Forest certification schemes including FSC address biodiversity but vary in their attention to individual wildlife welfare in managed forest operations.
Sustainable forestry certification provides significant wildlife welfare benefits relative to uncertified industrial logging by maintaining habitat structure, protecting riparian buffers, and requiring wildlife corridor maintenance. However, even certified selective harvesting disturbs wildlife through noise, vibration, habitat change, and direct mortality from equipment. Welfare-conscious forestry timing operations to avoid breeding seasons, using directional felling away from nesting trees, and maintaining old-growth habitat elements within managed areas all reduce welfare harm to individual animals. FSC and similar schemes could strengthen their welfare provisions beyond biodiversity metrics to address individual animal welfare explicitly.