SFI issues open letter on value of forest conservation.
Press Release Summary:
The Conservation Chamber of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc. Board of Directors has issued an open letter citing the value of SFI programs in conserving North American forests and their ecosystems. In partnership, ANSI accredits certification bodies that audit suppliers of wood products, while SFI chain-of-custody certification tracks fiber content from production and manufacturing to end product, helping to verify company claims regarding how much of product comes from certified lands.
Original Press Release:
SFI Issues Open Letter on Value of Forest Conservation Programs
The Conservation Chamber of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc., (SFI) Board of Directors has issued an open letter citing the value of SFI programs in conserving North American forests and their ecosystems.
An independent, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management, SFI oversees an internationally recognized sustainable forestry certification program. The SFI certification program currently encompasses more than 175 million certified acres across the United States and Canada.
In 2007, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and SFI launched an accreditation service to strengthen forest management practices by authenticating the traceability of wood products. The partnership helps to provide assurance to consumers that suppliers are respectful of environmental concerns and committed to the use of resources from well-managed forests.
Under the initiative, ANSI accredits certification bodies that audit the suppliers of wood products. ANSI's accreditation activity is carried out in accordance with the chain-of-custody (CoC) certification requirements developed and maintained by SFI and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Systems.
SFI chain-of-custody certification tracks fiber content from production and manufacturing to the end product, helping to verify company claims regarding how much of their product comes from certified lands, what percentage contains recycled content, and how much is non-certified/non-controversial forest content.
For more information, visit www.sfiprogram.org.
