The largest part of the more than 120 thousand hectares of forest managed by the Portucel Soporcel group has already been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC 
). This certification provides the market an additional guarantee that the Company’s forests are sustainably managed, in accordance with strict and internationally recognised criteria. A guarantee that is also present in the FSC certified papers 
delivered to Group’s consumers.
Forest certification was an important achievement to the Company that, since 2005, has developed a strong cooperation with international organisations in this area. The Group is one of the promoters of FSC Portugal (Association for Responsible Forest Management), an organisation responsible for the Portuguese forest certification standard. One of the FSC Portugal’s objectives is to have half a million hectares of forest certified by 2010.
As a result of the partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), approximately half of the Group’s certified forest area was identified as deserving to be classified as High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA) at landscape level, i.e., which means that they possess a rich environmental and cultural capital that the company will strongly seek to preserve. In addition to the conservation of natural values, this approach also addresses the social conditions and living standards of the local communities.
At the same time, the Group has developed several initiatives to promote the certification of private forest owners that supply the raw material to its mills. These included training and awareness raising sessions organised in forestry producer associations, and also the establishment of a differentiated price for certified wood that aims to stimulate an increase in the forest certified Area.
The Portucel Soporcel group’s forest certification process was conducted by the Soil Association/ Woodmark certification programme, the SA-FM/COC-001785 certificate being awarded.
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