pefc newsletter 17 general assembly november 2003

8/9/2019 PEFC Newsletter 17 General Assembly November 2003

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PEFC news is produced by the PEFC Council registered as an asbl in Luxembourg No. 1999-61-02192 1

Special 7th General Assembly Issue

Contents

Welcome reception in presence of Mr Boden,Luxembourg Minister of Agriculture.Viticulture and Rural Areas.

The Chairman’s Report - Extracts

Poland: newest member of PEFC Council

Australia submits scheme for assessmentprocess

PEFC name changed to mean “ Programme forthe Endorsement of Forest Certificationschemes ”

Election of a new Board of Directors

Keynote speech by Mr Pekka Patosaari, Headof UNFF Secretariat, on “ the role ofIntergovernmental processes for thepromotion of sustainable forest managementon certification.”http://www.pefc.org/internet/html/documentation/4 _1311_403.htm

Adoption of statement: PEFC support forUNFF

Not only have we changed our name to reflectthe global nature of PEFC’s work andrepresentation, we have also seen Poland joinand Australia be the second non Europeanscheme to be submitted for the assessmentprocess. In addition members have decided tohold the 8th General Assembly in Chile in Oct/Novnext year.

A new Board has been elected reflecting theincreasing geographical diversity of membersand from now on, one third of the Board placesare up for re-election each year. Seven newdirectors join the three that were re-elected aswell as the Chairman and two vice chairmen whohave been elected to serve for another term.Details on each of the directors are provided inthis newsletter.

We were very pleased to have Mr PekkaPatosaari, Head of the UNFF Secretariat join us

and give the key note speech. His presenceprovided the opportunity for PEFC members topass a motion supporting the strengthening of theUNFF as the principal body at a global level toachieve a balanced approach to sustainableforest management. Finally for those who haven’tvisited our web site recently, please note that ithas been revised and is continually beingimproved to meet user expectations.

No.17 November 2003

S ecial General Assembl Issue

Editorialby Ben GunnebergSecretary General

The 7th General Assemblyhas been an important one inthe ongoing development ofthe PEFC Council.

The next General Assembly willbe held in Chile in October-

November 2004.




Welcome Reception

On Thursday 30th of October, Mr Henri Plauche-Gillon, Chairman of PEFC Council welcomed alldelegates to a reception at the Sofitel-Hotel inLuxembourg. Special guests were Mr FernandBoden, Luxembourg Minister of Agriculture,Viticulture and Rural Areas and Mr PekkaPatosaari, Coordinator and Head of theSecretariat of the United Nations Forum onForests (UNFF).In his speech, Minister Boden underlinedLuxembourg’s pride in being the host country ofthe international headquarters of the PEFC

Council and that a national PEFC Luxembourg,also a member of the PEFC Council, wasdeveloping a scheme for the certification ofLuxembourg’s forests. This national scheme was

being developed in a an open multi stakeholderprocess and would be in compliance with theinternational commitments signed up to byLuxembourg including the Ministerial Conferenceon the Protection of Forest in Europe. Mr Bodenhoped that this scheme would soon be ready tobe submitted to undergo the PEFC Council’smutual recognition procedures.

Mr FernandBoden,LuxembourgMinister of

Agriculture,

Viticulture and

Rural areas.

No.17 November 2003

Mr Crochet,(PEFC

Luxembourg)Mr de

Schorlemer

(PEFCLuxembourg),

Mrs Crochet,Mr Tymrak

(PEFC Council)

Mr. PeterJohnson

(CSA-Canada)Ms AnkeSchulemeister(PEFCGermany),Mr Mark

Edwards(Australian

ForestryStandard Ltd)

Mr Boden, Luxembourg Minister of Agriculture and Mr Henri Plauche-Gillon,

Chairman of PEFC Council.

