imposed on tropical forests by bad management and illegal practices. Policies requiring sustainable forest products may help reach that goal. It is a priority for the Forest Stewardship Council to increase the area of FSC-certifi ed tropical forests in the coming years.
FSC CERTIFICATION KEEPS ON GROWING Since 1994, many participants have joined the Forest Stewardship Council in its venture to promote good forest stewardship – since then almost 32,000 FSC certifi cates have been granted in 121 countries. Over 194 million hectares of forests are now certifi ed according to the FSC Principles and Criteria. And this is not even the full picture: almost half of the certifi cate holders say that they plan to increase the share of FSC-certifi ed products in their product range over the next two years.