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Committed to Sustainable Forest Management
CANADIAN STANDARDS ASSOCIATION (CSA) is a not-for-profit membership-based association serving industry, government, consumers and other interested parties in Canada and the global marketplace. A leading developer of standards and codes, we provide products, services and training that help enhance public safety and health, improve the quality of life, facilitate trade and preserve the environment.

CSA relies on the expertise of more than 9,000 volunteer members to help develop and maintain over 2,600 standards, including the electrical and gas codes. More than 40% of CSA standards are incorporated by reference into federal-provincial regulations and municipal by-laws.

The Canadian Standards Association is a division of CSA Group, which also consists of CSA International for product testing and certification, OnSpeX for consumer product evaluation services. For more information visit www.csa.ca

CAN/CSA-Z809 - Canada's National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management
CSA worked with a diverse range of stakeholders interested in sustainable forest management to develop Canada's National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) CAN/CSA-Z809. A volunteer technical committee, representing consumers, environmental groups, government, industry, Aboriginal, academia and other stakeholders was established to develop the Standard. CSA committees are created using a "balanced matrix" approach, which means that each committee is structured to capitalize on the combined strengths and expertise of its members - with no single group dominating over the content of a CSA standard.

This voluntary Standard, developed by an open and transparent multi-stakeholder consensus-based process, resulted in an endorsement by the Standards Council of Canada as a National Standard of Canada.

The CAN/CSA-Z809 SFM Standard, developed according to an internationally recognized and accredited standards development process, is based on the international Helsinki and Montréal processes. It incorporates Canada's own national SFM criteria, which were developed by the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. The Standard links adaptive forest management to forest certification through three key requirements:

1. Performance Requirements
2. Public Participation Requirements
3. System Requirements

As of June 2007, about 59% or 79.3 million hectares* out of 134.1 hectares* of certified Canadian forests had been certified under the CAN/CSA-Z809 SFM Standard.

*Source: Canadian Sustainable Forestry Certification Coalition, December 2006

To learn more:
- Chain-of-Custody Requirements and Product Marks
- Certified Sites
- Program Documents
- Certification statistics
- Related articles
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