Forest certification is one of the most innovative and successful forest policy instruments of the last decade. Its success can be measured, not only in terms of area certified or number of products reaching consumers with a label, but also by the increasing number of countries around the world where multi-stakeholder groups have established themselves, at national or regional levels, to develop forest certification standards.

Activities related to forest certification, including the establishment of Multi-Stakeholder Working Groups, have been developed through a process of ‘learning by doing’. Thus many groups have had to develop their own procedures often by trial and error, and perhaps not always taking the most direct route for success.

The PathFinder is an answer to this situation. It presents a series of instruments to support and empower multistakeholder groups in developing forest certification standards. These instruments are grouped under three categories:

• Basic elements
• Behaviour in standard setting
• Technical instruments for standard setting

The development of the PathFinder has been lead by past experience, specially the one gained with the WWF/WB Alliance Multi-stakeholer Working Group toolkit (MSWG). Some PathFinder instruments refer to the MSWG Toolkit, particularly the case studies.

The PathFinder is one of the projects of the WWF and IKEA Co-operation for promoting responsible forestry, Its establishment has been lead by Pi Environmental Consulting, with the collaboration of CIFOR, FSC, IKEA, WWF, individual consultants and representatives from NWG from Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Cameroon and Ecuador and consulted local actors.

The content of the instruments is the sole responsiblity of their authors and does not mean official endorsement by the other organisations that have participated in the project.

We hope you will find the PathFinder useful and fun to use.