Overview

The mark of responsible forestry
SA-FM/COC-002151
© 1996 Forest Stewardship Council A.C.
 

In March 2009 Mpingo Conservation & Development Initiative was awarded a certificate by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) for the community managed forests it supports in South-Eastern Tanzania. The certificate awarded is a group certificate meaning that the actual forests are managed by group members - in this case rural communities - and the certificate manager - MCDI - manages the relationship with the certificate issuer - FSC. The group certificate design is efficient, as the costs of certification are spread between all members. Furthermore new members can be added without requiring a separate inspection by FSC-accredited auditors so long as MCDI follows the rules it has agreed with FSC for adding new members. MCDI's certificate code is SA-FM/COC-002151 which can be found on all unprocessed certified produce that have come from group certified forests. (Sawn wood products can only be labelled as FSC if the sawmill has a Chain of Custody certificate from FSC, in which case the products will be marked with the sawmill's certificate code.)

This section of the website contains a copy of all current Group Certificate documents. These are divided into two types:

• Control Documents which describe how the group certificate is managed
• Forest management plans and associated documents submitted by Group Members

All group members are rural communities whose first language is Swahili. Some of the Control Documents are therefore written in English, and others in Swahili; English translations are provided of those documents written in Swahili. All forest management plans and associated documents are written in Swahili, with no translations provided. Non-Swahili speakers interested in specifics may find it useful to compare these with the relevant templates found under the Control Documents section. For further information on any management plan please contact the Group Manager on tzfmc-group-manager@mpingoconservation.org.