1 Million hectares of state forests FSC certified – WWF receives acknowledgements
On November 2nd 2005 the National Forestry Administration received the certificate for the FSC certification of 1 million hectares of state forests from 8 counties of Romania. The certificate awarded with 18 conditions and 5 recommendations is at the same time an international recognition and a constraint for the state forestry administration (NFA) to improve responsible forest management in the following years.
Changes of the technical management standards and of the forestry legislation are expected, in order to address the conditions mentioned in the assessment report presented by the FSC accredited certification body.
 „I also want to acknowledge the support given by IKEA and by the WWF Danube Carpathian Programme” said Mr. Simion Maftei, General Manager of NFA during the public ceremony held on this occasion.
The evaluation process for the forest management certification took almost one year and a half. During this time, presentations and training seminars were organized by the WWF DCP team for the heads of units and forestry engineers from the 8 counties targeted for certification.
A full information package on sustainable forestry was also provided to all the local forestry units throughout the country. All these activities were developed in the framework of the WWF/IKEA Forestry Support Project in Romania and Bulgaria.
NFA is connecting this certification process with the foreign market demand for certified timber and with the interest of Romanian processing companies to create and promote products made of certified wood. The declarations made during the certificate awarding ceremony lead to the possibility of continuing the certification of new areas from the state forests, after the completion of the forestry restitution in Romania.