Mr Juan Botey-Serra (former PEFC CouncilDirector), Mr Azpitarte Josu (PEFC Spain) and

Ms Marta Salvador (PEFC Spain)

Mr Chew Lye Teng (MTCC-Malaysia)Mr Folke Stenstrom (PEFC- Sweden),

Mr Eduardo Morales (Chile)



No.17 November 2003

PEFC news is produced by the PEFC Council registered as an asbl in Luxembourg No. 1999-61-02192

The 7th General Assembly

31st

October 2003Chairman’s report - extracts

The Chairman reported that the last 11 months hadbeen a time of consolidation after the massiveincrease in membership and complete revision of thePEFC Documentation at the last General Assembly.However growth had continued at a steady pace withthe amount of certified hectares under endorsedschemes having risen 4.5 million to more than 48.5million hectares. Chain of Custodies certificatesissued had more than doubled in that time bringing

the current total to 880.

The Czech Chain of Custody was the first new one tobe successfully assessed against the new rulesendorsed at the last General Assembly and allschemes that had an existing endorsed chain ofCustody (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France,Sweden and the UK) were currently having thesereviewed by the Panel of Experts to ensure they meetthe new PEFC Council requirements.

On 22nd of October, the public consultation on theItalian scheme commenced and the Chilean scheme

assessment process will follow shortly. Later thatday, Australian Forestry Standard Ltd submitted theAustralian scheme to undergo the assessmentprocess.

PEFC has continued its dialogue with theInternational Accreditation Forum and the EuropeanCo-operation on Accreditation and has applied formembership of the former. PEFC has also applied formembership of UNFF. In addition PEFC hascontinued to actively participate in a wide range ofdiscussion forums including the dialogue with theInternational Forest Industries Roundtable and theWorld Business Council for Sustainable Development

concerning their Mutual Recognition activities. PEFChas also participated in the certification schemeexecutives’ meeting between major forest certificationschemes facilitated by the FAO and the ForestDialogue. Consultations continue to form a large partof PEFC’s work including the EuropeanCommission’s work on combating Illegal Logging; theEuropean DIY Retail Association on its procurementpolicies; FERN’s revised assessment of certificationschemes to name but a few.

PEFC Council welcomes

Poland as new memberDr Jaroslaw Oktaba, Chairman of PEFC Polska,presented the application by “PEFC Polska”, tobecome a member of the PEFC Council throughSITLiD, the Association of Foresters and WoodTechnologists. PEFC Polska, he noted, has beenestablished to create and implement anindependent national Polish forest certificationsystem that intends to become mutually recognizedwithin the PEFC Council.

PEFC-Polska will develop a Polish forest

certification system based on the relevantIntergovernmental processes promotingsustainable forest management, Polish law and onthe rules and requirements contained in the PEFCCouncil documentation such as the core ILOconventions etc.

The objectives of “PEFC Polska” are the following:support of sustainable forest management, use oftimber as ecologically recycled natural resource,promotion of wooden products, natural protectionand stable, balanced development of forestry viathe Polish certification system and supporting the

interest of its members.

The 35 organizations involved in the PEFC-Polskainitiative include forest owners’ organizations andtheir organizational units; non-governmentalecological organizations; wood working industries;scientific and educational institutions; trade unionsand several other organisations including the press.

The application was unanimoulsy approved.

Dr.Jaroslaw Oktaba, Chairman of PEFC-Polska

presenting their application.



Australia submits schemefor assessment

The Australian Forestry Standard Ltd, AFS Ltd,used the occasion of the General Assembly tosubmit the Australian Forest certification schemeto the PEFC Council to start the assessmentprocess. A tender process is currently underwayand the successful independent consultant when

selected will then undertake the assessmentprocess that includes an invitation for commentsfrom the public as part of a public consultation.The candidate scheme will be posted on thePEFC website www.pefc.org for all to view ordownload, when the consultant commences hiswork.

Alteration to the PEFC Name

The PEFC Council (formerly known as the PanEuropean Forest Certification Council) hasextensively extended its geographical coverageduring its development over the last four years.European and non-European forest certificationschemes are currently included in its membership.The PEFC Council now provides the opportunity forthe mutual recognition of national or sub-nationalforest certification schemes from all over the world.

