Effectiveness and Economic Viability of Forest Certification: A Systematic Review

Abstract

In the face of accelerating forest degradation and deforestation, forest certification emerged in the early 1990s as a voluntary and market-based mechanism to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests. A key goal of forest certification is to reduce forest degradation and deforestation while enhancing forest enterprises’ economic viability. However, whether forest certification contributes to meeting such goals is unclear. We conducted a systematic literature review on such impacts, reviewing empirical studies published between 1993 and 2021 regarding the impact of forest certification on forest degradation, deforestation, and economic viability. Drawing on 98 empirical studies, we analyzed these impacts and provide an overview of the studies’ findings in terms of geographical distribution, indicators considered, and the certification schemes assessed. We found that the impact of forest certification on deforestation has been specifically understudied (n = 11) compared to forest degradation (n = 42) and economic viability (n = 45). On deforestation, studies have focused on Africa (45%) and South America (36%); on forest degradation, studies have focused on Europe (40%) and Asia (20%); on economic viability, studies have focused on Asia (33%), Europe (33%) and South America (20%). We found positive-neutral (54%; 46%) impacts on deforestation, positive-neutral-mixed (70%; 21%; 9%) impacts on forest degradation and positive-negative-mixed (50%; 33%; 17%) impacts on economic viability. We did not find clear evidence that impact is linked to a specific region or certification scheme. However, scarce evidence on the impacts of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the application of various methods, and site-specific indicators in the individual studies challenge such comparison and hamper the generalization of findings. This systematic review provides an overview of the state-of-the-art research on the effectiveness and economic viability of forest certification, evaluates and discusses the current evidence base, and concludes with future research lines.

Socioeconomic and environmental impact of forest certification in ejidos and communities of the state of Durango, Mexico

“…In addition, they are not likely to have training in various topics of culture and education, social integration is less than in certified ejidos, and workers do not have safety equipment in any of their areas. This study supports the need to have data on the impacts of forest certification of cases of a specific territory in order to be compared with regional scales as recommended by Wolff and Schweinle (2022).…”

Can Forest Certification Schemes Really Drive Economic Value to European Forest Owners?

“…However, despite variations in forest coverage across countries, statistics showed that between 2000 and 2018, the quality of more than 60% of the forest in Europe has increased [3]. Forest certification has made significant progress in Europe in promoting sustainable forest management practices [21], a concept that has been growing in acceptance and popularity in both national forest plans and international forest policy [40]. Our results demonstrated that the pattern observed within European countries in relation to forest coverage is not yet fully reflected in the proportion of certified forest.…”

“…Forest certification was established as a tool to promote sustainable forest management practices and to reduce the negative impacts of exploiting forests and their ecosystems [6,21]. The sustainable forest management framework should contribute to the global balance of ecological, economic, and social needs by making sure that forest resources are managed in a way that satisfies current demands without endangering the needs of future generations [22,23].…”

Motivations and Trade-Offs for Sustainability in Family Forestry and Tourism Firms: A Cross-National Survey

“…Understanding why profit-seeking firms engage in sustainable behavior has been an important focus of sustainability literature [13,14], yet there is no consensus around whether sustainability improves a firm's financial performance [15,16]. However, evidence suggests positive relationships between sustainability and financial performance, with a number of mediators [17,18].…”