Södra reports the pace of forest certification is falling slightly, possibly because most active forest owners have already had their land certified.
The Swedish forest-owner association says 47,326ha of its member area have been certified in accordance with the Pan European Forest Certification (PEFC) standard so far this year,
Certification needs to increase by an additional 5,000ha per month to meet its 2002 target of 123,00ha.
About 48,000ha which were previously certified to Södra’s own standard have not yet been re-certified to PEFC.
As at April 30, the total area of certified land stood at 1.2 million ha. Södra’s strategic plan targets 1.3 million ha for certification by the end of 2004.
