Portugal low risk for Controlled Wood

The Portuguese FSC National Office has conducted a nation-wide Controlled Wood risk assessment and found the entire territory of continental Portugal to be low-risk for all five categories of unacceptable sources under the FSC Controlled Wood system.

“This offers great support to the Portuguese wood industry”, says David Hadley Garcia, Director of NEPCon Spain and overseeing NEPCon’s auditing services 
and business activities in Portugal. “With the expanding market for FSC-certified products, demand for FSC Controlled Wood is also increasing. Buyers who need FSC Controlled Wood as inputs for their FSC MIX products are now able to source wood from all over Portugal without the need for further investigations”. 

Strengthening the FSC Controlled Wood system

“National Controlled Wood risk assessments are very helpful for companies operating within the Controlled Wood system”, explains FSC chain of custody expert at NEPCon, Roman Polyachenko. “They eliminate the need for buyers to carry out their own risk assessments. National risk assessments also ensure a uniform interpretation of the Controlled Wood requirements in a country, and thus help the Controlled Wood system attain a higher level of consistency and credibility”.

Risk assessments endorsed by FSC have official status in the FSC Controlled Wood system; following them is mandatory for FSC-certified companies. 

The Global Forest Registry has been updated with the new risk assessment for Portugal. This free online resource collects and visualises available information on the risk of sourcing controversial wood from specific areas of the world.

Global Forest Registry map: green areas are deemed low risk for controversial wood sourcing for all risk categories.