In recognition of the international nature of PEFC,the General Assembly decided to keep the initials

“PEFC” and to approve a new meaning to theletters. PEFC is now known as the “Programmefor the Endorsement of Forest Certificationschemes”.

No.17 November 2003


From the left: Dr Hans Drieslma (Australian

Forestry Standard Ltd – AFS Ltd) Mr Mark Edwards (AFS Ltd), Mr Ben Gunneberg (PEFCSecretary General) and Mr Henri-Plauche-

Gillon (Chairman of PEFC-Council)

Sven Lundell (PEFC Sweden) Natalie Hugnagl (CEPF) and

T anja Olsen (PEFC Denmark)

Elisabeth

Gill

(PEFCNorway)

Eduardo Morales

(Fundacion Chile)

Antonio Brunori and Pier Luigi

Ferrari (PEFC Italy)

From the left : Pekka Patosaari (UNFF),Michael Clark (PEFC Council new Director),

LenYull (PEFC UK) Mark Edwards (AFS Ltd)

Jari Parviainen (Finnish Forest

Certification Council)




several task forces and working groups, including theChain of Custody working group and the PromotionsProject Management Team (PPMT). Hannu Valtanen

is well known in forest industry circles around the world.

ChristianBRAWENZ

2nd Vice Chairman

Christian Brawenz has been the 2nd Vice Chairman ofPEFC Council since 2001 and also holds the position of

the General Secretary of the Austrian Association ofPrivate Farm and Forest Owners. He has been activelyinvolved with the PEFC initiative from its earlieststages. He brings a combination of his knowledge oflegal issues and his experience in forestry.

Phil DAVIESMember

Phil Davies joined the ASWCM union in 1962, whichlater became the Furniture, Timber and Allied Trade

Union (FTAT). Phil Davies served an apprenticeship asa wood machinist and worked in the joinery industry;furniture industry; caravan industry; boat building; shopfitting industry and building industry. He served asShop Steward and Senior Convenor in all theseindustries and was Group Convenor at SchreiberFurniture for 6 years.

In 1976 he was elected to the General ExecutiveCouncil of the FTAT, becoming President of the Unionin 1982 and elected as National Secretary in 1989. After the merger of FTAT with the GMB (Britain’sGeneral Union, representing some 700,000 members)in January 1994, he became the National Secretary of

the CFTA (Construction, Furniture, Timber and Allied)Section. Since 1994 he has also been involved inrepresenting the disabled members throughout theGMB. He is currently responsible for pay andconditions negotiations within the following industries:Remploy, furniture, funeral, saw milling, glass, organbuilding, floor laying, brush, artificial limbs, constructionand Terminal 5.

Phil Davies has seats on the following bodies: FFINTO,FTBA, Ethical Threads, CONIAC and Furniture Forum.

Election of new Board ofDirectorsSeven new Board members, three existing Directorsand the Chairman and two vice chairmen wereelected at the General Assembly to form the newPEFC Council Board of Directors. The composition ofthe Board aims to reflect the major interested partieswho support PEFC, the geographical distribution ofmembers, their size category and an appropriategender balance. Directors are elected for three yearswith one third of Board places being eligible forelection each year from now on. The backgroundinformation below was provided by the Directors.

HenriPLAUCHE GILLON

Chairman

Henri Plauche-Gillon has been Chairman of thePEFC Council since its official launch in 1999. He ispresident of his local, regional and national forestowner organisations in France. In addition he ispresident of Union Forestière de l’Est, an umbrella forprofessional and private forest managementorganisations in Alsace Lorraine. At an internationallevel Henri is also a vice president of CEPF. Alandowner, Forest Engineer and graduate in Law andEconomy, Henri Plauche Gillon has been fullyinvolved in forestry matters for all his working life. Inrecognition of his services to forestry nationally andinternationally, he has been decorated by bothFrance and Finland.

