Where next for PEFC? Potential members have their say
12 December 2017 News
As has become the tradition during our General Assembly, representatives from countries that have or are not yet PEFC members were invited to speak. This year Croatia, Kenya, Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam all seized the opportunity to share their views.
System development work underway
"We are in the process of developing and formulating forest certification in the Philippines," said Dr. Priscila Dolom, University of the Philippines.
"We started in 2014 and have since formed our interim national governing body. A technical working group has crafted a forest certification standard and we’re working on a chain of custody standard based on PEFC requirements. We commit ourselves to become PEFC members soon," Dr. Dolom concluded.
“We decided to develop a national forest certification system for Vietnam in 2016. Since then we have conducted research and begun work on our forest management and chain of custody standards,” said Tran Lam Dong, Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences.
"An important step for us now is to get approval from our Government for the proposal of the system development, after that we can apply to become a PEFC member. We hope to become a PEFC member next year!"
Enlightening and inspiring
"In Kenya, we do not yet have any national standard for forest certification – we are beginning from scratch," said Geoffrey Wanyama, Farm Forestry Smallholder Producers Association of Kenya.
"Attending PEFC Week gives me the opportunity to learn what other countries are doing. To me this is an enlightening experience. I hope going forward from next year, that we will also be able to start working on the establishment of national standards."
Thank you!
"I am delighted to announce that MFCC has been awarded a 300,000 Euro Grant from The Prince Albert II Monaco Foundation," said Barber Cho, Myanmar Forest Certification Committee (MFCC).
"I would like to thank PEFC for their support, especially Sarah Price and Richard Laity, without whom we would not have achieved this essential financial support. Thanks to the grant, we will be able to reinstate our forest management system to the level of international recognition."
"Thanks to you from Croatia. I am very pleased to have this opportunity to participate in PEFC Week," said Miljenko Zupanic, Croatian Forest Research Institute.
"Croatia has 250 years of forest management experience, but we do not have national standards for sustainable forest management or forest certification. We have just started the standard setting process, and in particular, I would like to thank Remi Sournia from PEFC International for his cooperation and efforts in Southeast Europe.”
"I hope that by this time next year, we will be a member of the PEFC family!"
Get involved
Even with nearly 50 national members, advising and supporting the development of new national certification systems is an important aspect of our work.
If you would like to contribute to these important efforts for expanding sustainable forest management globally or to benefit from our support service, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Contact us at development@pefc.org.