Forestry Stewardship Council UK
Protecting forests starts with rigorous standards.
As the pioneer of forest certification, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sets the standard for responsible forest stewardship. Our policies unify a diverse set of stakeholders around common guidelines for forestry that are: environmentally appropriate socially beneficial economically viable. Our open and transparent standards include safeguards to ensure that stakeholders throughout the forest supply chain live up to the principles that protect healthy and resilient forests for all, forever.
The 10 FSC principles
FSC’s 10 principles are the foundation of our forestry standard.
Developed to be relevant to different kinds of forest ecosystems and in diverse cultural, political, and legal settings, they require any managers of certified forests to:
- Comply with all applicable laws.
- Maintain or improve the social and economic well-being of workers.
- Uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Maintain or improve the social and economic well-being of local communities.
- Manage their products and services in a way that maintains or improves their long-term economic viability, social benefits, and environmental benefits.
- Maintain, conserve, and/or restore the ecosystem services and environmental values of managed forests; and also avoid, repair, or mitigate negative environmental impacts;
- Establish a management plan that outlines their economic, environmental, and social policies and objectives.
- Demonstrate progress toward meeting these objectives.
- Maintain or improve high conservation values.
- Ensure that all management activities comply with FSC principles and criteria.
