First FSC certification of Chinese state-owned forests - April 27th, 2005

The first Forest Stewardship Council certificates for state-owned forests have been recently awarded to two bureaus managing a forest area of 420,000 ha (4,200 sq km) in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces in China. Baihe Forestry Bureau in Jilin Province and Youhao Forestry Bureau in Heilongjiang Province fulfilled the Principles of FSC after a two years assessment carried out by the FSC accredited certification body SGS.

Certification for both Youhao and Baihe Forestry Bureaus are aimed at facilitating their relations with and access to trade partners in Japan, Europe and US where FSC has been recognized as the preferred labeling scheme for buyer groups.

China has emerged as a major timber importer since its 1998 commercial logging ban on a large part of its natural forests. Its growing demand, having met by some of the unsustainably sourced timber from other countries, has hastened the forest destruction in these countries. The Working Group on Forest Certification in China has worked towards minimizing the negative impacts of the logging ban outside of China through certifying domestic forests, promoting and developing certification standards appropriate to the Chinese context. The forest certification project for Heilongjiang and Jilin was supported by WWF China, IKEA, and DEG. China’s State Forestry Administration, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, the General Bureau of Forest Industry of Heilongjiang Province, Heilongjiang Academy of Forestry, and Jilin Forestry Department also assisted in the process.

Source: WWF China, FSC

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