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Canada:Huge Forest Certification Deal
¡¾2002.10.03¡¿

Huge Forest Certification Deal

Canadian Forest Products Ltd (Canfor) of Vancouver has just received the ¡®green light¡¯ for what must be one of the biggest single forest certification deals of all time. Canfor has received Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification on 3.18 million hectares of forest operations in the Prince George and Quesnel Timber Supply Areas and 180,000 hectares included in Tree Farm Licence 30 near Prince George in British Columbia. The certification follows a third-party audit by KPMG Performance Registrar Inc. It is the first SFI certification for Canfor and the largest, by area, in Canada.
"We are committed to having certification in place for all of our tenures" said David Emerson, president and CEO. With the latest SFI certification, Canfor now has 63% of its tenure area governed by certified SFM plans, which include 73% of its annual harvest volume.
Launched by the American Forest & Paper Association in 1995, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative programme is a standard of environmental principles, objectives, and performance measures that integrates the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, and water quality and a wide range of other conservation goals.

Kinleith Restructure Confirmed
Following a prolonged legal wrangle and negotiations with site unions over Carter Holt Harvey¡¯s plans to halve the 700 workforce at its Kinleith mill, the company yesterday confirmed it would proceed with the plan announced in May. Alternative union proposals aimed at reducing the job losses "had not been able to generate the sustainable savings and changes required to give the mill a strong future," said Kinleith chief executive Brice Landman. "The difference between the company and union proposals was NZ$88 million over five years."

News Source:NZFORESTY

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