Sustainable Forestry Initiative Releases New Standard

Guest post by Tamessia Green

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) has updated its certification standard with a new version. SFI is one of the world’s leading third-party forest certification programs.

There was an 18-month public review process which included updated information. The new SFI 2010-2014 standard consists of changes that deal with conservation of biodiversity in North America, climate change, illegal logging, logging training, etc. The SFI requires participants of the program to support and connect with non-certified forest owners that supply wood fiber, and also perform risk assessments on those suppliers to avoid illegal harvesting operations.

According to the SFI press release, the new standards are expected to:

• Improve conservation of biodiversity in North America and offshore, and address emerging issues such as climate change and bioenergy.
• Strengthen unique SFI fiber sourcing requirements, which broaden the practice of sustainable forestry in North America and avoid unwanted offshore sources.
• Complement SFI activities aimed at avoiding controversial or illegal offshore fiber sources, and embrace Lacey Act amendments to prevent illegal logging.
• Expand requirements for logger training and support for trained loggers and certified logger programs. Since 1995, more than 117,000 loggers have received training through SFI-supported programs.

 

SFI 2005-2009, the previous standard, had 9 core principals, 13 objectives, 34 performance measures, and 102 indicators. The new SFI 2010-2014 in comparison with the old standard has 5 more core principals, 7 more objectives, 5 more performance measures and 12 indicators. The new set of principals took place January 1, 2010 and each participant will have one year to meet the requirements.