Metsäliitto is Testing the new Finnish FSC Standard

Metsäliitto Group has started the testing of Finland's new FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification standard in part of its own forests. The Group's forests have already been certified according to the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) standard. In future, the FSC standard will be applied in these forests as well.

The project covers the forests owned by Metsä-Botnia and Metsäliitto Cooperative, both part of the Metsäliitto Group. The total surface area of the forests is approximately 35,000 hectares. Metsäliitto expects to get the FSC certificate by the end of 2012, and will then offer its members who have forest management service agreement the option to join Metsäliitto’s FSC group certificate. Metsäliitto already offers a similar PEFC group certification to its members who have forest management service agreement.

"Forest certification is all about the sustainable use and management of forests. Certification systems are voluntary and support the well-being of forest and confirm the legal origin of the wood. Metsäliitto supports both of the current certification systems. With the new FSC certification, Metsäliitto members will have more choice in their forest certification process," says Juha Mäntylä, Group Executive Vice President.

"We aim at a continuous increase in the volume of certified products," says Mäntylä.
"At the moment, approximately 80 per cent of the wood used by Metsäliitto is PEFC or FSC certified, and we wish to promote forest certification in all our areas of operation."

The PEFC standard is the predominant certification system in Finland. Currently, approximately 95 per cent of Finnish forests have been certified according to PEFC. Finland's new FSC standard was approved in May 2011, and 2 per cent of the Finnish forests have been certified according to FSC. Only approximately 7 per cent of the world's forests have been certified, two-thirds of that amount using the PEFC system.