Holz100 and Certified Forests

Be Certain We're Certified!

​Certification ensures that the wood comes from legally harvested and well-managed forests and plantations. Certified forests are managed with environmental, social and economic factors as a priority, and ensure that when a tree is harvested another one is planted in its place. Without certification is can be difficult or impossible to know whether wood was taken illegally or from high conservation value forests.
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Despite its importance there is a high level of confusion regarding certified wood. The results of the Planet Ark survey found that only one out of three people (35%) thought that it was relatively easy to find certified wood, and that only one out of five people (18%) said they trusted the current forest and wood certification systems. This highlights the need to convey to the Australian public how certification works and what to look for when buying wood.

​There are three main certification systems in Australia, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) and ​the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). These systems set principles and criteria for the management of forests and timber, and certification is only granted after an assessment by an independent third party. These schemes all set different standards on forest certification and chain of custody certification. All timber and paper products derived from forests that have been certified are permitted to carry the registered trademark of that specific scheme (Figure 8).
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​Figure 8. FSC, AFS and PEFC logos displayed of products made from timber and paper products derived from certified forests.
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