MONTREAL, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - AbitibiBowater (NYSE: ABH) (TSX: ABH) announced today that it has received Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) certification for the Black Spruce and Dog River-Matawin Forest areas, north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. This area covers approximately 2.5 million hectares of forest stretching from Lake Nipigon to Quetico Provincial Park.
"This certification represents a major increase in the amount of forest AbitibiBowater now manages under FSC," said Richard Garneau, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This effort is part of our ongoing strategy to meet market expectations as well as ensuring our commitment to sustainable forest management."
The FSC certification process took more than a year to complete and the certification audit entailed four auditors interviewing stakeholders including local citizens committees, community leaders, First Nations communities and various forest contractors working in the region. The two forest regions were certified by the SmartWood Program of the Rainforest Alliance using the National Boreal Standard of FSC. The certificate (FSC-C107523) is valid for five years subject to the annual Surveillance audits.
AbitibiBowater and other member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada, as well as a number of environmental organizations, are partners in the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement. The group works to identify solutions to conservation issues that meet the goal of balancing the three pillars of sustainability linked to human activities: economic, social and environmental.
AbitibiBowater is a global leader in the forest products industry, producing a diverse range of products, including newsprint, commercial printing papers, market pulp and wood products. The Company owns or operates 18 pulp and paper mills and 24 wood products facilities located in the United States, Canada and South Korea. Marketing its products in close to 90 countries, AbitibiBowater also has third-party certified 100% of its managed woodlands to sustainable forest management standards. The Company's shares trade under the stock symbol ABH on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
SOURCE ABITIBIBOWATER INC. - ENGLISH
