At FSC UK, we’re proud to have been one of more than 70 organisations that came together last November to mark the 800th anniversary of the 1217 Charter of the Forest with the launch of a new Charter for Trees, Woods and People, or Tree Charter for short.

The New Approaches for Smallholders and Communities Certification (or ‘New Approaches’) team – who leads this project – selected four forest management groups to take part in an international pilot test. The testing will determine whether including forestry contractors in a group of private forest owners who have already achieved FSC certification would decrease their forest management costs. The tests have started at the end of September and will last one year.

The New Approaches for Smallholders and Communities Certification (commonly named ‘New Approaches’) team and the Forestry Contractors International Working Group met at the end of October to explore new solutions to increase smallholder certification worldwide.