Kristjan Tonisson (right) awards the FSC certificate to Vladimir Fast, director general of STF-Impex Company

Application of the Pskov model for more intensive and sustainable forest management enables forest companies to pursue independent forest certification and, as a result, obtain a certificate of conformity with international standards of sustainable forest management.

In September 2003, the PMF project’s partner company STF-Strug, one of Stora Enso subsidiaries in Northwest Russia, has received an FSC certificate for good forest stewardship. Certification was then achieved for 18,400 hectares of the model forest area. At that time STF-Strug was the fifth forest company in Russia certified under the scheme of the Forest Stewardship Council.

The independent certification assessment was conducted by a team of specialists representing the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest alliance, including Kristjan Tõnisson – lead auditor, Estonia; Ola Bengtson – forest ecologist, Sweden; and Roudolf Soungourov – forest protection and silviculture specialist, Russia. Certification assessment was carried out in accordance with the Draft SmartWood Baltic Interim Standards.

The certification team provided an in-depth analysis of the operational practices of STF-Strug Company and their compliance with FSC Principles and Criteria. In addition, independent auditors outlined perspectives for improving the company’s performance. They reviewed a number of documents and procedures developed with assistance from the Pskov Model Forest, including the Landscape Ecological Forest Management Plan; methodology for calculating forest use volumes; and the system of biodiversity conservation. The assessment procedure also included meetings with the company’s stakeholders and the local community.

Upon attaining FSC certification STF-Strug Company got the right to use the FSC label for public marketing and advertising, thus obtaining better commercial opportunities in the environmentally sensitive markets of the European Union. The process of independent certification proved to be an outstanding learning experience and a powerful incentive for further development of sound forest management practices.

The 2004 and 2005 annual audits confirmed that STF-Strug Company is working towards improving its performance and stays in line with FSC standards. Moreover, the company achieved independent certification of the remaining part of its lease area and became an FSC chain-of-custody certificate holder.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) International >>
SmartWood Interim Forest Management Standard for Pskov Region in Russia >>