The Forest Stewardship Council A.C. (FSC®) was established in 1993, following the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992) with the aim of promoting forest management in the world that is respectful of the environment, socially useful and economically sustainable.
Environmentally friendly forest management must ensure that the collection of woody and non-woody products maintains the biodiversity, productivity and ecological processes of the forest. Socially useful forest management helps both local populations and society at large to enjoy long-term benefits by providing incentives for local populations to support forest resources by adhering to a long-term management plan.
Economically sustainable forest management means that forest operations are structured and managed in such a way as to be sufficiently profitable, without generating financial profit at the expense of forest resources, the ecosystem, or the communities concerned. The contrast between the need to generate a sufficient economic return and the principle of responsible forest management can be reduced in the effort to make the most of all forest products and services (Statute of FSC® AC, ratified in September 1994, most recent version June 2011).
The contrast between the need to generate a sufficient economic return and the principle of responsible forest management can be reduced in the effort to make the most of all forest products and services (Statute of FSC® AC, ratified in September 1994, most recent version June 2011).
FSC® is an international organization that provides a voluntary accreditation system and third party certification. This system allows certified companies to market their products and services as the result of environmentally friendly, socially useful and economically sustainable forest management.
FSC® also establishes standards for the development and approval of FSC® Standards which are the basis of the FSC® Principles and Criteria. In addition, FSC® has established standards for the accreditation of Certification Bodies that verify compliance with FSC® standards. Based on these standards, FSC® provides a certification system for those Organizations that aim to sell their products as FSC® certified.
