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In recognition of World Wildlife Day earlier this month, Global-Mark is proud to do it’s part towards recognising and supporting our wildlife. The Cambridge Dictionary defines wildlife as:“animals and plants that grow independently of people, usually in natural conditions”. Some of these natural conditions will include forests. In fact, forests are “ecosystems dominated by trees, or at least where trees are major components of an ecosystem”Institute of Foresters of Australia Well, amongst many other things, Global-Mark provides certification services for both management of forests and also separately for the products and services derived from these. You have probably heard of the saying, “cannot see the wood for the trees”? These internationally recognised certifications consider that forests are much more than trees and also much more than the wood in the trees. Indeed, the IUCN (International Union Conservation of Nature) comments that, “Forests are globally important in regulating climate and locally important in sustaining communities and supporting biodiversity”. The requirements embedded within the certification standards that Global-Mark is accredited for address many things, including protection of forest landscapes, CO2 emissions, habitat and several other biodiversity considerations. Our audit teams have to check that organisations seeking certification meet the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It is the secretariat of CITES coupled with other relevant United Nations organizations that provides traction for World Wildlife Day When our audit teams review a forest products organisation and assess their products, we evaluate that due diligence has been applied to all material from forests entering the organisations production or distribution system. The aim of such due diligence is to minimise risk of products originating from forests where wildlife or other factors have not been responsibly or sustainably managed. Global-Mark’s scope of accreditation is currently Australia, New Zealand and parts of Oceania. However, it’s small team of forest and forest products auditors has much wider experience, and maybe as time passes we will be able to extend this scope? Wayne Tibbits, Forestry Programme Manager  Image above: This photo is of a beetle finding a home on the trunk of a tree in a Global-Mark AFS certified forest.
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