Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal

Introduction

The Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme (IFWCS) branded as “PRAMAAN” (Program for Recognition and Accreditation of Sustainable Management Practices for Agroforestry and Natural Forestry Resources) is a voluntary, third-party, market-based certification scheme launched by the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India, vide the Gazette of India notification No. 3-19/2022- SU dated 12 December 2023. The scheme aims to incentivise responsible wood production and consumption in India. 

The Forest Management, Trees Outside Forests (Management) and Chain of Custody (Management) certifications under the IFWCS “PRAMAAN” scheme provide a comprehensive framework of criteria, indicators and verifiers for monitoring and guiding the sustainable management of forestry and agroforestry resources.

Background

India has adopted the principles of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) and developed the National Set of 8 Criteria and 37 Indicators on SFM from the Bhopal-India Process, which is one of the 9 internationally accepted frameworks for the Criteria and Indicators (C&I) approach to SFM, piloted by IIFM Bhopal in 26 forest divisions spread over 12 states of the country over a period of 18 years (1998-2016), and were incorporated into the National Working Plan Code (NWPC) 2023. The Centre for Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification (SFM & FC) was established at IIFM, Bhopal, in 2006, and has played a pivotal role in developing and refining the Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in India, supporting pilot testing and capacity building across states, and providing key policy and technical inputs for advancing certification and governance frameworks. The Centre has contributed to shaping India’s position in global forest certification dialogues. contributing significantly to research, capacity building, policy formulation, and technical design of certification frameworks. This resulted in the formation of the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme IFWCS-PRAMAAN on 12 December 2023 to provide market incentives to those forest divisions which effectively implement the criteria and the appropriate indicators, thus exhibiting responsible forest management practices. The IIFM, Bhopal has been designated as the Scheme Operating Agency of the IFWCS-PRAMAAN and the Centre for SFM and FC at IIFM serves as the secretariat for the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme "PRAMAAN" with the responsibility for the overall management of the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Scheme under the guidance of the Indian Forest and Wood Certification Council.

Mission/Vision

The mission of the IFWCS-PRAMAAN is to promote the sustainable management of recorded forests and Trees Outside Forests (TOF) areas, and to provide market incentives to the forest dwelling entities and wood-based industries that comply with the requirements as per the standards under the IFWCS-PRAMAAN.

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Institutional Framework

Indian Forest and Wood Certification Council (IFWCC)

The Indian Forest and Wood Certification Council (IFWCC) oversees the governance and administration of the IFWCS through an appropriate organizational structure and governance mechanism. It is a multi-stakeholder advisory body responsible to constitute technical committees for advising, and recommending the approval of standards, processes, and procedures; under the IFWCS. IFWCC also approves the accreditation of Certification Bodies (CB) having relevant experience in sustainable forest management auditing in accordance with the applicable ISO standards requirements for CBs for auditing, issuance and renewal of certificates, and trademark usages.

The IFWCC is composed of the following members:

Scheme Operating Agency (IIFM)

Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) has been designated as the Scheme Operating Agency (SOA) and is responsible for the implementation of the IFWCS-PRAMAAN under the guidance of the IFWCC. The Centre for Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification (SFM & FC) consisting of professionals and experts serves as the Secretariat with a mandate to operationalize and monitor various functions of the scheme.  The SOA is responsible for supporting and facilitating the process of developing normative requirements such as standards, work instructions, guidelines, directives and others,  establishing procedures and guidance for usage of certification mark/logo and set annual fees and charges for the effective implementation of the scheme.
 

Technical Committee

The Technical committee is constituted by the IFWCC for advising and recommending the normative requirements such as certification standards, processes, procedures and others, for approval in accordance with the approval process under IFWCS-PRAMAAN.

Accreditation Body

The National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent body of the Quality Council of India (QCI), Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), and a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), acts as the accreditation body for certification bodies according to the requirements under IFWCS -PRAMAAN and establishes procedures to deal with complaints and appeals regarding the accreditation decision.
 

Certification Bodies

Certification Body (CB) is an independent third-party with competence in auditing of sustainable management practices in the forests, trees outside forests, and wood-based industries as per the applicable standard requirements. The CB undertakes audits of the clients seeking the IFWCS-PRAMAAN certification.

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