Newsroom

New FSC standards, frauds in certified products and blockchain technology, launch of NEPCon Sourcing Hub, new tools to support the timber sector… here are the most-read articles of the year in NEPCon's newsroom.  

Have you founded a nature-based startup, or you are at an early-stage of your business development and need to improve your network and skills? ECOSTAR is looking for you! Ready to grow?

FSC and NEPCon released the Interim National Standard of Kyrgyz Republic. This standard is the first of its kind not only for Kyrgyzstan but also for the whole region covering Caucasus, Central Asia, Moldova and Mongolia.

On 28 November 2017, Accreditation Services International (ASI) informed us that we have met the accreditation requirements for the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP).

Accreditation Services International (ASI) has published the following information on their webpage: 

The never-ending conflict around the Białowieża forest has escalated to the level that it may challenge the certification of all state forests in Poland. It involves an injunction issued by the European Court of Justice, eurosceptic Polish authorities ignoring the…

All products that are certified as being environmentally or socially responsible have to rely on a Chain of Custody system to keep track of products as they move along the supply chain. And all such systems are potentially open to fraud. Can blockchain, the much-talked about code…

NEPCon invites stakeholders to provide feedback on our revised Policy of Association. The consultation will be open until 9 January 2018.

For the past year, FSC has been pilot testing its tools for valuing the conservation and restoration of forests, which will provide FSC-certified forest managers with additional and diversified revenue for the positive impact that their activities have – for instance – on biodiversity…

FSC has made very tangible steps forward on gender through its adoption – in 2015 – of Criterion 2.2 in the new FSC Principles and Criteria (P&C V5-2 EN); which commits FSC to promoting Gender Equality in its work. Criterion 2.2 is articulated through nine indicators designed to…

In Tuesday’s FSC General Assembly programme were two sessions focusing on controlled wood (CW), including – in the morning – a session on the CW Strategy. This was organised as a ‘fish bowl’ event in which six speakers gave their personal thoughts about the future of controlled wood;…

Monday morning’s session at the FSC General Assembly Can CBs deliver independent audits? raised important issues and described risks associated with FSC auditing; for example, increased price competition leading to undesirable outcomes such as less evaluation effort, softened…

Getting certified costs money. It’s worth doing from an environmental point of view, but is it worth doing from a purely business point of view?

Another area that deserves special focus from FSC is community certification. When communities have legal ownership over their lands, deforestation is lower, and biodiversity protection and carbon storage are higher. However, in only 10% of cases are community land rights formally…

Are you a student, consultant, or entrepreneur and keen to develop a business idea around ecosystem services and products? An online training course starting this October offers you a range of support including writing your own business plan.

FSC changed its requirements on the use of risk assessments for illegally harvested wood for sourcing Controlled Wood on 30 June 2017. This article describes what has changed and why. 

Five Ukrainian organisations have lost their FSC^TM Chain of Custody certificates after FSC started using volume control for charcoal supply chains earlier this year. This outcome follows an investigation of the volume control system – undertaken with close cooperation…

Today, we're releasing the NEPCon Sourcing Hub, the biggest and most detailed collection of forest-related risk assessments that have ever been published. 

Your supplier has given you some documents that appear to show that the timber they’re selling to you was legally harvested. But how do you know if the documents are genuine or not?

Our new FSC Expert Training Programme has been endorsed as fulfilling FSC’s new, stricter requirements for auditor training. The new Training Programme consists of a five-day FSC Forest Management course and a three-day FSC Chain of Custody course, combined with online modules.…