Yesterday, Ignacio Lema, Director of the Galician Forest Industry Agency (Xera) took part in the inauguration of a new training course for forest certifiers at the Institute for Secondary Education (IES) in Arzúa. This course is organized in conjunction with the Forest Association of Galicia (AFG), and its aim is to prepare professional auditors who will be able to verify the quality and authenticity of local timber production.
Certified timber encourages ethical consumption down the distribution line
Mr Lema emphasized the commitment of his agency towards the promotion and development of the regional forest industry and responsible management of timber resources. A hallmark of this commitment is the professionalization of forest auditing with the creation of such training courses.
Xera has invested half a million euros this year for the launching of 157 training programmes which will be attended by 2500 participants. 26 of these programmes are in partnership with AFG and include diverse fields, such as labour risk prevention, emission offset projects, chain of custody (or documentation trail) training, an example of which is the course that was started in Arzúa.
In Mr Lema’s opinion, the initiation of this type of formal training would become one of the pillars of the regional bioeconomy because they would serve to guarantee the traceability of the products and thus attest to their quality.
Product traceability and ethical consumption are growing trends in today’s markets which necessitate the creation of adequate response to ensure that those needs are met. Apart from timber auditing and certification, that also includes labels, documentation chain and digital tools.
Apart from the digitalization of the inspection control, the implication here is that it attests to larger respect to the environment and preoccupation for its sustainable management – something that should be important for producers, intermediaries and consumers.
Source: TheMayor.EU
