Bulletin 002 – Third Party Certification and the Forest Practices Board Audits (Revised 2010)

Independent certification systems have become fairly common in BC. Virtually every major BC forest company, as well as British Columbia Timber Sales, has now achieved some type of forest certification, and many small forestry operators, mills and manufacturers are making certification a priority. By 2010, there were over 54 million hectares (133 million acres) in BC certified by one of the three major systems – Canadian Standards Association (CSA) with 31.4 million hectares, Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) with 20.1 million hectares, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with 2.6 million hectares.1  In fact, BC has more certified forest land than most countries in the world, except Canada as a whole.