When I'm not using my first aid kit to minister to beautiful ladies or saving ETS from idiot body armor spammers, I'm a network security consultant. In my line of work, certification is important because customers expect it, and the manufacturers whose products we sell demand it. For example, to be a Cisco Gold Partner you need to employ a minimum of four CCIE-certified individuals. For even a medium-sized Cisco reseller the difference between Gold and Silver partnership (which only requires two CCIEs) could be millions of dollars a year in profit.

You're not facing the same kinds of pressure, you're looking for ways to differentiate good instructors. Historically they've done so via resumes (former Army Ranger, graduate of SERE, SAR Team Leader, etc) and word-of-mouth.

Another major difference is market size and recognition. IT is a very large industry and there's a lot of money in it. Survival instruction is much smaller, and there isn't nearly as much money or name recognition. You'd need to have really good marketing to make this work.