Finnish Forest Certification System
FFCS (Finnish Forest Certification System) is a Finnish forest certification system. It comprises 37 criteria and is included in the Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) of Europe's leading forestry nations. The FFCS is tailored to the small-scale private forest holdings widespread in Finland and can be linked to international standards (such as the PEFC). It should impartially ensure that forests and nature are cared for and used in a sustainable manner.
history
The development began in 1995 and is based on pan-European indicators for sustainability developed between 1993 and 1998 . It was completed in 1999 and since then 95% (22 million hectares) have been certified according to this system and 350,000 private forest owners have committed to complying with the FFCS standard.
imaginations
The system is based on the voluntary commitment of the participants and there are no statutory rules. The criteria are agreed in democratic cooperation and should be based on internationally agreed principles for sustainable forest management as well as on international certification processes.
FFCS is based on regional group certification. This approach was chosen because the private Finnish forest operations are not very large - in particular, ecological standards can practically only be met on larger areas. Thus, several small businesses were merged into territorial units.
There are now 37 criteria for sustainable forest management . The requirements and regulations are summarized in eight standards. These include all sub-factors required by the forest certification, such as the requirements: for the maintenance and use of the forests, for proof of the origin of the wood and for the competence and quality of the external audit. That is why it contains two certificates : a forest certificate and a certificate on the wood's chain of origin. With the system, a forest management standard based on the structure and geographical location of Finnish forests was developed.