Certification to the Australian Forestry Standard for Small-Scale Growers

AFG is leading an Australia-wide project, Supporting Certification for Small-Scale Growers under the Australian Forestry Standard, to proactively support small-scale growers in embracing the Australian Forestry Standard.

This multi-phase project will support forest growers - both individuals and groups - in achieving certification under the Australian Forestry Standard through a low cost, simple, accessible and efficient compliance regime.

An integral component of the project is the development and application of self-assessment checklists that growers can use to identify the extent to which their existing management practices conform to the Standard. These checklists will be tested by individual growers and groups of growers, and through this application, be refined further for application beyond this pilot project.

The project provides the self-assessment checklists and a decision support system for small-scale growers to consider what is required to achieve certification to the Standard.

The development of the booklet and generic templates (see links below) draws on leading work by the UK-based ProForest, and in particular its recent publication, Group certification for forests: a practical guide (2002).

The Australian Forestry Standard

The Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) is available from the Standards Australia web site - www.standards.com.au - AS4708(Int) - 2003.

For small-scale growers,the Standard has a Supplement, titled: The Australian Forestry Standard - Guidance for small native forest and plantation ownerships (AS4708 Supplement 3(Int) - 2003).