Proceedings of the Online Workshop on “NCCF-FM Certification Standard”
Proceedings of Online Workshop on Forest Certification organized by NCCF in collaboration with Maharashtra Forest Department held on 23rd July 2020
BACKGROUND
NCCF (www.nccf.in) is a network of experts, professionals and stakeholders actively engaged in diverse conservation activities including, development of India specific and globally benchmarked sustainability certification standards for various constituents of our natural resource base as its core working area. It is also proactive in policy advocacy, training and capacity building and multi-stakeholder engagement. NCCF is a member of IUCN and has got Observer Status in UNCCD, as a Civil Society Organization.
A committee constituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forest, GOI, for forest certification had strongly recommended that India should have its own scheme of certification. There has therefore been a felt need in India to have an indigenous scheme of forest certification with international benchmarking. NCCF came into existence as a Society in 2015 and took up the work of developing the country specific and globally aligned certification standard for India through a multi-stakeholder group formed following the UN norms of standard setting process, called the Standard Development Group (SDG) for NCCF Forest Management Certification Standard. The standard developed relies upon the outcomes of the Bhopal India Process of the IIFM and takes into consideration the international best practices in certification while is also in sink with objectives of National Forest policy and provisions of the National Working Plan Code 2014.
NCCF’s Certification Standard for Forest Management has been endorsed by the globally recognized certification organization, the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), giving it an international recognition. The standard scheme is being used by many states for certification of forest management.
NCCF is working in active collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the State Forest Departments, Indian Council of Forest Research and Education, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts, ITC, Quality Council of India, National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies, The International Centre for Research in Agroforestry, International Center for Tropical Agriculture, International Union for Conservation of Nature, The International Centre for Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests Integrated Mountain Development, Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, Global Green Growth Institute, GICIA, Wildlife Institute of India, World Wide Fund for Nature India, World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Food and Agriculture Organization , United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and many more.
NCCF has also developed a certification scheme for Tress outside Forest (ToF), the first of its kind not only in India but anywhere in the world, that is intended to cover certification of agroforestry plantations, urban trees and forests, scattered trees in farmland and homesteads, trees along roads, canals, railway lines and in orchards and gardens. NCCF is also developing standards for non-wood forest produce, protected areas and wetlands, quality planting material, ecotourism, biomass & biofuels and land degradation neutrality. NCCF is also developing a Carbon Registry-India a carbon offset market mechanism comprising of GHG emissions reduction and removal enhancement projects and associated methodologies
Please Click the link for proceedings of the workshop
For More Information contact:
Mr. A.K. Srivastava
Director General, Network for Certification and Conservation of Forests
Address: 711, 7th Floor, Matrix Tower, Sector 132, Noida 201304, U.P, Email: dg@nccf.in