Forest Stewardship Council

How Forest Stewardship Council works

The Forest Stewardship Council A. C. (FSC) is an international non-profit, multistakeholder organization established in 1993 that promotes responsible management of the world's forests via timber certification.

FSC certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. The FSC Principles and Criteria provide a foundation for all forest management standards globally, including the FSC US National Standard

There are two types of FSC certification: Forest Management and Chain of Custody. In both types of certification, independent FSC-accredited Certification Bodies ("certifiers") verify that all FSC-certified forests conform to the requirements contained within an FSC forest management standard.

Certifiers assess forest management and chain of custody operations using the FSC standards. Certifiers are independent of FSC and the companies they are auditing. This third-party verification is crucial to the integrity of the FSC system.

The FSC's stated mission is to "promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests". To this end the body has published a global strategy with five goals:

• 1. Advancing globally responsible forest management.
• 2. Ensure equitable access to the benefits of FSC systems.
• 3. Ensure integrity, credibility and transparency of the FSC system.
• 4. Create business value for products from FSC certified forests.
• 5. Strengthen the global network to deliver on goals 1 through 4.

These goals are promoted, managed and developed through six program areas: forests, chain of custody, social policy, monitoring and evaluation, quality assurance and ecosystem services.

It claims that forests managed to its standards offer benefits to both local and wider communities and these are said to include cleaner air and water, and a contribution to mitigating the effects of climate change.

Directly or indirectly, FSC addresses issues such as illegal logging, deforestation and global warming and some reports indicate positive effects on economic development, environmental conservation, poverty alleviation and social and political empowerment

Using the FSC logo signifies that the product comes from responsible sources —environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable. The FSC label is used on a wide range of timber and non-timber products, from paper and furniture to medicine and jewelry, and aims to give consumers the option of supporting responsible forestry