How Forest Certification works

Last Updated06/03/2023

Large-scale destruction of forests has always been a concern for the environment, but with climate change, deforestation has become a critically sensitive issue globally in recent years.
Forests absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide that is emitted in various economic activities, keeping a check on global warming.

Stopping deforestation does not mean forests cannot be harvested in a sustainable manner for the products.
In fact, periodic harvesting of trees is necessary and healthy for forests. Trees have a life span, beyond which they die and decay.
Also, after a certain age, the capacity of trees to absorb carbon dioxide gets saturated.
Younger and fresher trees are more efficient at capturing carbon dioxide.
The problem arises only when trees are felled indiscriminately, and the cutting of forests outpaces their natural regeneration.

There are two major international standards (there are a few other less widely accepted ones as well) for sustainable management of forests and forest-based products.
One has been developed by Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC;
The other by Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certifications, or PEFC.
Two main types of certifications are on offer: forest management (FM) and Chain of Custody (CoC).
CoC certification is meant to guarantee the traceability of a forest product like timber throughout the supply chain from origin to market.

The forest certification industry has been operating in India for the last 15 years.
Currently, forests in only one state Uttar Pradesh are certified.
Forty-one divisions of the UP Forest Corporation (UPFC) are PEFC-certified, meaning they are being managed according to standards endorsed by PEFC.
These standards have been developed by the New Delhi-based nonprofit Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF).

India allows the export of only processed wood, not timber.
In fact, the timber harvested from Indian forests is not enough to meet the domestic demand for housing, furniture, and other products.
The demand for wood in India is 150-170 million cubic metres annually, including 90-100 million cubic metres of raw wood. The rest goes mainly towards meeting the demand for paper and pulp.
FSC came up with India-specific standards that included certification for ToF. Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav launched the FSC’s India standards in June 2022.

Forest certification will help in forest conservation along with sustainable use of forest which will a significant step towards environment sustainability and countering the climate change