THE VITAL ROLE OF PLANTATION forests

SAFAS believes that plantation forests make an essential contribution to the growing demand for forest products while reducing the pressure on natural forests.  Wood has remarkable physical and structural properties and is a renewable resource that is vital to humanity.   Currently there is no environmentally acceptable large-scale alternative to wood.  Natural forests, which are critically important environmental assets, cannot possibly supply all the world’s wood needs.  As it is, slow growing natural forests are degrading and disappearing. 

Plantation forests make up only 3.5% of the global forest area and provide a third of the worlds industrial roundwood. It is predicted that this will more than double over the next 30 years.    In addition sustainably managed plantations contribute a number of other valuable ecosystem services.   We believe that sustainability is a journey that starts with understanding the values that underpin sustainability in a particular forest.  The next step is to understand the effect that your forest management activities have on those values.  

SAFAS and the PEFC understand the growing need for a vibrant, profitable plantation industry that is socially relevant and environmentally responsible- the essence of sustainability.

Forest certification can be a highly effective way of communicating to the world that your forests are sustainably managed. 

Certification under SAFAS means being certified by the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the worlds largest certification system.   Certification under SAFAS requires compliance with the SAFAS Forest Management Standard.

GROUP CERTIFICATION

Group Certification is a mechanism through which groups of small forest landholders can organize themselves, pool their resources, and work together to achieve certification. This makes certification accessible for small-forest owners.

SAFAS 5 Group Certification procedures is the standard that governs how group certification schemes are governed and monitored.