Third Party Verification

The TFT carries out Second Party Verification of the standards of forest management practiced at our forest projects, and of the integrity of Wood Control Systems that verify whether the wood in our Members' products can be traced back to those forest projects.

Third Party Verification of forest management standards is carried out at a sample of TFT projects every year by the Soil Association. They assess how far each project has progressed to achieving Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards.

When a project is considered ready to seek FSC certification it will be subject to FSC's processes of Third Party Verification through assessment by an FSC accredited auditor.

TFT Wood Control Systems (WCS) provide comprehensive information about the origin of all tropical wood in our members' products. We believe these systems - which track wood from the felling operation from the forest, to the factory and through every key stage of manufacture - are the most fool-proof currently available. Members can make their WCS reports available to third parties at their discretion.

Businesses that trade FSC certified products must operate FSC certified Chain of Custody systems. However, some TFT Members choose also to operate TFT Wood Control Systems for additional security.

Project links

Picture Gallery - Harvesting Light: Edward Parker photography of TFT projects TFT Worldwide - Location of offices and main projects A Forest Story - Sustainable Forest Management