As a contract customer of Metsäliitto Cooperative, you can join Metsä Group’s FSC group certificate and get your forests certified free of charge. If you would like to learn more about FSC certification, you can start by contacting your own forest specialist.
The forest specialist will agree with you on the measures required by FSC concerning special forestry measures and the exclusion of land from forestry use.
This stage also clarifies whether Metsä Group’s nature site service would be useful for certification purposes.
You will also agree on FSC compensation and any use of the FSC nature site service.
FSC forest certification requires that forest owners permanently exclude at least five per cent of the surface area of forestland from forestry use. If your estate does not have five per cent of suitable land to exclude from forestry use, and if you are our contract customer, you have the option of making use of our FSC nature site service.
In this service, Metsä Group leases valuable nature sites to its contract customers who belong to the FSC group and whose estates do not offer suitable sites. This means that the forest owner does not need to protect commercial forest and ensures that protection measures target more valuable sites instead. The goal is to create a network of interconnected protected areas to form larger entities under protection.
The FSC nature site service enables protection to be outsourced partly or entirely. The cost-free service is available to our contract customers with at least 500 ha* of forest. If the forest estate is home to valuable nature sites, as defined by FSC, these must always be conserved. They cannot be ignored through the use of the nature site service.
*The five per cent protection requirement does not apply to forest owners with less than 20 ha of forest.
At least five per cent of the surface area of forestland on the forest estate is permanently excluded from forestry use. FSC defines the kind of forest areas that must always be conserved. In addition, five per cent of the forest area must be designated as special sites, where the primary goal of forestry is to protect the environment, for example, by producing robust decaying wood or by maintaining species of various ages in the forest.
During felling, at least ten retention trees are left in place per hectare. Retention trees must have a diameter breast height of more than 20 centimetres, and if possible, they are left standing in groups of different forest species. If found in the felling area, at least 20 robust decaying trees are left in place per hectare. The trees that are most valuable in terms of biodiversity, such as hollow trees, nesting trees of predatory birds, and aspen with a diameter in excess of 40 centimetres found in coniferous forests, are always left in place.
Natural waterways and small bodies of water are lined with buffer zones, the specifics of which are determined by the terrain and type of soil. Around ponds and lakes, the zone must be at least 10 metres wide. The buffer zones along streams, rivers and seashores must be at least 15 metres wide, and those around springs, 20 metres wide.
In addition to habitats that are defined in law as being important for the biodiversity of forest nature, the FSC requirements also specify other sites that promote biodiversity and must always be conserved. Examples of these include forests rich in decaying wood, alluvial forests, as well as bogs that are in a natural or semi-natural state in terms of water resources management.
The FSC requirements concerning forest use and management are reviewed and updated in extensive cooperation with stakeholders every five years. To learn more about the current requirements and status of updates, please visit the FSC website.
Logo license of Metsäliitto Cooperative's FSC group certification: FSC-C111942