NCCF had organized a Forest Management Auditor training program for aspiring NCCF FM Auditors belonging to varied forestry and allied services background. This comprehensive training course was designed based on interactivity, practical examples, open question and answer sessions, and dedicated group work. The training focused on enabling the participants with the various aspects and current trends in sustainable Forest Management as well as experience exchange between participants and experts.

The key highlight of the course was the participant mix from different forestry backgrounds, including professional foresters, CBS, Natural Resource Management experts, and consultants who intend to become FM auditors to conduct certification audits against the NCCF FM Standard.

The course conducted was a blend of online and classroom sessions. The online course served as a useful sensitization and learning tool for the professionals who wish to improve their knowledge on the normative framework of Forest Certification. The course covered Information about forests, sustainable forest management, case studies related to sustainable forest management, certification, and the process of the audit. The classroom sessions were conducted by the Master Trainers – Shri Avani Kumar Varma, Dr. Jagdish Kishwan, and Sri A. K. Bansal, who are veteran professional foresters having a long experience in forest management and conducting forest certification audit. The trainers shared their deep knowledge in the subject and substantiated the same with their eclectic professional experience.

Training course material consisted of modules covering subjects like Forest Certification and need for India Specific Forest Management Certification Standard, basics of NCCF Forest Management; Standard – Themes, Principles, Criteria & Indicators, Implementation of FM standard, Auditing Planning and process, Report Writing, Auditor protocol, Forest Management and managing Chain of Custody in FM operation, Important terms and definitions and interpretations Module Trademark and logo Usage, ISO 19011:2018 auditor awareness training. The participants gained immensely through the examples explained during the training sessions encompassing the real scenarios in forest management certification. Successful participants of the course are entitled to a certificate of having completed the training and will be eligible to conduct a certification audit against the NCCF Standard.