Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation (UPFC) has taken the lead to get NCCF’s first certificate for Forest Management Certification, involving 13 forest divisions with an area of around 3.5 lakh hectares. UPFC has shown the way to other State Forest Departments, State Forest development corporations, and Forest enterprises to opt for this kind of certification. UPFC is also contemplating taking certification of 28 plantation divisions in UP.
NCCF is planning to organize a small ceremony at Lucknow, UP to celebrate the award of this certificate to UPFC, wherein Hon’ble Forest Minister; Principal Secretary, Forests; PCCF & Hoff; senior functionaries of the Forest Department and the Corporation, representatives from the relevant government departments, members from industry and civil society, etc. would be invited to attend.
NCCF’s Forest Management Certification Scheme has been endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), giving it international recognition.
NCCF has signed an MoU with the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) for providing accreditation services to the Certification Bodies for operating upon NCCF-PEFC FM Scheme. NCCF and NABCB have put in place requirements for CBs to become eligible to operate upon NCCF-PEFC FM Scheme.
The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has advised all States to take up certification in some forest divisions having a reasonable economic activity like extraction of timber, NWFP and bamboo, etc. In pursuance of this, many states have identified some forest divisions for certification. Tripura Forest Department and Karnataka Forest Department have invited tenders from the Certification Bodies to take up certification of few forest divisions in their states.