This brings FSC in Australia past the important milestone of 1 million hectares of certified forest and continues the trend of forest managers seeking to operate at the very highest of global standards.
Forico's FSC Certificate was issued on the 20 November 2015 for a 5 year period and will be audited annually by certification body Soil Association Woodmark. It covers Forico’s plantation management and harvesting as well as the company’s management of 80,000 hectares of natural forest conservation reserves.
Forico CEO Bryan Hayes said, “This is a significant strategic achievement for our company, our staff and for stakeholders in our business. We particularly thank all the external stakeholders who contributed submissions directly to Forico and to our auditing and certifying body, Soil Association Woodmark.”
“This certification has required more than a year of hard work, including updated forest management planning and improved operational practices, and is testament to our people and the very high standards of forest management we aspire to achieve as we build our plantation based wood fibre business in Tasmania. We consider FSC FM Certification to be the pinnacle in external third party accreditation of forest management standards and it is increasingly required by our customers in overseas markets.”
Chair of the Forico Board and CEO of New Forests, Dr David Brand, commended Forico management and staff on the achievement and its importance to global investors. “Our investors include major superannuation and pension funds and they want assurance that their funds are invested responsibly. Independent third party certification of environmental and social performance is a key part of our investment approach,” he said.
Congratulations to Forico in joining the FSC system.
You can find out more about Forico on their website