Anna-Liisa Myllynen, environmental manager of Stora Enso Wood Supply Finland, said the overall aim of the project was to promote mutual recognition, with most of the Finnish forests certified to the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) standard.

Myllynen said dual certification would promote dialogue between certification systems and could help towards mutual recognition of the various standards.

She said the firm was also keen to see the market reaction to FSC in Finland.

Three forest owners will test the FSC standard within a total forest area of 10,000 hectares, with the results expected by May next year.