PEFC UK Forest Management Standard

PEFC forest management requirements in the UK are based on the UK Forestry Standard (complemented by the 1967 Forestry Act), which forms the basis for legal and sustainable management, and the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS), the national forest certification standard, and further defined in the PEFC UK Certification Scheme for Sustainable Forest Management.

• UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS)
  The UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS) is a certification standard which sets out the requirements which woodland owners and managers and certification authorities can use to certify woodland management in the United Kingdom. The standard is the product of an inclusive and transparent process which has involved a balanced representation from the UK forestry and environmental community. It has been designed to ensure that it reflects the requirements of the Government’s UK Forestry Standard and through this the guidelines adopted by European Forestry Ministers at Helsinki in 1993 and Lisbon in 1998.
• UK Indicators of Sustainable Forestry
  UK Indicators of Sustainable Forestry provide information about the present state, and trends over time, of woodlands and their management, rather than measures of driving forces (pressures) or responses. They enable the government, non-government organisations, the business community and society to track the contribution that our forests are making to our quality of life. They  inform us about undesirable trends so that we can decide how to act.

Within this setting, the PEFC UK Scheme has been constructed on the basis of the "Pan-European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management" and the "Pan-European Operational Level Guidelines for Sustainable Forest Management" adopted as Resolution L2 at the 3rd Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe.