to sustainable forest management in Vietnam.
A special objective for the next years is the implementation of group certification for smallholders using a ‘landscape’ approach, with a target of 3,000 hectares as a minimum.
Through its new Forestry Development Strategy, Vietnam seeks to establish, manage, protect and sustainably use 16.2 million hectares of forestland by 2020, and to certify at least 3 million hectares by 2030.
The journey so far
In 2016, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) approved the establishment of a Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme (VFCS) Program.
In 2018, the Vietnamese government committed to the establishment of a national forest certification system, in line with PEFC requirements.
MARD launched the Vietnam Forest Certification Office this March. The office coordinates forest certification activities in Vietnam and manages the national forest certification system.