Announcement of the final workshop for the validation of the forest certification standard PAFC Congo Bassin (PAFC CB) October, 26th and 27th, 2020

Indeed, given the restrictions related to the management of Covid19 and the related constraints in terms of travel for some members of the Forum, the option of a videoconference workshop was finally adopted.

Thus, participants from each country (Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville, Gabon, France, Switzerland) will meet in one place to take part in the workshop and discuss with those from other countries.

 SCOPE OF THE WORKSHOP

This second regional workshop of the Forum organized in the frame of the development of the PAFC CB certification standard aims to:

-validate the forest management certification standard of the PAFC CB certification scheme;

- adopt the PEFC chain of custody standard as well as the standard for the use of the logo and the requirements for chain of custody certification bodies for the PAFC CB certification scheme.

See the ToR of the workshop here

STEPS PRIOR TO THIS FINAL VALIDATION WORKSHOP

From 25^th to 29^th November 2019 was held in Libreville, the first regional workshop of the Forum for the development of the standards of the PAFC Congo Basin certification scheme.

During this workshop, the first tasks of the Forum were to:

• set up the Forum bureau;
• adopt the procedure for developing PAFC CB certification standards, as appropriate, based on comments received from Stakeholders (PP).

Forum members then had to :

• analyze working documents, including the forest management certification standard made available to them two weeks in advance;
• validate a first version of this PAFC standard.

 The first version was subject to a 60-day public consultation between December 2019 and February 2020. Comments received from stakeholders led to the formulation of proposals for changes to some requirements.

The version of the standard submitted in public consultation incorporating the proposed modifications has been tested to assess the relevance, auditability and applicability of the requirements.

The comments and observations of the auditors gave rise to some new propositions of modifications. All proposed changes have been sent to Forum members. They were discussed during a teleconference at the end of which they were adopted and / or reformulated before adoption.

The version resulting from this exchange was submitted to a second public consultation and the process mentioned above was also followed and the proposed modifications were adopted and / or reformulated by the Forum. It is this latest version of the standard that will be submitted for validation during the workshop.

REMINDER: WHAT IS THE "FORUM"?

The PAFC Congo Basin Forum (or Forum) is the temporary consultation body responsible for developing by consensus, the forest management standard.

OBJECTIVE AND MISSION OF THE FORUM

The FORUM must recommend a final version of the standard, established by consensus, for approval by ATIBT.

As part of the process of developing the PAFC CB certification standard, Forum members are expected to meet in two regional workshops to share and produce the PAFC BC standards. They can also exchange / consult each other by email or other means.