Ecosystem management of forests in Russia: Place of the forest certification

In contradistinction to international systems, the Russian Mandatory certification system (MFC) provides for a mandatory certification of stumpage sale timber and secondary forest resources on conformity to the existing Forest legislation, the executive acts of which, with their ecological requirements, have been widely discussed and are agreed with the Russian Ministry of natural resources and the State Committee on environment protection. The MFC system includes a Central board of forest certification (CBFC) and accredited MFC centres. Such centres would be organisations independent from forest management units, forest users and consumers, and possessing experience in the forest management running and use (scientific, inventory and planning establishments). Thus, the created MFC system allows to estimate conformity of the forest management and use to the clauses of legal acts, and thus to provide the local level of forest management with an effective tool of ecosystem-minded forest management.