Foundation of Republican Coordination Council for Forest Certification

The second conference devoted to the foundation of Coordination Council for voluntary forest certification in Komi was held on October, 26 in Komi State Forestry Service. The members of forestry units and wood enterprises certificated according to the voluntary forest certification system, representatives of educational establishments, enterprise advisers, and Silver Taiga Foundation took part in the conference.

Unlike in other regions of the Russian Federation, forest certification in Komi was developed in two directions: both forestry units and separate leased territories were certificated. In the rest of forest regions in Russia only leased territories were certificated, and the forestry units were uninvolved.

Since the very beginning certification in Komi has been developing in partnership with State Forestry Service and business, where the latter was supported by forest administration, so the certification positively affected both ecological and social aspects of forest use.

During the conference the results and prospects of both types of certification in Komi were discussed. That was a conversation of current interest, because in 2011 the five-year period of certification in Sysolsky and Koygorodsky forestry units comes to a close, and they are to decide whether they will apply for the next certification period or not.

The members of the conference came to a decision to form a Republican Coordination Council for forest certification to coordinate the actions of all partners and to provide political support to the process at the municipal, republic and national levels.