• Blame it on Rio...one of the treatiot signed at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1993 was the forest protection treaty. So we can "blame" Rio for inspiring a group of Canadians to take matters into their own hands, forming the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Toronto later that year to address the issue of protecting forests in Canada and around the world from unsustainable and illegal logging practices. Representatives from environmental groups, the timber industry, the forestry profession, Aboriginal organizations, and community forestry groups from 26 countries joined the Forest Stewardship Council. Since its inception, FSC's membership has grown to comprise more than 640 members from 70 countries. The organization operates through its network of National Initiatives in 50 countries. Now there are over 100 million hectares in some 80 countries (29 million hectares in Canada; 40 million by the end of 2010) certified according to FSC standards, and thousands of products are produced using FSC certified fibre and carrying the FSC trademark.
• The American Forest & Paper Associat-n (AF&PA) created the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) in 1994 as a code-of-conduct for AF&PA members, namely the U.S. forest industry. A third-party verification and certification option was added in 1998, a product label in 2001, and in 2007 the SFI became a separately incorporated forest certification organization. To date, it has certified just under 40 million hectares of forests in Canada; 135 million across North America.
• In Canada, in response to a request -rom forest industry organizations, the independent Canadian Standards Association (CSA) developed a national forest certification standard for Canada in 1996. The program, which has joined the European umbrella organization PEFC (see below), has certified about 85 million hectares of forest in Canada. Although CSA (a broad, business-related standard-setting organization founded in 1919) created a forest-related certification logo in 2002, the logo has yet to emerge in the marketplace.
The non-profit American Tree Farm System (ATFS) was founded in 1941 to promote and recognize certain management practices on small, privately-owned forests in the U.S. and is now part of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), chartered in 1981. The ATFS certification standards were developed by the AFF and went into effect in 2004, however ATFS has no product label.
• The Programme for the Endorsement of-Forest Certification (PEFC) is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization established in 1999 by an association of European forest owners as a system for the assessment and mutual recognition of national forest certification schemes (e. g., SFI, CSA, and ATFS). It licensed its logo for use on forest products in 2000. PEFC certification is now also available in Canada, and with members from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania, it has certified more than 77 million hectares of forestlands worldwide.
Main source: Choosing a Forest Certification System: Why Is One So Much Better Than the Others? Sierra Club, April 2009. For more information see www.credibleforestcertification.org