HannuVALTANEN

1st Vice Chairman

Hannu Valtanen has been the PEFC Council’s firstVice Chairman since June 1999. He has beenactively involved in promoting the PEFC scheme,speaking on numerous occasions in Russia,Australia, South America, across Europe and NorthAmerica. He has frequently given interviews andcomments on the PEFC Scheme and is Chairman of

No.17 November 2003




MichaelCLARK

Member

Michael Clark has been actively involved with forestcertification issues since 1994, representing theinterests of M-Real’s wallpaper base mills innegotiations with the WWF 1995+ group and with themain international ENGOs. He has attendednumerous conferences on forest certification both inthe UK and abroad and has been actively involved inthe debate with paper buyers and ENGOs.

Michael Clark has worked as a senior executive inthe UK with the Finnish paper and board industrysince 1984 and as a past president of the UK PaperAgents Association and a council member of the UKConfederation of Paper Industries, has been involvedrepresenting the interests of the paper sector onforestry issues with the UK Government and otherindustry bodies.

PaulWOODING

Member

Paul Wooding received a Batchelor of Science inForestry (BSF) from the University of BritishColumbia in 1975 and has been a RegisteredProfessional Forester (RPF) with the Association ofBritish Colombia Professional Foresters since 1977.

He held various forestry positions with BritishColumbia Forest Products Limited between 1975 and

1984. In June 1984 he joined Canadian ForestProducts Ltd. (Canfor) as an Administrative Forester,served as Divisional Forester at the company’sEngelwood Logging Division from 1991 to 1992 andis currently Manager, Forestry Certification andMarket Access with Canfor’s Corporate Forestry andEnvironment Department in Vancouver.His current duties include co-ordinating Canfor’sefforts in sustainable forest management certificationand acting as a liaison with the company’s customerson matters of forest management and certification.

Paul Wooding has been an active member of theCanadian Standards Association (CSA) TechnicalCommittee on Sustainable Forest Managementsince 1994, responsible for drafting Canada’sNational Standard for SFM and also serves as theChair of the Canadian Sustainable ForestryCertification Coalition Working Committee. Hechairs the Canadian Advisory Committee to thePEFC Council.

UlfÖSTERBLOM

Member

Ulf Österblom is the Deputy Managing Director,Head of Forestry Division of the LRF – Federationof Swedish Farmers. He has a Master of Sciencein Forestry and is a member of the Royal SwedishAcademy of Forestry and Agriculture.

Ulf Österblom has been engaged in forestcertification since 1992 and participated in the

strategic work to develop the PEFC as a conceptfor certification based on the MinisterialConference on the Protection of Forests in Europe(MCPFE). He was a key player form Sweden inthe development and founding of the PEFCCouncil and Scheme.

In recent years he has undertaken specific tasksfor the PEFC Council, as chairman of the MutualRecognition Working Group in developing andelaborating strategies for mutual recognition. Ulfhas broad international experience and contactsin forest policy work related to the United Nations,EU, MCPFE, Nordic Ministerial Council and other

international fora. He is also active in Nordic andEuropean Forestry Organisations.

As Vice President of LRF, Ulf Österblom plays akey role in the policy and strategy development forSwedish Forestry. In this context, he hascontributed to create good conditions for buildingthe national PEFC system of Sweden.

No.17 November 2003




Dr. Hans

KÖPP

Member

Hans Köpp was born in 1937 at Eberswalde. He hasdegrees in Forestry from the universities at Göttingenand Oxford, England, with practical work experiencein Germany, UK and North America. He served assenior district officer in the lower Saxony state forestservice and turned to an academic career with a PhDin Forestry.

He worked for the Council of Europe in Strasbourgduring the first European Conversation Year (1970)and for the first European Environmental Year(1987/88). He served with the new NorthernGermany Academy for Nature Conservation andbecame its first Director (1982/88). As Professor forNature Conservation, Forest Policy and ForestHistory, he served at the University for AppliedSciences at Göttingen for 20 years.

