Forest Certification

Forest Certification to a recognised internationally accredited certification standard allows forest owners provide independent verification that their woodlands are sustainably managed and that all environmental requirements are being met.

Two International certification schemes are employed in Ireland since 2011 and 2012 respectively (see www.pefc.org and www.fsc.org ), and their respective Standards include rules and regulations around forest management certification, chain of custody certification, trademark use and group certification. Such International Standards and associated National Standards are subject to revisions and reviews and the FSC® Ireland Standard and the PEFC Irish Forest Certification Standard (IFCS) both underwent revisions in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

Forest Certification in Ireland and the case for Group Certification

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has funded a number of feasibility studies in relation to forest certification since 2016.

The first of these was the DAFM funded pilot project ‘Services to Develop a Group Certification Template for Private Forest Owners’, undertaken between 2017-2018, which resulted in two certification groups being established and certified by the end of the 18-month project. This project identified the need for group certification and as part of this project a valuable information resource was developed (www.groupcertification.ie).

This website contains general information on forest certification, including links to the current national standards, detailed information on group certification, certification compliant forest management documents and templates and an extensive resource library for forest managers and forest owners with links to resources relating to forest certification requirements, such as links to Forest Services guidelines, Health and Safety guidelines, Plant Health, Habitats and Biodiversity resources and many other useful information links. Website statistics show that there has been a considerable increase in traffic to this website and information resource year on year.

A subsequent DAFM funded study ‘A Study on Private Forest Certification in Ireland’ was concluded in 2022 and the report outlined that currently less than 6% of the private forest estate is certified. Given the fact that the All Ireland Roundwood Production Forecast 2021-2040 predicts that in the next few years the roundwood supply from the private sector will exceed that of Coillte, there is now an urgent need for forest certification in the private sector. The report identified a series of barriers to certification, including financial, administration, lack of knowledge of certification, size of the forest and public consultation. It concluded that ‘the only sustainable solution that adequately addresses the certification barriers is a National Group Scheme.’

For forest owners to buy into forest certification, a long-term co-ordinated and cost-effective approach to group certification is required, based on a vision for forest certification at both sectoral and government level, backed by support measures and national policy.

In December 2025 the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine appointed an Irish National Group Forest Certification Board. The purpose of the industry-led board is to put in place measures to scale up the area of forests that are certified nationally.

In addition the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (the Department) implemented a national system (iPLAN) for producing Forest Management Plans (FMPs) to facilitate good forest practice in an efficient and cost-effective manner, which aims to encourage the best and most sustainable use of the national forest resource.