The five timber growers, with a total 8 143 hectares of timber area, have been successfully audited and awarded a PEFC Group Scheme certificate.

The recipients of this significant award and founding members of the Sappi PEFC Group Scheme are the iMfume Cluster, consisting of more than 20 individual small growers from the Mfume district near:

  • Scottburgh
  • Sobengwe Trading from Ixopo
  • MG Farming from Richmond
  • Mclean M from Underberg, and
  • Braecroft Timbers from Underberg.


According to the company, the Sappi Khulisa Programme is a tree-farming scheme. Established in 1983, it initially focussed on subsistence farmers with between one and 20 hectares of land on which to grow trees for commercial use.

Today, the programme has expanded to include community forestry projects as well as supplementary agro-forestry enterprises, such as beekeeping and vegetable farming, says Sappi.

The certification follows years of intensive efforts by Sappi, which worked together with other players in the forestry industry to address the barriers of entry for small growers to achieve certification.

This international certification provides crucial assurance to end-use consumers, Sappi says. 

According to the company, forest certification is used as a tool to ensure that responsible forest management practices are implemented in the forest and that wood from certified forests can be identified throughout the supply chain.

Certification systems establish specific forest management and wood fibre sourcing. It also establishes Chain of Custody tracking and marketing requirements for certified organisations. The systems additionally provide a framework for third-party auditing and govern the use of promotional and product claims.

According to Sappi, certification enables conscious consumers to choose responsibly sourced wood-based products. It gives consumers the assurance that the wood fibre used to manufacture the products they are buying has been legally harvested in accordance with sound environmental practices and that social aspects, such as indigenous rights, have been taken into account.

Forest certification and other voluntary codes of conduct are key tools for promoting sustainable consumption and production; it combats deforestation, forest degradation and illegal logging by providing proof of legality and responsible management, harvesting and manufacturing practices, says Sappi.

In 2021, Sappi announced that it had achieved the first PEFC-endorsed SAFAS (Sustainable African Forest Assurance Scheme) certification in South Africa, after starting the process in 2015.

The journey entailed participating in developing a Forest Management Standard for South Africa, developing mechanisms to support certification requirements and in 2018, the endorsement of the standard and certification procedures. The team developed a certification tool to assess plantations based on several factors including environmental, social and economic conditions specific to South Africa.

"After years of collaboration and dedicated commitment to developing a forest certification standard for South Africa, this achievement marks a historical moment in our long journey to support and make forest certification more accessible to the small landowners that participate in our supplier programmes," concludes Duane Roothman, vice president of Sappi Forests.

For more information, visit www.sappi.com. You can also follow Sappi on Facebook or on X.