The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with the strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs while tackling climate change and environmental protection.

Past few decades have seen rapid economic growth in India. But, in order to continue the same, it is essential to ensure the sustainable management of our natural resources, while addressing the concerns for climate change, loss of forests and biodiversity, desertification, urban air quality and loss of livelihoods etc. 

We need to have Standards, based on which the sustainability of our natural resources, the forests, trees outside forests, non -wood forest products, protected areas , water bodies and wetlands etc could be assessed and certified in accordance with the internationally accepted best practices.

Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests (NCCF), a not for profit organization of India, is actively engaged in diverse conservation activities including, development of globally benchmarked and India specific sustainability certification standards for various constituents of our natural resource base, as its core working area.

NCCF is working in active collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the State Forest Departments, ICFRE, IIFM, EPCH, ITC, QCI, NABCB, ICRAF, CIAT, IUCN, ICIMOD, CAFRI, TRIFED, GGGI, GICIA, WII, WWF India, World Bank, JICA, FAO, UNCCD and many more.

NCCF is a member of PEFC Governing Council for India, member of IUCN and has got Observer Status of UNCCD.

 

NCCF’s Core Working Areas

Forests play a critical role in amelioration of the global environment, alleviating effects of climate change and natural disasters, are an integral part of water and carbon cycles, conserve biodiversity, provide food, medicine, wood and renewable raw materials for our diverse requirements. India is blessed with rich and varied wealth of forests and wildlife, which are being managed on scientific lines for the last more than 150 years.

India ranks 10th in terms of forest area in the world, accounting for 2% of total forest cover of the world. India has 16 major forest types and is one of the 17 mega-diverse countries with four global biodiversity hotspots. As per India State of Forest Report, 2019, total forest and tree cover constitute 80.72 mha (24.56% of the geographical area) which includes 2.89% (of the geographical area) as Trees outside Forests (ToF).

Forest Certification is promoted in accordance with the standards that cover environmental, economic, social and management aspects, and that are internationally benchmarked and country specific, suited to the India’s diverse forest types and rich biodiversity. This has increasingly been recognised as an important conservation tool to promote sustainable management of forests/trees outside forests and to improve market accessibility of our forest products. Certification encourages continuous improvement in management practices and brings in enhanced credibility to our forest governance with international recognition.

Forest Certification: Pillars of Sustainability

Chain of Custody (CoC) certification provides independently verified assurance that certified wood contained in a product originates from well-managed forests. The entire flow of wood material from forest to consumers must be monitored and documented to demonstrate its origin. In addition, this minimizes risk that timber is from illegal harvesting and enables companies to demonstrate alignment with regulatory requirements (e.g. European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR). 

Types of Forest Certification

Certification audit against NCCF Standard is conducted by independent third party i.e. Certification Bodies (CBs),  accredited by the National Board for Accreditation of Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent Board of the Quality Council of India (QCI).

Globally over 500 million ha (8%) are certified and 47,810 CoC certificates have been issued. In India, so far 0.99 million ha of forest area is certified and 670 Chain of Custody certificates have been taken by various industries like Pulp & Paper Industries, Wood and wood based industries (plywood, furniture, MDF, handicraft, etc.), Printings and Packaging industries, etc.

Forest Certification provides both non-financial and financial incentives to the forest departments and forest-based stakeholders to improve upon their management for enhanced environmental, social and economic benefits. It helps improve the working conditions and safety and health of forest workers, lead to improved forest conservation outcomes, and encourage sustainable forest use. It facilitatesn branding and international recognition of forest management entities and boosts the public image of companies, which pursue certification in their own forest operations or purchase only certified products.

So far, there had been no Indian scheme of Forest Management Certification. NCCF came into existence as a Society in 2015 and took up the work of developing the country specific and globally aligned certification standard for India through a multi-stakeholder group after following the UN norms of standard setting process. NCCF Forest Management Certification Standard is fully in conformity with the objectives of National Forest policy, National Working Plan Code 2014 of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Bhopal India Process of the IIFM and international best practices in certification, duly reflected in its Themes, Principles, Criteria and Indicators, making it easier to implement and comply with, as per the international norms of certification. 

Standard Development Process

NCCF’s certification scheme has been endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), a globally recognized certification organization, giving it an international recognition.

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has been actively promoting forest certification. This is an eligible activity for funding under CAMPA  (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Rules, 2018). The Ministry has written to all State Forest Departments to initiate forest certification in some divisions, having reasonable economic activity, like extraction of timber, NWFP and bamboo etc. NCCF is providing professional support to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and State Forest Departments in taking up certification.

NCCF has been actively providing professional assistance to the MoEF&CC,State Forest Departments and the stakeholders in certification matters through sensitization workshops, training programmes and advisory services.

Recently, Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation (UPFC) has taken up certification of 13 forest divisions with an area of around 3.5 lakh hectares using NCCF Forest Management Certification Scheme. Many State Forest Departments have initiated action for certification of few forest divisions. Tripura Forest Department has initiated the process of forest certification in West Tripura and Khowai districts of Tripura and Karnataka Forest Department in Yellapur Division, Uttarkannada District, Karnataka, as per NCCF-Forest Management Certification Standard. Many other states have identified the divisions for certification.

NCCF has also developed a certification scheme for Tress outside Forest (ToF), the first of its kind not only in India but anywhere in the world. The scheme will bring much-needed recognition to the wood and timber produced by farmers on their lands, ensure better markets and price premium for their  produce and augment availability of certified wood and wood based raw materials to the industries. Large scale adoption of the certification will certainly contribute to the government’s resolve to double the farmers income.

NCCF is also developing standards for non-wood forest produce, protected areas and wetlands, quality planting material, ecotourism, biomass & biofuels and land degradation neutrality, through multi-stakeholder Standard Development Groups. The works are at an advance stage and these standards have the potential to revolutionize the sustainability of natural resources management in the country. 

A.K. Srivastava
Director General
Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests

www.nccf.in

Email: <dg@nccf.in>

Tel: 0120- 6758611/6758614