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BIOFORE
TEXT
VESA PUOSKARI
PHOTOGRAPHY
UPM
TRACING
THE SOURCE
OF WOOD
F
orest certifications define exactly how forest
owners have to look after their land property and
how to harvest forests in a sustainable manner.
“At the same time, forest certifications together
with Chain of Custody model guarantee UPM’s customers and
consumers that the whole value chain is operating according
to the same principles,” explains
Sami Oksa
, Environmental
Manager, Wood Sourcing and Forestry, fromUPM.
UPMpromotes all credible forest certification schemes,
including the two major international schemes PEFC and
FSC. The SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative), which is the
most common system in the US, is endorsed by PEFC.
“Overall, the objective of all schemes is to ensure that
forests are managed in an economically, environmentally
and socially sustainable way”.
UPMowns a total 1.1 million hectares of forestry land
in Finland, the UK, Uruguay, andMinnesota, USA. All
UPM-owned own forests and the majority of private forests
under UPMmanagement are certified.
Approximately 80% of wood fibres used by UPMoriginates
from certified forests.
Communicating sustainability
UPMutilises Chain of Custody (CoC) certification – a wood
fibre tracking systemproviding a traceable link between
forests and end products. UPMhas created its own UPM
Generic Chain of Custody model which fulfils both PEFC and
FSC certification requirements.
According to Oksa, the system is used to verify that
procured wood is legal and doesn’t come from controversial
sources like nature protection areas or violate the rights of
indigenous people, for example.
UPMutilises forest certification logos for communicating
the sustainability and certification status of timber, paper
and other wood-based products to customers.
“PEFC and FSC logos can be used in various products
on condition that the whole supply chain has a certification.
Thanks to the system the origin of wood used for products
can be verified all way down to customers who buy the end
products”, Oksa concludes.