ABSTRACT

Owners and managers of small forest enterprises often find it difficult to gain access to forest certification. They may be located in remote locations where it is difficult to get information about certification requirements and procedures. It is often much harder for them to understand and interpret the requirements of certification standards, and even to know which certification scheme would be appropriate for them. In addition, the costs of certification are relatively high for small forests compared to larger forest organizations because they do not benefit from economies of scale both in implementing certification requirements and in the cost of the certification assessment itself.