Profitability of Forest Certification – Case Study Analysis

Forest certification plays an important role in supporting and ensuring sustainable forest management. By November 2017, the FM FSC certified state hunting and forestry enterprises are 72 in number, part of which are included in group certificates of the respective state-owned enterprises in whose territory they are located. Certified forest area in Bulgaria in November 2017 is 1 315 594 ha. These numbers are growing very fast at the moment. The main objective of the study is to analyze and evaluate the profitability of introducing the FSC certificate for sustainable forest management. In this respect a case study analysis is carried out at Yundola and Petrohan, which are Training forest enterprises at the University of Forestry - Sofia. These two forest enterprises and adjacent state forest and hunting forest enterprises are considered in this case as model forest areas, including certified and subject to certification forest enterprises and typical forest areas with coniferous and deciduous forests. The following research objectives were fulfilled in order to achieve the stated goal: 1.Analysis and estimation of the profitability of the implementation of the FSC certificate for sustainable forest management in Yundola Training forests. 2.Analysis and estimation of the profitability of the implementation of the FSC certificate for sustainable forest management in the Petrohan Training forests. Based on the study and the results obtained, conclusions and recommendations were made on the impact of FSC certification on the activities of certified FSC forest enterprises. On the basis of a developed model analysis of the profitability of State hunting enterprise Vitinya, a methodology for analysis and assessment of the profitability of forestry and hunting forest enterprises, certified and subject to FSC certification was developed.