Forest certification in Estonia

PEFC – Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes

The Estonian Forest Certification Council (EMSN) was set up as a non-profit organization on the 29th of October 2001 on the initiative of private forest owners and with the participation of other interest groups and stakeholders. The overall objective of the Estonian forest certification scheme is to support the implementation of sustainable forestry in Estonia. Sustainable forestry implies three main elements: ecological balanced, respect towards cultural and social values and economic efficiency. The implementation of the scheme must follow the PEFC International standards in forest management and chain-of-custody and has to ensure that wood signed with the PEFC logo won’t mix with wood from uncertified resources. The origin of the wood has to be clear at any stage of production.

From 2010 Estonian Private Forest Union has PEFC group certificate, which gives forest owners a possibility to certify their forest with one certificate as a member of the group. Forest owners are represented in the certification process by Private Forest Union, regardless the location of their forest land.

In November 2015 total PEFC Certified Forest Area in Estonia was 1,028,712 hectares. In addition there was 40 Chain of Custody Certificates. (PEFC Global Statistics: SFM & CoC Certification).

More information about PEFC group certification in Estonia can be found from the homepage of Estonian Private Forest Union www.erametsaliit.ee.

FSC – Forest Stewardship Council

The goal of the non-profit organization FSC Estonia (FSC EE) is to promote ecological balanced, socially fair and economically efficient forestry in Estonia.

FSC and FSC EE have among others the following objectives:

• To support and promote the good management of forests and their ecosystems, which won’t harm at any stage the stock, ecosystems or human interests connected with forests.
• Support and promotion of the Estonian FSC standard.
• Working towards better understanding for good forest management, certification and marking of forest products.
• Guide and help forest management consultants, forest managers and all other persons interested in the diverse aspects of forestry and forest management

In November 2015 there was 5 FSC forest management certificates in Estonia with Certified Forest Area of 1,261,278 hectares and Number of Certificates was 5. In addition there was 213 Chain of Custody Certificates. (FSC Facts & Figures, December 2015)

FSC EE is the official representative of FSC International in Estonia. More information about FSC certification in Estonia can be found in their homepage www.fsc.ee.

Other certificates

State Forest Management Centre (RMK), who maintains, grows and manages 40% of Estonian forests, has been awarded with both, PEFC and FSC forest management certificate and also ISO 14001 environmental management certificate. Read more from here.