The beginning of the mandated process to review, and if required, revise the PEFC endorsed SAFAS forest management certification standard was announced today by the SAFAS Council.
The current SAFAS forest management standard was finalised for PEFC endorsement on the 6st October 2017 and in accordance with the SAFAS procedures and PEFC requirements, it is reviewed on a 5-yearly cycle.
The SAFAS Council, chaired by Craig Norris, acts as the Standardising Body for the review of the standard and will oversee the appointment of a working group to carry out the review and revision. The working group is a multi-stakeholder body consisting of organisations that have an interest in sustainable forest management through certification under SAFAS.
The process starts with a review of the standard. Aspects such as, potential new PEFC requirements, conditions which may have changed in the South African context and input from stakeholders are all considered during the review.
Part of the review process will explore the potential of developing a Regional Forest Management standard to cover participating countries in the SADC region. The review process is aimed to be completed before October 2023 and the revision will be completed and submitted to PEFC for further endorsement before the 6th of October 2024.
The review process starts with a call to standard-users and stakeholders from South African forestry to submit recommendations to the working group. Recommendations will be accepted up until the start of the revision period which starts in October 2023.
The composition of the working group will be announced shortly. There will be two formal consultation periods announced during the revision period.
- The current edition of the forest management certification standard SAFAS 4 is available to view or download: https://safas.org.za/safas-standards-and-policies/
- Standard-users and stakeholders should submit their input to admin@safas.org.za
