11 April 2013
PROFOR, CIFOR Report on Forest Certification Effectiveness
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The Program on Forests (PROFOR), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) have released a publication titled, 'Approaches to Measuring the Conservation Impact of Forest Management Certification,' which is based on the follow-up to and outcomes from a 2011 workshop on evaluating the effectiveness and impact of forest certification.

9 April 2013: The Program on Forests (PROFOR), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) have released a publication titled, ‘Approaches to Measuring the Conservation Impact of Forest Management Certification,’ which is based on the follow-up to and outcomes from a 2011 workshop on evaluating the effectiveness and impact of forest certification.

The report highlights the challenges associated with assessing the impacts of forest certification on sustainable forest management (SFM) including selection bias (non-random participation) and the difficulty of scaling market implications down to the level of the farm or firm. In light of these challenges, the 2011 workshop assembled stakeholders to discuss and decide on an integrated evaluation method to determine the effectiveness of certification in different countries.

The main conclusions from the report capture what is known about the impacts of forest certification: the need to employ systematic analyses in forest decision-making; and that certified forests, because they are focused on SFM, are usually better managed. The report also emphasizes the potential of forest certification to address, not just the productive value of forests, but also the links between forests and social and environmental sustainability, and calls for governments to continue to support certification as way to achieve SFM.

The report cautions that the continuing challenges associated with assessing the impacts of forest certification should not be interpreted as a lack of impact. However, further scientific analysis of impacts can help improve the design of certification systems and, as such, should be promoted.

CIFOR is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). [PROFOR Press Release] [Publication: Approaches to Measuring the Conservation Impact of Forest Management Certification]

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