FSC Stories from around the world
Al-Pac: World’s Largest Certified Forest
Canada’s forest products industry continues to be on the leading edge of FSC certification, as evidenced
by the recent certification of nearly 5.5 million hectares of forest in north- eastern Alberta.
Managed by Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac), this is the largest single area of forestland
to date to be certified as well-managed according to FSC standards. With this certification, Canada
is now the leading country in the world for FSC-certified forest area, with a total of 14.3 million ha –
22.8% of the global total. Al-Pac’s certification also is the first in the province of Alberta, and the first within
the boreal forest of western Canada.
The certification followed a comprehensive 10-month assessment against the FSC-accredited Canada
National Boreal Standard. The assessment, conducted by SmartWood, included interviews with more
than 100 stakeholder, Aboriginal, and community representatives, reviews of written survey responses
sent to 200 residents to a written survey, and verification of Al-Pac’s forest management operations.
The area certified is publicly owned “Crown” land that is managed by Al-Pac through an award from the
Province of Alberta’s Department of Sustainable Resource Development, who retains ownership of the
resources. Al-Pac’s Forest Management Agreement (FMA) area , located in the Canadian Boreal Forest,
is considered one of the busiest forests in the world. Linked to the FMA area are four major towns, 21
communities, 40,000 Aboriginal people, several sawmills, significant oil, gas and oilsands activity, and Al-
Pac’s pulp mill.
The certification is proving to have a positive impact on all aspects of Al-Pac’s business. In the global
marketplace it creates a marketing advantage by differentiating its product in a highly-competitive commodity market as well as enabling Al-Pac to offer customers responsibly produced pulp products. The
scale of the certification provides assurance that Al-Pac will be able to provide a stable, long-term supply
of quality, FSC-certified kraft pulp.
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