ProPopulus Team
We are committed to think about how to be more efficient in the production of timber as a raw material.
Firstly, natural forests must be managed to harvest the trees at the right age and in the best conditions, to replant them adequately, and, in general, to protect the flora and fauna and so preserve the ecosystem.
Sustainably managed plantations and forests, on the other hand, are an unharmful way of providing more resources naturally, by harvesting trees at the right moment, replanting each cut tree, and preventing plagues and tree degradation. We could say that managed plantations and forests protect nature while providing the economy with a valuable material that is natural, renewable, sustainable, reusable, recyclable and inexhaustible: wood.
What is SFM?
Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management must keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural.
Achieving successful sustainable forest management will provide comprehensive benefits to everybody, from safeguarding local livelihoods to protecting biodiversity and ecosystems provided by forests, reducing rural poverty and mitigating some of the effects of climate change.
Sustainable Forest Management pursues three objectives:
- To ensure the persistence and stability of the forest
- To maximize its uses (economically quantifiable or not)
- To organize its sustainable yield.
The two main tools that are key to carrying out these objectives are the management of forests (where and when to intervene) and forestry (how to intervene and with what methods).
Certification
Forest certification provides evidence of sustainable forest management. It enables growers, forest owners and managers to demonstrate that they apply sustainable practices. Thus, forest certification provides a mechanism to promote the sustainable management of forests ensuring that the wood-based products that reach the market come from wood sourced from sustainably managed forests.
The chain of custody certification tracks forest-based products from sustainable sources to the final product demonstrating that the whole supply chain is monitored by independent auditing and thus ensuring that unsustainable sources are excluded.