Consultative meeting on Forest Certification

Forest certification is a mechanism for forest monitoring, tracing and labeling timber, wood and pulp products and non-timber forest products where the quality of management from environmental social and economic perspectives is judged against a series of agreed standards. In order to meet the growing demand for forest certification in the global market, the Indian industry has to look for certified forests/plantations to source their raw materials. The increased demand for forest certification is likely to affect the economic prospects of many farm forestry/agro-forestry areas in India unless these areas are certified. The Ministry of Environment and Forest recognized the need to promote forest certification in the country and recently constituted a committee to develop national forest certification system.

To promote credible forest certification, WWF advocates a stepwise approach and has developed suitable methods and tool kits which can be used by the forest & plantation managers, processors and traders. WWF has established the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN) to facilitate trade links between companies committed to achieving and supporting responsible forestry and thereby creates market conditions that help conserve the world’s forests while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people that depend on them.

In this context, WWF- India in association with Smart wood/SWISO is organizing consultative meetings on “Forest Certification in India” in New Delhi ( on 29th April 2008 ) and Chennai (on 2nd May 2008).

The objectives of the meeting are to:

• Understand the scope for and limitations of forest certification in India
• Identify suitable approaches to promote forest certification
• Create awareness on “credible forest certification” and the benefits to the key stake holders

The participants of this meeting will include forest and plantation managers, farm forestry/agro forestry growers, timber traders, (including wooden handicraft exporters and processors), paper and pulp companies, retailers dealing with wood and non-wood forest products, NGOs, R & D institutions, Government, certification bodies, financial institutions.

Dates & Venue
New Delhi:
Date: 29th April 2008
Venue: Godrej Auditorium, WWF-India Secretariat
172-B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
Chennai:
Date: 2nd May 2008
Venue: Quality Inn Sabari
29, Thirumalai Pillai Road, T Nagar, Chennai-600017

For more information, please contact:
Dr T R Manoharan
Senior Coordinator- Forest Policy and Economics
WWF-India Secretariat
172-B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
e-mail: tmanoharan@wwfindia.net
Tel: 011-41504787 fax: 011-41504779

Mr Janakraj Murali
Regional Coordinator
WWF-India Tamil Nadu State Office
No. 2 Subramaniyam Avenue, Valmiki Nagar,
Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai.- 600 041
email: jmurali@wwfindia.net  
Tel : 09444386336 (Mobile)
044-42110690 (Office)

Media Contact:
Anshuman Atroley,
Communications Manager, WWF-India
Tel: +91-98101 69262
E-mail: aatroley@wwfindia.net