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Gunns are the first
Australian organisation
to achieve Forest Certification
The concept of Forest Certification has been gaining prominence
at a time of increasing public concern about forests and forest
management around the world. Customers of Gunns, both domestically
and internationally are now requesting independent verification
of performance in relation to environmental sustainability.
In line with this, Australia began development of the Australian
Forestry Standard (AFS) in 1999. Community, industry, expert
scientists, ENGO's and government representatives came togetherto
draft this Standard, which was formally launched in February
2003.
Gunns was audited by international certification body Det Norske
Veritas (DNV), who are accredited under Joint Accreditation
Systems of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) in order to certify
against the Standard.
Integration of the AFS within Gunns builds on a solid framework
which already includes ISO 14001 Environmental Management System
accreditation, the Tasmanian Forest Practices Act and the Tasmanian
Regional Forest Agreement.
The AFS has been developed in line with international sustainability
criteria to ensure transferability into the international market
place, and is currently undergoing assessment in order to become
mutually recognised under the Pan European Forest Certification
(PEFC) framework.
The AFS will support a Chain of Custody standard which allows
labelling of wood products to occur which is an important mechanism
in independently communicating to our customers and their customers
that the product being supplied has derived from sustainable
origins.
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