His international experience is well established: withmissions from FAO in Iran and UNESCO in Greece.He was the editor of the international journal Nature

and National Parcs

(now EUROPARC) and amember of the Federation for Nature and NationalParks in Europe. He is active with the Boards ofvarious environmental organisations in Germany(BHU, AGU, SDW and VDG*).

He is a member of the German Forestry Council(DFWR), and Vice Chairman of PEFC Germany andrepresents the European Environmental Bureau(EEB/Brussels) in the Advisory Committee fofForestry and Cork with the European Commission.He has been active for many years in IUFRO andIUCN (as Chairman of the former NW EuropeCommittee of the IUCN’s Commission on Education).

He has served as a PEFC Council Board membersince 2001.

* BHU = Bund für Heimat und Umwelt* AGU = Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Umwelt* SDW = Schutzgemeinschaft Deutscher Wald * VDG = Vereinigung Deutscher Gewässerschutz

MarianFREIHERR VON

GRAVENREUTH

Member

Marian Freiherr von Gravenreuth was born in 1949 inAugsburg. He is Chairman of the Bavarian ForestOwners Association and a member of the Executiveof the German Group of Forest Owners Associations(AGDW). On a European level he is vice-president ofthe Confederation of European Forest Owners(CEPF) and he is a member of the PermanentForestry Council of the European Commission.

Since the foundation of PEFC Germany, MarianFreiherr von Gravenreuth has been Chairman of thisNational Governing Body. Since 2001, he has been amember of the PEFC Council Board of Directors.

JosefBARTON-DOBENIN

Member

Josef Barton was elected to the chairmanship ofPEFC Czech Republic in the fall of 2001. Hisexperience is primarily in the legislative, political anddiplomatic side of forestry in that having grown up inCanada, his experience with private property rightsand private property legislation belies his residencyand citizenship in Central Europe. His forestrybackground is only 11 years old, having hadrestituted to him his family’s properties in the CzechRepublic in 1991 and 1992.

As a forest property owner, Mr Barton has been amember and vice chairman of the Association ofMunicipal and Private Forest Owners in the CzechRepublic since March 2000. Since April 2001 he hasrepresented the association at the generalassemblies of the Brussels based Confederation ofEuropean Forest Owners (CEPF) and has attendedthe Vienna MCPFE as a member of the CEPFdelegation for Central Europe. Mr Barton is also amajority owner and chairman of the board of a mid-sized textile company in the Czech Republic. Fluentin both Czech and English, he is 61 years of age.

No.17 November 2003



SébastienGENEST

Member

Sébastien Genest is the Administrator, and also theDirector with Forest responsibilities of France Nature

Environnement , the French national federation of some

3000 local and regional Environmental NGOs. A

member of the “ Conseil Supérieur de la Forêt, desProduits Forestiers et de la Transformation du Bois

(High Council for Forestry, Forest Products and Wood

processing) and its Committee on Forest policy,Sébastien Genest is also on the Board of the «Office

National des Forêts ” (National Office of Forests) and isthe Vice Chairman of PEFC France.

From an early age, Sébastien Genest has been involved

in numerous environmental organisations dealing with

the study and protection of nature. His main interests arein the protection of the forest heritage and to promote in

France and abroad a forest management that respects theenvironment and biological diversity. He has written

several papers on the need to integrate biodiversity in

forest practices and policies and to translate intentions

and theories for sustainable forest management intoconcrete applications. Sébastien Genest has served on

the PEFC Council Board of Directors since 2001.

LuisCOSTA LEAL

Member

Luis Costa Leal is currently Director General of CELPA(the Portuguese Pulp and paper Association). He

graduated with a degree in forestry in 1981 and workeduntil 1996 in CELBI, a Portuguese pulp company, with

responsibilities for growth modelling in silviculturalexperiments on plantation forests; forest mapping and

inventory and strategic forest planning.

