Governance

At the Program Level

At the national and international level, the SFI program is governed by a fully independent, non-profit entity known as Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc. (SFI Inc.)

This organization, established January 1, 2007, was created to direct all elements of the SFI ® program. The independent nature of the SFI Inc., solidifies the SFI program's strong market position as one of the world’s leading forest certification programs.

A multi-stakeholder Board of Directors of SFI Inc. is the sole governing body over the SFI Standard and all aspects of the program, including chain of custody certification and labeling, marketing and promotion. Representatives on the 18-member board reflect a variety of interests in the forestry community, and include representation from:

• Environmental and conservation organizations
• Public officials
• Professional and academic groups
• Forest products industry
• Independent logging professionals
• Forest landowners

The balanced board ensures that the SFI Program protects the economic, environmental and social needs of our forests and communities.

At the Local Level

Locally, SFI activities are governed by 37 State Implementation Committees (SICs) at the State, Provincial or regional level. SFI Program participants provide leadership for these SICs and invite others from the forestry and natural resources community to participate including private landowners, independent loggers, professional foresters, State and Provincial natural resource agency managers, university scientists and conservationists. As a diverse grassroots network, SICs provide a strong foundation for local implementation of the SFI program.

History of SFI

While the independent SFI Inc., was only established in 2007, the genesis of the SFI program and Standard goes back to 1994.  Learn more at SFI Inc.