Sustainable Forest Management and Certification
British Columbia (B.C.), Canada is recognized as a global leader in sustainable forest management, meeting the environmental, social and economic needs of current and future generations. Stringent forest laws, skilled forestry professionals, comprehensive monitoring, compliance, and enforcement strengthen the province’s leading reputation.
The province’s rigorous forest management laws and regulations fully characterize what sustainable forest management (SFM) means in B.C. and what actions may take place on public forest land.
Wood is the only material with third-party certification programs in place to verify wood products originating from a sustainably managed source.
B.C. is a trusted source for wood products obtained from sustainably managed forests that are certified to one of the two independent, non-profit global programs, which endorse forest certification programs developed nationally and regionally in countries around the world: Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
In Canada, there are three third-party certification systems for sustainable forest management: Canadian Standards Association’s Sustainable Forest Management Standard (CSA), FSC, and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The CSA and SFI standards are recognized by PEFC.
Key facts
- Only 10% of the world’s forests are certified and Canada has 37% of the world’s forest certification. Canada has 170 million hectares certified to at least one of the two internationally recognized forest certification programs: PEFC and FSC.
- Canada has 31% of all PEFC-endorsed certifications world-wide (CSA and SFI), and 22% of the FSC certifications worldwide. It stands as the international leader in forest certification, with British Columbia, Canada contributing more than any other province.
- B.C. has 50 million hectares certified to at least one of these two internationally recognized certification programs: 49.4 million hectares (97%) to PEFC and 1.4 million hectares (3%) to FSC.
