ABSTRACT
Over the last 25 years (1995–2020), the FSC created different solutions and tools to facilitate access to certification for smallholders. In 2021, FSC launched the Community and Family Forests (CFF) program as a continuation of the holistic multi-year project New Approaches for Smallholders and Communities Certification that ran from 2016 to 2020. The program strengthens the previous strategic alignment and is being rolled out with three main work areas – policy solutions, market tools and ‘enabling the enablers’, the same three pillars foreseen in FSC Global Strategy 2021–2026 (FSC 2020k). We give an overview of the different efforts and initiatives developed for smallholders and communities, and their implementation status. The case of forest-managing ejidos in Ixtlán, Mexico, illustrates how certification can strengthen communities’ commitment to the stewardship of forests. We show how FSC learns from projects and from engagement with key stakeholders, refining its solutions and designing new tools with the understanding that it is crucial for smallholder organisations and communities to engage effectively in partnerships with allies to gain access to finance and markets through certification.
