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Have your say on sustainable forestry: Draft SFI standard open for comments

A sixty-day public comment period is now open for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) draft of a new standard for 2015-2019. The draft new standard includes new performance measures to: conserve biodiversity in fiber sourcing;…

A sixty-day public comment period is now open for the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI®) draft of a new standard for 2015-2019. The draft new standard includes new performance measures to: conserve biodiversity in fiber sourcing; limit conversion of one forest type to another; bolster awareness and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ rights; and expand the definition of “controversial sources,” which are not allowed in SFI-labeled products.

The comment period ends Mar. 6. For this comment period, SFI invited nearly 10,000 stakeholders to submit comments for the proposed SFI 2015-2019 Standard. This working draft is the result of input from comments submitted during the first 60-day public comment period which ran from June 5 – August 6, 2013.

Utilizing comments from the first public comment period, the SFI 2015-2019 Standard Revision Task Groups developed this working draft. Stakeholders can submit comments online for this working draft of the SFI 2015-2019 standard and participate in person at one of the nine public Standards Review workshops across the U.S. and Canada.  A facilitated webinar workshop is also offered to accommodate those stakeholders that cannot attend a regional workshop.

A final draft of the SFI 2015-2019 Standard will be presented to the SFI Board of Directors for their approval in the fall of 2014, and will come into effect January 1, 2015.

To view a summary of the major enhancements and the draft sections to the Draft SFI 2015-2019 Requirements, find information on the public workshops and to submit comments on the Draft SFI 2015-2019 Standard, go to http://www.sfiprogram.org/comment-on-standard/.