Sustainable Forests News: Canada, Brazil and more

Tembec Inc., one of Canada’s largest forest products companies and owner of over 13 million hectares (50,000 square miles) is undergoing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for all its forest operations. They hope to complete the process by 2005, a “challenging but realistic” timeframe, according to World Wildlife Fund of Canada, the group that secured the pledge. Currently, 19 million hectares worldwide are FSC-certified. The company recently received ISO 14001 certification for all forestry operations, pulp and paper mills, and most sawmills. Both certifications are part of Tembec’s “Forever Green” program to integrate sustainable forest management practices throughout company operations. Another Tembec program, “Impact Zero”, focuses on minimizing the environmental impact of fiber processing activities, also with an implementation target of 2005. Tembec is one of the 30 largest wood product companies in the world with 8000 employees, 39 manufacturing facilities, and gross sales of CA$2.6 billion. Its mills produce more than 1 billion board feet of softwood, finger-jointed and hardwood lumber, flooring, Oriented Strand Board, and laminated-veneer lumber. Tembec also runs pulp, paper, paperboard, and chemical operations. http://www.tembec.comTimber company Cikel Brasil Verde in Brazil announced the company will seek FSC certification of over 140,000 hectares of forestland. This doubles […]

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