International certification of non-timber forest products and forest food production in China

Key words: 
• forest certification /
• certification of non-timber forest products /
• forest food

Abstract: Forest certification is a widely accepted criterion-based process of assessing forest management , the purpose of which is to protect forest and maintain the sustainable management of forest .This paper briefly introduces forest certification with emphasis on non-timber forest products including forest food , a branch of forest certification , its progress at home and abroad , and the strategy for international certification .In our country , non-timber species involved in the production of forest food (mostly referred to as economic species)play an important role in increasing farmers' income and developing economy of the rural area .In such a situation that work on forest certification has just started in our country and so far there has been no forest certifier accredited by international community , we proposed from the perspective in line with international practice that popularization of forest certification , nurturing of specialists familiar with the certification , and formulation of production criteria for forest food-related non-timber species should be strengthened and research on group certification should be started .[ Ch , 1 tab .9 ref .]