Newsletter Stories


Tuesday, 08 November 2022
General Assembly Moves FSC Into Forest Restoration


At the FSC General Assembly recently, members voted on a range of important issues. Organized into Social, Economic and Environmental Chambers, the diverse perspectives brought by FSC’s members is key to the system’s integrity and credibility.

In particular, the membership voted to approve changes to the FSC Principles & Criteria that will support implementation of a new Policy to Address Conversion. This was the result of years of debate and stakeholder engagement, impacting millions of acres of forests, particularly in tropical countries. This change will bring FSC into forest restoration, to create market incentives to restore degraded and deforested lands.

Another important change relates to Intact Forest Landscapes and Indigenous Cultural Landscapes in FSC-certified areas. The new approach combines requirements for protection of Intact Forest Landscapes inside certified areas, with a focus on their status in the surrounding landscape. It also requires recognition of the territories of Indigenous Peoples as so-called Indigenous Cultural Landscapes.

To learn more about the outcomes of the 2022 FSC General Assembly, including a list of all motions passed, visit the FSC GA website: https://ga.fsc.org/en