He was also in charge of the research centre; an advisorto the managing director on environmental issues;

project leader for the construction of a forest nursery

(producing 5 million seedlings per annum) and for thedevelopment and implementation of computerised

operational planning and follow-up systems for all forestoperations. From 1996 to 2000, as the forest advisor to

the Portuguese Minister for Agriculture, Luis Costa Leal

was responsible for the preparations of the thirdMinisterial Conference on the Protection of Forests in

Europe (the Lis bon Conference). He gained considerable

international experience whilst heading the LiaisonOffice of the Pan European Process where he negotiated

the issues for adoption at the Lisbon Conference. The

Lisbon Conference Reports, the Pan EuropeanOperational Level Guidelines for sustainable forest

management and the work programme for theconservation and enhancement of forest biological

diversity were all prepared during this period. From

1999 to 2000, he was the forest advisor to the Secretary

of State for Agriculture and in 2000 he became DirectorGeneral of CELPA.

RobertSIMPSON

Member

Robert S Simpson is Vice President of the American

Forest Foundation (AFF) and National Director of the

American Tree Farm System, the oldest and largest third

party forest certification system in the United States. Hewas elected to that position in April 1994, after a 16-year

career as a field management forester

His responsibilities at AFF include overseeing andadministering the Tree Farm System’s certificationprogram as well as the conservation education and

outreach component for family forest owners.

In 1984, Bob Simpson was employed with Chesapeake

Corp, Virginia, as procurement forester and then landmanagement forester going on to design and co-ordinate

Chesapeake’s landowner assistance program and

external communications program.

The Governor of Delaware appointed him to representDelaware’s forestry community on the Governor’s

Freshwater Wetlands Roundtable. In addition, he chaired

Delaware’s Best Management Practices Roundtable asthey developed the State’s BMPs and served as

President of the Delaware Forestry Association.

Having graduated in 1979 with a BSc in Forest ResourceManagement from Virginia College of Forestry and

Wildlife, Bob Simpson went on to work for ChampionInternational, Timberlands Division, in Missoula,

Montana until 1983.

The AFF is an independent 501c foundation dedicated toimproving the active stewardship of America’s natural

resources through education and landowner outreach.

No.17 November 2003





No.17 November 2003

Challenges to international forest

certification processes.Mr Patosaari noted that markets for certified woodare still in a developing phase. He was of the viewthat, the region where forest certification would bemost urgently needed now, is Sub-Saharan Africa.

He stated that sometimes forest certification hadbeen mentioned as a means of saving the worldsforests. This type of discussion moves the debateto an area where public perception is moreimportant than the facts. The support or lack ofsupport from some NGOs seems to determinepublic perception and this can also have some

relevance from a marketing point of view. He wasof the view that the present confusion in the marketwould not prevail much longer. On the one handthere was a need for quality consensus buildingbetween schemes, but, he said, PEFC was alreadystrong enough to stand alone and deliver,regardless of the final outcomes of mutualrecognition discussions between schemes.

He maintained that PEFC is a good model, as aframework, for mutual recognition of national orregional forest certification schemes and that it wasa credible forest certification umbrella organization

covering national schemes from all over the world,delivering hundreds of millions of tonnes of timberto the processing industries from tens of millions ofhectares of certified forests.

Mr Patosaari noted that instruments supportingSFM had been a core of international forestdialogue recently, and as a market based,voluntary instrument forest certification has thepotential to significantly contribute to SFM.However there were challenges outside andaffecting the forestry sector such as impacts ofinternational trade on agricultural policies. Furtherliberalization is likely to have significant impact on

forest areas in developing countries encouragingincreased conversion to agricultural land. Heencouraged all to work hard to secure WTOdecisions on ecolabelling which would support theobjectives of voluntary forest certification. WTOdefinitions of environmental goods should alsocover sustainably harvested forest products,thereby improving market access for such productsand providing an incentive for their production.

Summary of Presentation

By Mr Pekka Patosaari, UNFFCoordinator and Head ofSecretariat

During the General Assembly, Mr. Patosaari gave akeynote speech, the whole text of which can bedownloaded from the PEFC websitehttp://www.pefc.org/internet/html/documentation/4_ 1311_403.htm

Mr Patosaari started by congratulating PEFC forthe substantial progress achieved in promoting themanagement, conservation and sustainabledevelopment of forests. He stated that the PEFCprocess shows that regional cooperation can fostersustainable forest management (SFM) andtranslate policies into concrete actions on theground.

