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The field of international environment management is an important area where the emergence of private systems for normalization and certification aim to provide a framework for the actions and practices of the actors. Regarded as instruments of governance and negotiation, these frameworks often gain a strong democratic legitimacy as well as a strong regulating and “pacifying” potential on international forestry issues. However, the study of this field also reveals persisting conflicts, sometimes encouraged by the systems and the processes of certification themselves. The analysis of actors’ interactions – both private and public – must therefore take into consideration strategic manœuvres around power distribution and the conflictual nature of the processes of environmental standardization in the field of forest management.