By Chevy Devonish
Barama Company Limited (BCL) yesterday announced that the 1.6 million hectares of tropical forest it manages is now the largest single block of tropical rainforest in the world to be Verified Legal Origin (VLO) Certified, allowing for a systems’ audit coupled with tracking the movement of timber/wood stock from the forest to the market place.
Commenting on the relevance of such a move, Mohindra Chand, Head of Corporate Affairs and Forest Planning for BCL, stated that as a responsible and compliant timber company, BCL decided to embark upon this internationally-recognized forest certification path. He also said that the company believes the move represents the true expression of its policy towards the maintenance of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) standards.
The SFM is a forest management model developed by the Edinburgh Centre for Tropical Forests in the early 1990s and redefined by the Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting in the early aughts. “Our forests and administration system are