Sustainable forest management (SFM) certification is a voluntary market tool that demonstrates to forest products customers, via an independent, third-party audit, that their purchases are derived from sustainably-managed forests. Third-party auditors verify the quality of on-the-ground forest practices, against defined standards relating to key indicators such as biodiversity, habitat protection, reforestation and harvest levels.
Environmental management systems for all of West Fraser’s Canadian woodlands operations have been certified to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 standard.
In addition, we have certified all of our Canadian woodlands operations to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) standard, which is a market-leading and internationally recognized sustainable forest management standard.
With our comprehensive certification program in place, customers can have confidence – based on strict verification by third-party auditors – that the products we manufacture are derived from sustainably-managed forests.
Certification Options and Status
We recognize the particular strengths and weaknesses of all valid certification programs.
As a company operating in various jurisdictions, we believe that choice is important. Companies should be able to choose from all of the recognized certification systems according to their regional circumstances.
Certification options are important because of the diversity of forest types, tenure arrangements and legal frameworks around the world.
For example, in BC, tenure is often awarded for a volume of timber, which may be dispersed across a region rather than located in a defined area. SFI standards can comprehensively address forest management under these circumstances.
In Alberta, woodlands operations are typically carried out in defined forest management areas. These circumstances are also well-suited to SFI certification.
SFI is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), a global organization that provides a mutual recognition framework for national certification systems.
PEFC’s endorsement of SFI, along with many other national certification systems, assures customers that differing national systems are mutually recognized as guaranteeing a level of sustainable forest management according to stringent PEFC criteria.
Chain of Custody Certification
Many customers in Asia and Europe are increasingly seeking verification that products they purchase are derived from fibre that has been legally harvested from a certified sustainably-managed forest.
To meet this anticipated demand, we are utilizing a system known as “Chain of Custody,” which is designed to track the legality and the certification of our timber sources. This system, is based on the PEFC volume-credit method, which is internationally-recognized and widely-accepted.
West Fraser’s PEFC Chain of Custody system was recently introduced at all Canadian manufacturing operations.
Hinton Pulp Chain of Custody
As well as the PEFC Chain of Custody certification, West Fraser’s Hinton Pulp operation was registered to the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) Controlled Wood Chain of Custody Standard (FSC-STD-40-004 v2-0) in June 2008.
Hinton Pulp Wood Sourcing Policy
Hinton Pulp will to the best of its ability, endeavour to avoid trading and sourcing wood and wood fibre from the following:
- Illegally harvested wood;
- Wood harvested in violation of traditional and civil rights;
- Wood harvested in forests where high conservation values are threatened by management activities;
- Wood harvested in forests being converted to plantations or non-forest use;
- Wood from forests in which genetically modified trees are planted.
Fibre sources that can not be confirmed to be controlled wood will be excluded from Hinton Pulp’s fibre supply chain. The risk assessment used to determine whether fibre is used from one of the above noted sources is available on request – please email aaron.jones@westfraser.com.
Hinton Pulp produces the following FSC product groups:
- Product group – FSC Controlled Wood
- Product type – Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft (NBSK)
- Species used as inputs to the product group:
- lodgepole pine – Pinus contorta var. latifolia
- white spruce – Picea glauca
- black spruce – Picea mariana
- balsam fir – Abies balsamea
Home > Environment > Certification
|
