THE IMPORTANCE OF CERTIFIED WOOD
Sustainability is defined as something that is able to be maintained at a certain rate or level - it is the capacity to endure. In reference to ecology, it describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time.
In our more recent years, more people are understanding that our very own forests require regulation as to how and how much we take from them. It is a fairly simple concept that, without management, there may be no trees, plant life and biological ecosystems within to sustain life.
Sustainable Forest Management as defined by the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE): “The stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems.”
All societies need balance and a need to regulate the consumption of our very forests due to the increasing demands for the products of a forest. The overwhelming need for the preservation of the forest’s health, diversity and longevity rests in our own hands.
Forest certification, allows for an organization to outline standards of good forest management and issue certificates to forest operations that comply with those standards. This verifies that the forests are well-managed and a chain-of-custody certification tracks wood products from the certified forest to the point of sale.
By selecting woods that have been certified, you are creating not only a demand for preservation but you are choosing to ensure that you can, in the future, purchase wood again.