FSC Interim Forest Stewardship Standard is open for Public Consultation

FSC INTERIM FOREST STEWARDSHIP STANDARD FOR TURKIYE

About FSC and FSC Türkiye

The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC®) – a nonprofit organization that covers more than 160 million hectares of certified forests worldwide – provides the world’s most credible sustainable forestry solution, trusted by NGOs, consumers, and businesses to help promote healthy and resilient forests, for all, forever. FSC provides a system for voluntary accreditation and independent third-party certification. This system allows certificate holders to market their products and services as the result of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable forest management.

Today, the majority of Türkiye’s production forests are FSC certified, with the certified area exceeding 11 million hectares, Turkey has the second largest FSC certified area in Europe. Since 2020, more than 970 companies have doubled their number and committed to responsible sourcing with the FSC Chain of Custody certification, making Türkiye one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Operating in more than 60 countries worldwide, FSC has established the FSC Türkiye National Representation as of May 1, 2024.

About locally adapted Forest Stewardship Standards

The FSC Principles and Criteria for Forest Stewardship provide an internationally recognized standard for responsible forest management. However, any international standard for forest management needs to be adapted at the national level in order to reflect the diverse legal, social and geographical conditions of forests in different parts of the world. The FSC Principles and Criteria therefore require the addition of indicators that are adapted to national conditions to be implemented at the forest management unit level. The FSC Principles and Criteria (P&C V5-3) together with the International Generic Indicators (IGIs V2-1) provide the basis for the development of locally adapted Forest Stewardship Standards (FSS). 

Draft Interim Forest Stewardship Standard for Türkiye (IFSS – Türkiye)

On 15th of March 2023, FSC published FSC Principles and Criteria Version 5-3, Türkiye presently implementing Version 4, aims to transfer the standard to Version 5-3 within 2025. As part of this effort FSC Interim Forest Stewardship Standard for Türkiye (IFSS – Türkiye) has been drafted for public consultation as described in FSC-PRO-60-007 EN Structure, Content and Development of Interim National Standards. (for more information:

https://connect.fsc.org/document-centre/documents/resource/318

About Public Consultation

We invite stakeholders from all sectors to review the draft and submit comments. This includes forest managers, community groups, NGOs, certification bodies, researchers, government institutions, private sector actors and other interested individuals or organizations. 

Stakeholder input will help ensure the final standard reflects local realities and meets FSC’s requirements. This consultation is part of FSC’s commitment to inclusive and participatory standard development. 

The consultation focuses on: 

Relevance and clarity of adapted indicators

Appropriateness of proposed national thresholds

Applicability of indicators to different forest types and ownerships

Specific guidance for NTFPs and SLIMFs

Any missing or unnecessary requirements

The public consultation will last for 30 days between 09 May 2025 – 09 June 2025. The interested parties could easily register to the platform on the link below and give feedback on relevant sections of the draft IFSS-Türkiye. The feedback can be provided only through this platform, and it can be filled in Turkish.

Public Consultation Platform:

https://consultation-platform.fsc.org/en/consultations/take/cf94396559105

Public Consultation Information Webinar

FSC Türkiye will organize a webinar on major changes in the standard and how to give feedback through the platform. The webinar will take place on 13 of May at 10 AM. To register the webinar please follow the link below:

https://forms.office.com/e/d2t1zBtNxh

For any questions, please contact us at t.durmus@fsc.org