Sustainable forest management (SFM)certification emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as a mechanismto promote responsible forest use and as an alternative toboycotts of forest products amid growing concerns aboutforest degradation and destruction. Since then, forestcertification has evolved into a multifaceted market-basedmechanism to promote compliance with sets of ecological,social, and economic criteria to enhance sustainability.Commodity certification has evolved from its origins as ameans of verifying organic and environmentally sustainableproduction; issues like social equity, transparency,participation, and legal compliance have become increasinglyrelevant. One commonality in all certification schemes isthat they are voluntary, market-driven ('willing buyer,willing seller') schemes aimed at transformationalchange toward more sustainable production and consumptionpatterns within existing market structures. This documentpresents the state of the current knowledge on how to assessimpacts of forest management certification. It alsodiscusses the design, implementation, and use of forestmanagement certification. It focuses on methodologies toprovide evidence-based information on the environmentalimpacts of certification. The concluding chapter brieflydiscusses the economic and social impacts. The objective isto identify areas where further methodological work isneeded to improve understanding on the impacts ofcertification. Many benefits of certification, like improvedinformation on management practices by outside stakeholders(for example, consumers, governments) are undisputed. At thesame time, there is less knowledge on whether or notpractices at field level have changed and how much. Althoughimproved information as such is a valuable outcome, morequantitative information on environmental impacts will be welcome.
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