News Excerpt: 

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has launched the Indian Forest & Wood Certification Scheme to promote sustainable Management of forests and agroforestry.

About Scheme:

• The Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme (IFWCS) is the national forest certification scheme of India launched by the Ministry of Environment, forests and Climate Change.
• It is designed to promote sustainable forest management and management of trees outside forests in the country.

Features of the scheme:

• Certifications: It offers voluntary third-party certification designed to promote sustainable forest management and agroforestry in the country.
  • The scheme includes forest management certification, tree outside forest management certification (ToF), and chain of custody certification (CoC).
• Market incentives: It will provide market incentives to various entities that will work as responsible forest management and agroforestry practices in their operations
• Basis of Scheme: Forest Management certification is based on the Indian Forest Management Standard, consisting of -
  • 8 criteria,
  • 69 indicators and
  • 254 verifiers.
  • A separate Trees Outside Forests Standard has also been introduced as a part of the scheme.
• Applicability:  IFWCS is applicable across the country, both in forest areas and Trees outside Forests (TOF) plantations on government, private, agroforestry and other lands.
  • The certification applies to both timber and non-timber forest produce (NTFP). 

• Administered by:

• • The scheme will be overseen by the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Council (IFWCC)
  • It will be operated by the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, designated as the Scheme Operating Agency (SOA).

Types of Certifications:

Conclusion:

Forest certification refers to an independent, third-party evaluation of the management of a particular forest against a certain standard. According to the government, the “indigenous system of certifications” will be simple, transparent, and easy to adopt, even by small farmers and tree growers. The benchmarks will adhere to internationally accepted norms but consider India’s national circumstances. The purpose is to make sustainably grown and managed forest products available in the domestic market.