From 04–06 November 2025, in Quang Ngai Province, the Vietnam Forest Certification Office (VFCO), in collaboration with the Sub-Department of Rural Development of Quang Ngai Province, organized a training workshop entitled “Guidance for Cooperatives on Organizing Production in accordance with the VFCS/PEFC Sustainable Forest Management Standard. The workshop was attended by 35 participants representing forest and agricultural cooperatives from Quang Ngai Province and Da Nang City.

The training aimed to enhance the capacity of cooperative leaders and members—particularly those managing production forests—on how to apply the Vietnam Forest Certification System (VFCS/PEFC) Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) standard to their plantation operations. Through the sessions, participants were introduced to an overview of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), the national forest certification scheme VFCS/PEFC, key contents of the VFCS/PEFC ST 1003:2019 Sustainable Forest Management Standard, and the steps to develop an SFM plan for a group certification model with key role of cooperatives. The course also covered procedures for implementing and maintaining VFCS/PEFC certification. In addition to classroom sessions, the program included group discussions, experience sharing, and field visits to plantation. During the fieldwork, participants practiced analyzing environmental impacts and identifying non-conformities against the SFM standard.

As of November 2025, there are 31 SFM group certification models under the VFCS/PEFC, with cooperatives playing a key role in organizing and implementing certification. By strengthening the capacity of cooperative staff and members in SFM, the training is expected to help them become core drivers in promoting sustainable forest management and forest certification in their local areas in the coming time.

VFCO