FSC Strategic Framework on Diversity and Gender sets an ambitious roadmap to mainstream diversity and gender by 2026

As we commemorate International Women’s Day, we are pleased to announce the publication of the FSC Strategic Framework on Diversity and Gender. The framework builds on the standards that have long included strong social safeguards to mainstream diversity and gender and lay the foundation for FSC to become a truly diverse and gender-inclusive organization.  

The development process lasted more than one year and included several co-creation activities where FSC members, staff, and the Board of Directors provided input to shape the framework’s direction and priorities. After approval by the Board of Directors, the strategic framework was provided to FSC members at the FSC General Assembly in October 2022. 

This framework analyses the role of diversity and gender in FSC, both as a system and as an organization. It lays out FSC’s values, provides key focus areas, sets both high-level and strategy- specific goals, and establishes a timeline for a stepwise approach to implementation. Long-term goals focus on the implementation of mainstreaming diversity and gender within FSC by 2026, and on the full recognition of the multifunctionality of forests driven by the active and equal participation of all actors resulting in gender transformative change.  

The initial approach to implement the framework has laid out four focus areas on gender: human rights and access to resources, tenure, and use; active participation and decision-making by all stakeholders, including all genders and all levels of seniority; the gender gap; and rights-based climate and biodiversity action. 

This framework confirms FSC’s commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equal organization and system, which are paramount for the co-creation of forest stewardship solutions and achieving our 2050 vision of resilient forests sustaining life on earth.