LATEST TRENDS IN THE EVOLUTION OF PEFC CERTIFICATION.

Worldwide, PEFC8482; represents the most spread certification scheme in forestry. The goal of this paper was to highlight the evolution of the number of Chain of Custody (CoC) certificates and the PEFC8482; certified area worldwide between 2013 and 2017, by analyzing the public data provided by the official website. Currently, the total PEFC8482; certified forest area accounts for approximately 313 million hectares, out of which 55% are located in North America. As for the largest forest areas certified by PEFC8482; the top three places are held by Canada, The United States of America and Australia. At the end of 2017, in Europe the PEFC8482; scheme had certified forests from a total number of twenty four countries, with the highest areas being shared by Finland, Russian Federation and Sweden. According to the most recent statistics, around 82% of the total CoC certificates issued worldwide were recorded in Europe, France, Germany and United Kingdom being the countries with the highest shares. Currently, in Romania only twenty three CoC certificates were issued and no forest area was yet certified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]