A spokeswoman heaped praise on print for embracing the certification but warned more was needed to increase its uptake.

The FSC is hosting an event in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, east London, this afternoon to celebrate more than 29,500 certificate holders in 81 countries worldwide, with 8% held by companies in the UK.

After two decades, more than 180m ha of forests are FSC-certified, including more than half of the forest area in the UK.

Around 300m cubic meters of FSC-certified wood are harvested every year, 17% of the global industrial roundwood market, and 8% of the global fuelwood and industrial roundwood market.

“There still still a long way to go in terms of protecting the world's forests, but this is fantastic, especially for the UK, location of Europe's first national office,” the spokeswoman said.

“We had a big explosion of activity across the print sector about four years ago, which at the time was our largest growth area.

“To sustain this printers need to keep telling the environmental story to make sure their clients are aware of the FSC and why it is so important.”

She said half of the UK public recognised the FSC logo and 72% were very or fairly likely to give preference to FSC-certified products.

FSC certification helped to maintain appropriate habitats and push companies toward social progress. Tropical producers meanwhile could garner economic benefits from FSC certification.