The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is celebrating a new achievement: 2,000 Chain-of-Custody certified locations. Close to 196 million hectares are certified to the SFI forest management standard in North America - making it the largest single standard in the world.

SFI is a non-profit organization whose certification program is comprehensive and independant. Working with environmental, social and industry partners, the organization helps promote responsible forest management in North America and responsible fiber sourcing worldwide. The SFI forest standard is based on 14 core principles that promote sustainable forest management, including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk and forests with exceptional conservation value.

"The SFI program is experiencing astounding growth - companies and buyers alike clearly appreciate our ability to strengthen forest management across North America and avoid unwanted offshore sources," says Kathy Abusow, president and CEO, SFI. "At the start of 2007, we had 48 certified locations. Two years later, this had climbed to more than 1,000, and now there are more than 2,000. We have gone from approving five label use requests a year to more than five a day."

Organizations certified to the SFI program range from small printers and lumberyards to international entities. They include 579 printers, as well as publishers, distributers, home building centers, mills, paper merchants, packaging companies and wholesale lumber companies to name a few. They are found in countries such as the United States, Canada, Italy, Mexico, France, China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the UK, Coloumbia and El Salvador.