Sustainable Forestry Initiative Information

The SFI program was established in 1994. Original SFI guidelines were expanded into a standard with complete procedures for verification and third-party certification in 1998, and the standard was updated in 2005 for the 2005-2009 period. The standard is applied on lands across North America. The SFI 2005-2009 Standard promotes sustainable forest management through 9 principles, 13 objectives, 24 performance measures and 102 indicators developed by professional foresters, conservationists, scientists and others. It covers key environmental, social and economic forest values (such as water quality, biodiversity, harvesting, and regeneration), procurement of wood and fibre, public reporting, continuous improvement and mitigating illegal logging. The SFI principles are:sustainable forestryresponsible practicesreforestation and productive capacityforest health and productivitylong-term forest and soil productivityprotection of water resourcesprotection of special sites and biological diversitylegal compliancecontinual improvementRisk assessments are taken to prevent undesirable or illegal wood fiber from offshore from entering the product mix. In North America logger training is promoted, and best management practices and landowner outreach are undertaken to promote sustainable forestry practices in non-certified forests. The SFI Standard is reviewed through an open public process every five years. Development work for the SFI for the 2010-2014 SFI Standard (effective Jan. 1, 2010) started back in June 2008. Certification bodies performing third-party audits to SFI requirements must have completed an accreditation program through one or more of the following independent, international accreditation bodies:American National Standards Institute (ANSI)ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB)Standards Council of Canada (SCC)International Endorsement: The SFI standard is endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes (PEFC). PEFC is a global umbrella organization for the assessment and endorsement of national forest certification schemes that meet widely accepted international criteria.