The ongoing biodiversity crisis has inspired legislated and market-based initiatives to preserve species and ecosystems. Forest certification is a market-based approach to forest sustainability that encourages socially and environmentally responsible practices. The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a prominent certification scheme in the United States and Canada that offers several standards, including the Fiber Sourcing Standard (FSS), which extends the reach of sustainable forestry beyond certified forestlands. The authors of this study, including NatureServe's Chief Scientist Healy Hamilton and Vice President for Data and Methods Regan Smyth, assessed the efficacy of the SFI FSS as a conservation tool for biodiversity management in the SE United States through the implementation of forestry best management practices over space and time. They found these practices are successfully being implemented in a region of high biodiversity with numerous imperiled species.
Impacts of Sustainable Forestry Initiative Fiber Sourcing on the Forestry Best Management Practices and Biodiversity Conservation in the SE United States
Trees, Forests and People
Citation
Karnatz, Caroline, et al. "Impacts of Sustainable Forestry Initiative Fiber Sourcing on the Forestry Best Management Practices and Biodiversity Conservation in the SE United States." Trees, Forests and People (2022): 100349.