Consultation on the Advice Note addressing conversion

FSC has opened a public consultation to revise Advice Note 20-007-23 Maximum hectare Threshold for “very limited portion". The current advice note establishes that, in addition to the 5% limit of a management unit, the “very limited portion” shall not exceed 1,000 hectares. This threshold was introduced in response to Motion 37/2021 of the 9th FSC General Assembly and applies to standard developers, organizations seeking or holding FSC Forest Management Certification, and certification bodies. The current version also specifies that chamber-balanced standard development groups may set a lower hectarage threshold and clarifies that the Advice Note does not apply retroactively to conversions prior to its effective date.

The draft Advice Note, now titled FSC-ADV-20-007-23 V3-0 Converted area constituting ‘very limited portion’ in IGIs 6.9–6.11 and accounting for restoration, introduces an amendment to FSC’s definition of a ‘very limited portion’ of a forest that could be exempted from FSC’s zero deforestation rules. FSC does not accept the conversion of forests or other areas with High Conservation Values (HCV). An exemption can only be granted for a 'very limited portion' of a forest management unit and only if the conversion results in substantial conservation and social benefits. Areas converted after 2020 are not eligible for certification, while earlier converted areas from December 1994 onwards can only be certified if a remedy for the environmental and social harms caused by the conversion is provided.

The new draft of this advice note has been developed to encourage and acknowledge certificate holders’ efforts to restore converted areas back to their earlier forest state: it clarifies the conditions under which these restored areas would no longer fall under the definition of a ‘very limited portion’ and thereby reduce the registered amount of areas being affected by conversion. Normally, all converted areas are recorded against the ‘very limited portion’ thresholds. Under the proposed amendment, areas that were converted in conformity with FSC’s conversion rules and subsequently restored to forest would be deducted from this record, thereby reducing the total amount counted as converted. 

Participate today

The public consultation will be open from September 12 to October 12, 2025. Stakeholders are invited to review the draft Advice Note and provide feedback through the FSC Consultation Platform:

• Consultation on Advice Note FSC-ADV-20-007-23 

Thank you in advance for your participation and contributions.

Please contact the Forest Management team at forestmanagement@fsc.org for comments or questions.