A cultural icon reborn: Notre-Dame Cathedral and PEFC Project Certification

Successful pilot projects to certify rubber producers large and small, and the supply chain companies that process rubber, set a new standard for environmental sustainability in the rubber industry. On 22 September, PEFC will hold a webinar to help other rubber producers follow their lead. Natural rubber represents a USD 300 billion supply chain. Most of this rubber is produced by independent smallholders in Southeast Asia, on the borders of some of the world’s most ecologically important forest areas. Sourcing this rubber sustainably helps protect these forests and is a necessary step towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals before 2030. Sustainable forest management and chain of custody certification are relatively new for the rubber industry. But early adopters are already on the move. We have piloted certification for both natural rubber and rubberwood across Southeast Asia. Working with growers of all sizes, we have developed group certification solutions that allow smallholders to band together and prove their sustainable practices. These early adopters demonstrate that certification is entirely achievable. By getting certified, they both open up market access for their rubber, protect adjacent forests and improve their own livelihood.

The sustainable management of India’s forests is set to take a significant step forward next week with the launch of the development process of the Indian national forest certification system. This launch, an important step towards PEFC-recognized forest management certification in the country, will be part of an international conference on forest certification in New Delhi on Monday. “In light of India’s vast forest resource, burgeoning economy, and strategic position in international markets, there is great opportunity to further position India’s forestry sector on sustainability, especially through broader uptake of forest certification,” said Sarah Price, Head of Projects and Development at PEFC International.

UPM continues its long-standing co-operation with the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) to prevent eutrophication in the Baltic Sea and in Finnish waters. "Preventing eutrophication requires collaboration between various parties. We are able to utilise nutritious sidestreams from other operators at our biological treatment plants. This way, we can replace nutrients essential to industrial treatment plants and reduce the amount of nutrients ending up into waters at a local level", explains Eerik Ojala, Director, Responsibility, Production support. In 2016, UPM set a responsibility target to use only recycled nutrients at its wastewater treatment plants by 2030. "So far, our work has progressed well: in 2018, already 22 per cent of all nutrients used by us were recycled. In other words, we are utilising nutritious sidestreams from other local operators in our operations", Eerik Ojala clarifies. Click Read More below for additional detail.