The International Context

Mr. Patsssori then revi ewed the broaderinternational context of promoting SFM. In October2000, ECOSOC had established the UnitedNations Forum on Forests to promote “… the management, conservation and sustainable

development of all types of forests and to strengthen long-term political commitment to

this end …” based on the Rio Declaration, theForest Principles, Chapter 11 of Agenda 21 and theoutcome of the IPF/IFF processes and other keymilestones of international forest policy.

In order to promote sustainable forest managementin other regions of the world, Mr Patosaari was ofthe view that the focus should be on the applicationof low-impact forestry practices, clarification of landtenure arrangements and access to naturalresources, as well as, more the equitable sharing ofbenefits arising from forests, the reduction and

eventual elimination of illegal logging and trade inillegally harvested forest products, and theconservation of biodiversity in forests.Furthermore, efforts should more effectively linksustainable forest management to mitigatingclimate change, and link forests as an essentialelement to the overall economic and cross-sectoraldecision-making processes.

International cooperation on forests faces newchallenges in particular how to focus interventionseffectively and efficiently on poverty reduction andsustainable livelihood goals.



No.17 November 2003


UNFF RoleSince October 2000 the United Nations Forum onForests (UNFF), with universal membership of allUnited Nations member countries, has been thehigh-level intergovernmental body, meetingannually to address a number of issues of priorityconcern for the international forest communityand to review progress in implementation of theIPF/IFF proposals for action. The UNFF wasestablished as a policy mechanism to promotethe management, conservation and sustainabledevelopment of all types of forests in a holisticmanner, and UNFF serves as the keyintergovernmental body for comprehensive,international forest policy formulation andimplementation.

The continuous support of the member states,

private forest owners, forest industry and othermajor groups, as well as the outcome on forestsin the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation area testimony to the status of the Secretariat ofUNFF, as the inter-regional facilitator andcoordinator of the global implementation of theprinciple of sustainable forest management.UNFF also wishes to view its mandate within thecontext of the broader discussions within the UNsystem, such as the policy decisions and targetsmanifested in the Plan of Implementation of theJohannesburg Summit and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. There are more than 40

international organizations and many moreagreements related to forests. No singleinstitution or instrument has a mandate orcapacity to address all aspects of forest policy atall geographic scales.

In this respect the PEFC General Assemblydecided to adopt a position statement on thefurther strengthening of the role of the UNFF as

follows :

Position Statement on UNFFadopted by the PEFC Council7th General Assembly.

Verbatim

The PEFC Council General Assembly held inLuxembourg on 31 October 2003 adopted thefollowing position statement:

The PEFC supports the work of United Nations

Forum on Forests (UNFF) and the strengtheningand future development of UNFF as the principalbody at the global level to achieve a balancedapproach to Sustainable Forest Management(SFM).

The PEFC supports the further strengthening of thelink between UNFF and PEFC in order to achievethe common goal of promoting SFM.

Editor Notes:

The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest

Certification schemes (PEFC) is the framework forthe mutual recognition of national or sub-nationalforest certification schemes.

Forest certification is an important tool in theimplementation of SFM in the field and in particularit uses as a basis the criteria and indicator setsdeveloped by various global and regionalprocesses such as the MCPFE, Montreal,Tarapoto, Lepaterique, ITTO, Dry Zone Africa,Near East processes, etc.

UNFF is a policy mechanism to promote SFM in a

holistic manner and as of now, UNFF is the keyinter-governmental body for comprehensive,international forest policy formulation andimplementation.

MrPatosaari

Duringhis key-

note speech

at the

GeneralAssembly

PEFC Council17, rue des Girondins L-1626 Luxembourg

Tel : +352 26 25 90 59 Fax: +352 26 25 92 58e-mail: [email protected]

www.pefc.org

pefc newsletter 17 general assembly november 2003

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