Increasing demand for verification and certification services creates business opportunities

PT Scientific Certification Systems Indonesia (PT-SCS), as it will be known, will offer services in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification and Forest Management Certification, in Indonesia.

PT-SCS will also offer ‘LegalHarvest’ verification services, and is in the process of becoming an accredited SVLK (Timber Legality Assurance System) service provider for the Indonesian mandatory national standard in timber certification.

In addition, PT-SCS will offer forest carbon offset verification services. It has already begun to verify Indonesia's first REDD project to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS).

Private consortium raises cash for carbon projects
A major Australian banking and financial services provider - the Macquarie Group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate of the World Bank and a forest management firm said they had raised $25 million for forest carbon projects in developing countries. The Macquarie Group’s firm, BioCarbon Group, said it had agreed to the terms and conditions of the investment plan, with fellow investors the IFC and U.S.-based Global Forest Partners LP for total equity financing package of $25 million.

The Macquarie Group is currently developing 3 REDD projects in Indonesia in partnership with the global conservation group Fauna & Flora International, and is looking for room for expansion. BioCarbon will be the financial vehicle for these upcoming projects. The first recipient of the new investment funding is set to be a 40,000 ha. (100,000 acre) project in Kapuas Hulu in West Kalimantan. Most of the project is on carbon-rich peat swamp forest.

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