Sustainable Forestry Initiative Program Marks Record Growth

Chain-of-custody certification means a company has a tracking system in place that identifies the amount of certified, uncertified and recycled content in the forest products it buys, uses or sells. There was also an impressive increase in the amount of SFI-certified lands – to 143.7 million acres (58.1 million hectares) at the end of 2007 from 135 million acres (54.6 million hectares) at the end of 2006. The SFI sustainable forestry certification program is one of the largest in the world, with a standard based on principles and measures that promote sustainability including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk and forests of exceptional conservation value. Abusow said she was not surprised by the SFI program’s growth.