Forest Certification in Portugal

Sustainable Forest Management objective is to balance all interests pending on forests, whether they are social, economic or environmental. It can be implemented and verified through certification schemes. Since 2003, when these where first implemented in Portugal, an evaluation of its progress in Portuguese forestry has never been conducted. This study aims to fulfil that gap. An analysis of the type of companies which have joined certification, and their perceptions on the process was conducted. Additionally, through the analysis of surveillance reports, was verified if certification had real impacts on forest practices, and which were the most common causes for non-compliance with standards. At last, the hypothesis of developing a new national forestry certification standard in compliance with several international schemes was evaluated, and four standards were compared and analysed for similarities. The results of this study should help clarify the motivations for certification of the forestry sector in Portugal and enable decision makers with the necessary tools to continuously improve management policies, improving sustainable management of forests in Portugal and worldwide.