OREANDA-NEWS. April 12, 2011. The FSC certified forest area in Russia crossed the 30 million hectares milestone in March, up from 20 million hectares in 2008. Currently 30.5 million hectares are certified to the FSC standards in Russia, the second largest FSC certified forest area in the world after Canada, as FSC reported.

This milestone confirms the phenomenal growth of forest certification in Russia since the first certificate was issued to Kosihinsky Rural Forestry in 2000. With 7-8 million ha in the process of being certified in the Russian Far East, and similar amounts in the European part of Russia, FSC certification is expected to grow even more in the near future. In February, the Russian timber company Ilim Group was awarded the second largest FM certificate ever covering more than 3.7 million hectares of certified forest area.

Capitalizing on the current growth in certification and increasing recognition of FSC among the Government and Russian consumers, leading retailer IKEA recently approved a project to strengthen FSC in Russia and help the FSC National Office to overcome existing financial and technical constraints. In particular, the project will contribute to the preparation of a new set of national standards and support the harmonization of FSC requirements and Russian forestry norms through a legally binding process.