I am a sitting member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Ecological Forestry Certification (AEFC).
The Association was established in May 2023 in Helsinki Finland and its main task is to develop and sustain a system for certifying and labelling timber and wood products. The forestry principles of the certification will be based on Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF). CCF is economical, but also significantly improves biodiversity conservation, water quality, carbon sequestration and socially just forest use.
Association’s work for defining globally applicable performance-based principles, criteria, indicators and standards for ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable forestry has already started and first national standards in Estonia, Finland and Sweden will be ready in 2025.
The AEFC organisation was established to bring tangible and measurable change to responsible forestry management and practice.
As a pan-Nordic and Baltic collaboration by origin, the organisation brings together an unparalleled regional expertise committed to redefining the manner in which forest-owners by using elevated standards of practice can economically efficiently manage their land while not overlooking forest non-monetary values.
The AEFC Board of Directors is responsible for broadening the scope of applicability for the certification and framework, and my role is specifically focused on the organizational development and growth and the AEFC continues to evolve alongside academic leaders, professors and sector experts.