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Why Does GreenLink Exist?

"Products from certified forestland can, through chain-of-custody certification, move though the production supply chain, and, in the end, receive labeling that allows customers to know the product came from a certified, well-managed forest."

What Is Certification and Why Is It Necessary?

Forest certification is the process of verifying, in an independent and credible way, that a forest is managed in accordance with a publicly-available standard. Certification provides a tool to assure landowners that their forests are being well-managed and continually improved to meet long-term ecological, economic and social goals. It also provides a recognizable product label demanded in many markets that assure consumers that the wood products they use originate from sustainable forests. Products from certified forestland can, through chain-of-custody certification, move though the production supply chain, and, in the end, receive labeling that allows customers to know the product came from a certified, well-managed forest. The American Tree Farm system was one of the earliest forms of forest certification but until recently did not have a chain-of custody system of tracing forest products from the woods to the consumer. The current FSC® Forest certification scheme adopted by GreenLink was originally developed for tropical areas where effective governmental regulations of forestry practices did not exist.

Forest certification has become an important part of forest management over the last decade. There are many different parties who can potentially benefit from certification.

Certification can provide:

• forest owners and managers with better access to markets or even a better price for their product;

• processors and retailers with an effective and efficient mechanism for allowing retailers and others to demonstrate that their wood and paper products originated from well-managed forests;

• environmental and social non-governmental organizations with a mechanism to engage more constructively with the forest products industry;

• many banks and investment companies with assurance that their money is going into forests that meet high social and environmental standards; and

• donors and aid organizations with an independent mechanism for verifying that donor or aid money given to promote sustainable forest management is achieving its goal.

Whatever the reason for certification, there are always two things which are required:

• a published and widely-accepted forest management standard that defines what “good forest management” is and

• a mechanism for independent, third-party certification to verify whether the standard is being met.


 

GreenLink Forest Stewards GreenLink Forest Resources, LLC is Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC®) Group Certified by Preferred by Nature.

Forest Stewardship Council
For more information, contact Chester (Ched) Kearse, Jr. by using the contact form on this site, email: greenlinkstewards@gmail.com,
or call: (803) 368-8130 - office or (803) 383-2948 - cell. GreenLink Forest Resources, LLC, PO Box 138, Olar, SC 29843
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