National Forest Stewardship Standards
Integrating local expertise with the FSC system
© FSC GD - Milan ReskaThe FSC Principles and Criteria (P&C) set out the global requirements for achieving FSC forest management certification. However, any international standard for forest management needs to be adapted at the regional or national level in order to reflect the diverse legal, social and geographical conditions of forests in different parts of the world.
The process for developing the FSC Forest Stewardship Standards (FSS) follows the requirements set out in the FSC procedure document FSC-STD-60-006 V1-2 named “Process requirements for developing and maintenance of National Forest Stewardship Standards”.
The FSC Forest Management Program advises National Standards Development Groups (SDGs) as they work through the process of developing a National Forest Stewardship Standard. This process requires the addition of indicators, verifiers, norms, guidance and in some cases interpretations to the FSC P&C. The FSC P&C together with a set of such indicators approved by the FSC International Board’s Policy and Standards Committee (PSC), constitute an FSC National or Regional Forest Stewardship Standard.
When consensus is reached at the national or regional level, the FSC Forest Management Program evaluates the National Forest Stewardship Standard to ensure they fully reflect FSC’s requirements on Structure and Content of National Forest Stewardship Standards FSC-STD-60-002(V1-0) and also that a credible process was followed.
The FSC Policy and Standards Committee that has been delegated by the FSC Board of Directors to approve Regional and National Forest Stewardship Standards meets and makes a decision over a pre-approved standard.
For any enquiries write to Gordian Fanso at g.fanso@fsc.org or call 0049 228 36766 46
FSC-STD-60-006 (V1-2) Process Requirements for the Development and Maintenance of National Forest Stewardship Standards
