The Challenges and Barriers to Forest Certification for Sustainable Forest Management: A Systematic Review

Forest certification emerged in the international policy agenda during the 1980s due to growing concern about the extent and rate of deforestation. This review was motivated by the view that the challenges and barriers to the forest certification system must be overcome to enhance its contribution to sustainable forest management. This review is therefore aimed at synthesizing scholars’ views on the challenges and barriers of forest certification. The study examines debates on the challenges and barriers of forest certification through a systematic review of papers published in academic literature from 1995 to 2023. This systematic review was carried out on 104 peer-reviewed articles; it was performed following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA). The analysis revealed five angles of certification challenges and barriers: administrative/legal, economic, social, environmental, and challenges related to certification systems. This study can be used as a guideline to identify the challenges and loopholes in forest certification for better management of the world’s forests. The governments of various countries and other stakeholders should embrace forest certification as a tool for sustainable forest management.

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