Analysis of forest certification uptake

Lead Institute WF Institute of Forestry

Forest development in FSC-certified wet forest

Analysis of cross-national variables influencing the uptake of forest certification.

Globally, the uptake of forest certification schemes (such as FSC or PEFC) varies widely. The vast majority of certified forests are located in industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere. However, some developing and emerging countries also show some progress in introducing forest certification, while elsewhere certification systems hardly exist. There has been little systematic research to date into the reasons for the varying geographical distribution of forest certification in countries around the world.

Background and Objective

The goal of the project is to examine across countries those factors that are assumed in the scientific literature to have an influence on the extent of certified forest area.

Target Group

Policy, Science

Approach

A panel data model is constructed to empirically clarify the research question. With the help of this model one can make statements about the relationship between certified forest area and appropriate economic and institutional explanatory variables.

Data and Methods

The data are taken from publicly available databases (e.g. FAO, World Bank) and the literature.

Our Research Questions

-Is there any evidence on why forest certification uptake varies around the world?

Are there country-specific factors associated with the extent of certified forest area?

Preliminary Results

The preliminary results show that a number of factors are significantly associated with the prevalence of forest certification. These include, for example, the level of economic development, the export propensity of the forest sector, the level of activity of environmental non-governmental organizations, and the institutional set-up of the country.