The PEFC Governance Review, published today, outlines 39 recommendations aimed at further improving the effectiveness of the world’s largest certification scheme. The review will support the restructuring of the organisations’ governance to ensure that PEFC International meets its objective as set out in the 2007 Strategic Plan. The PEFC Board of Directors has carefully considered the recommendations in its last meeting and accepts them as a valuable contribution to and follow up on the PEFC strategy launched last October. PEFC says it “is pleased to respond positively to the first recommendation, which advises PEFC to publish the governance review to validate its commitment to transparency.
Furthermore, the Board has instructed PEFC to prepare changes to its statues and other documents to enable the creation of a Stakeholder Forum. This Forum is being created to provide stakeholders with whom PEFC has until now not been able to engage with successfully with rights and responsibilities in the organisation. The General Assembly, which will take place in Canberra, Australia at the end of October 2008, will decide about the creation and exact set-up of this new body. “We have now the mandate to implement some of the operational elements recommended in the Governance Review”, said Ben Gunneberg, Secretary General of PEFC International. “And we are currently consulting with our members on these and expect to be able to consider other elements in due course.” The review was facilitated by London-based Z/Yen Group, which convened the international governance review panel to undertake the review.
The panel, chaired by Lord Jamie Lindsay of UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service), included Björn Andrén of Holmen Skog AB, John Dee of Planet Ark, Hans Drielsma of Forestry Tasmania, Dr. Maharaj Muthoo of the Hari Environment & Development Society, Frederick O’Regan of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Dirk Teegelbekkers of PEFC Deutschland e.V. “We are very pleased with the work of the panel. I’d like to use this opportunity to again thank them and all other participants in the review process for their excellent contribution”, Mr. Gunneberg added. “We also welcome further feedback from interested partners while we are considering how best to follow up on the recommendations.” The review can be downloaded from http://www.pefc.org/internet/resources/5_1184_1877_file.2187.pdf
