FSC International and FSC-accredited Certification Bodies may be contacting UK Forest Management Certificate Holders with regard to a future FSC requirement relating to the mapping of certified areas.
At the moment any engagement with the mapping process will be voluntary but later in 2026/2027 there will be an Advice note outlining when his will become a normative requirement, the transition period that will be applied (likely 12 months or more) and details on what will be required.
To facilitate the creation of this map, FSC has developed the FSC Certified Area Submittal Tool (CAST). This is a web application where certificate holders can submit the digital boundaries of their certified areas in a zipped shapefile, KML and GeoJSON format. Further specifications regarding this process will be provided in the upcoming Advice Note. The data will be updatable. Information on the CAST and how the mapping information will be presented is available here.
While the map will be publicly available, through the FSC International website, Certificate Holders will be able to decide whether their sites are shown in this public domain or remain only visible to FSC and Certification Bodies.
It is hoped this data will improve certified area datasets and allow for analysis of the value and benefits of FSC certification, which it is hoped will in turn it is hoped will aid Certificate Holders.
Further information will be provided by FSC UK/Certification Bodies once the Advice Note is produced.
Certificate Holders can engage, trial and supply data in advance of the normative requirements should they wish, and there are contact details on the FSC website or please contact Andy Sharkey if you want to talk this through.