Certification of Sustainability and Legality

The certification of sustainability and legality of wooden raw material is fast becoming a mainstream requirement for forest products in international trade. Forest certification is based on standards prepared in a country and specific criteria against which a third-party verification is arranged. Chain-of-custody certification (CoC) continues from here onwards by means of establishing the ownership of certified wood throughout the supply.
Yes, Pakistan should not overlook forest certification when it prepares to export more wood products and furniture made thereof. The need to ensure compatibility between export trade expansion and sustainable forest resource utilization gives justification to the certification of forest management, chain-of-custody (CoC) and the related labeling of wood products. And that is no matter if the wood is from domestic or imported natural forests or from planted, man-made forests. The number of international markets where “anything goes” is narrowing quickly. Larger purchasing groups and public procurement offices impose policies that insist on verified legal origin and sustainability of wood-based products. This holds true in the European Union, the United States and more recently in Japan. Even China is gradually tightening its timber procurement rules because they fear for buyers’ boycotts on Chinese furniture made of illegal or unsustainable wood.