The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1993 to support environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests.

It is an association of Members consisting of a diverse group of representatives from environmental and social groups, the timber trade and the forestry profession, indigenous people's organizations, community forestry groups and forest product certification organizations from around the world. Membership is open to all who are involved in forestry or forest products and share its aims and objectives.

An Executive Director and a highly trained staff run FSC on a day-to-day basis from a head office in the city of Oaxaca , Mexico . It is controlled by an elected Board, which consists of people from industry, conservation groups, indigenous people's representatives and others.

The Forest Stewardship Council is introducing an international labeling scheme for forest products, which provides a credible guarantee that the product comes from a well-managed forest. All forest products carrying our logo have been independently certified as coming from forests that meet the internationally recognized FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship. In this way FSC provides an incentive in the market place for good forest stewardship. The forest inspections are carried out by a number of FSC accredited certification bodies, which are evaluated and monitored to ensure their competence and credibility.

FSC also supports the development of national and local standards that implement the international Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship at the local level. These standards are developed by national and regional working groups, which work to achieve consensus amongst the wide range of people and organizations involved in forest management and conservation in each part of the world. FSC has developed Guidelines for developing regional certification standards to guide working groups in this process.

There is huge public concern about the destruction of the world's forests. More and more people demand products that come from well-managed forests. This demand has led to many different labels on forest products, making claims such as 'for every tree felled at least two are planted'. Many of these claims are irrelevant or misleading. An authoritative study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) found that of a sample of 80 different environmental claims found on wood and paper products, only three could even be partially substantiated.

FSC aims to clear up the confusion by providing a truly independent, international and credible labeling scheme on timber and timber products. This will provide the consumer with a guarantee that the product has come from a forest, which has been evaluated and certified as being managed according to agreed social, economic and environmental standards.

The Forest Stewardship Council has developed rigorous procedures and standards to evaluate whether organizations (certification bodies) can provide an independent and competent forest evaluation (certification) service. This process is known as 'accreditation'. FSC accredited certification bodies are required to evaluate all forests aiming for certification according to the FSC Principles and Criteria for Forest Stewardship.

All accredited certification bodies may operate internationally and may carry out evaluations in any forest type. Certified forests are visited on a regular basis, to ensure they continue to comply with the Principles and Criteria. The performance of the certification bodies is closely monitored by FSC. Products originating from forests certified by FSC-accredited certification bodies are eligible to carry the FSC-logo, if the chain-of-custody (tracking of the timber from the forest to the shop) has been checked.