ABSTRACT
The World Bank WWF Alliance was formed with a specific target of achieving the independent certification of 200 million hectares of production forest by 2005, to be split between 100 million hectares in tropical countries and 100 million in temperate/boreal areas. In order to identify independent certification schemes which would contribute towards their target, the Alliance agreed nine principles and eleven criteria that it considers essential for certification. The FSC has been the only scheme which clearly meets the principles to date; an analysis of which other schemes might also meet the principles is under way in 2004.
