PEFC UK has launched a new and updated certification tool designed to help group scheme managers and forest owners gain or maintain certification.

The new online forest certification tool aims to provide a simple and cost-effective solution to help UK woodland owners become PEFC-certified. It is hoped it will also help increase the UK’s certified forest area, boost the supply of certified material to the UK primary processing sector and simplify the certification process for users.

Although PEFC forest certification has been established in the UK since 2010, it has long been recognised that a cost-effective certification solution was required to enable all woodland owners to participate in certification. Certified materials are now increasingly requested by a growing number of forest product users.

PEFC UK is confident the tool will become a user-friendly method of assessing the compatibility of existing forest management plans and procedures with those required by UKWAS, improving audit consistency through a series of user-friendly, online checklists. Elements of the tool have been carefully designed to help group managers compare and identify where scheme members may be having compliance issues.

Alun Watkins, who heads up PEFC in the UK, said: “There is increasing demand for home-grown timber and we will see an increasing amount of UK wood products entering the supply chain across a range of sectors.

“As the market is increasingly demanding evidence of responsible sourcing, it is important that certification is a viable option for forest owners of all sizes. Our new online tool will help streamline the evidence required during the sustainable forest management audit process.”

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