Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management uses very broad social, economic and environmental goals. A range of forestry institutions now practice various forms of sustainable forest management and a broad range of methods and tools are available that have been tested over time.
The "Forest Principles" adopted at The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 captured the general international understanding of sustainable forest management at that time. A number of sets of criteria and indicators have since been developed to evaluate the achievement of SFM at both the country and management unit level. These were all attempts to codify and provide for independent assessment of the degree to which the broader objectives of sustainable forest management are being achieved in practice. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests. The instrument is the first of its kind, and reflects the strong international commitment to promote implementation of sustainable forest management through a new approach that brings all stakeholders together.
A definition of SFM was developed by the Ministerial Conference on the
Protection of Forests in Europe MCPFE), and has since been adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).[1] It defines sustainable forest management as:
The stewardship and
use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their
biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential
to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions,
at local, national, and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other
ecosystems.
In simpler terms, the concept can be described as the attainment of balance
- balance between society's increasing demands for forest products and benefits,
and the preservation of forest health and diversity. This balance is critical
to the survival of forests, and to the prosperity of forest-dependent
communities.
For forest managers, sustainably managing a particular forest tract means
determining, in a tangible way, how to use it today to ensure similar benefits,
health and productivity in the future. Forest managers must assess and
integrate a wide array of sometimes conflicting factors - commercial and
non-commercial values, environmental considerations, community needs[2], even global impact - to produce
sound forest plans. In most cases, forest managers develop their forest plans
in consultation with citizens, businesses, organizations and other interested
parties in and around the forest tract being managed. The tools and
visualization have been recently evolving for better management practices[3].
Because forests and societies are in constant flux, the desired outcome of
sustainable forest management is not a fixed one. What constitutes a
sustainably managed forest will change over time as values held by the public
change.
Criteria and indicators are tools which can be used to conceptualise,
evaluate and implement sustainable forest management[4]. Criteria define and characterize the
essential elements, as well as a set of conditions or processes, by which
sustainable forest management may be assessed. Periodically measured indicators
reveal the direction of change with respect to each criterion.
Criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management are widely used
and many countries produce national reports that assess their progress toward
sustainable forest management. There are nine international and regional
criteria and indicators initiatives, which collectively involve more than 150
countries.[5] Three of the more advanced initiatives are those of the Working Group on
Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of
Temperate and Boreal Forests (also called the Montreal Process) [6], the Ministerial Conference for the Protection of Forests in Europe [7], and the International Tropical Timber Organization [8]. Countries who are members of the same initiative usually agree to produce
reports at the same time and using the same indicators. Within countries, at the
management unit level, efforts have also been directed at developing local
level criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management. The Center for International Forestry Research, the International Model Forest Network[9] and researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a
number of tools and techniques to help forest-dependent communities develop
their own local level criteria and indicators[10][11][12]. Criteria and Indicators also form the basis of third-party forest
certification programs such as the Canadian Standards Association’s[13] Sustainable Forest Management Standards and the Sustainable Forestry
Initiative Standard[14].
There appears to be growing international consensus on the key elements of
sustainable forest management. Seven common thematic areas of sustainable
forest management have emerged based on the criteria of the nine ongoing
regional and international criteria and indicators initiatives. The seven
thematic areas are:
- Extent
of forest resources
- Biological
diversity
- Forest
health and vitality
- Productive
functions and forest resources
- Protective
functions of forest resources
- Socio-economic
functions
- Legal,
policy and institutional framework.
This consensus on common thematic areas (or criteria) effectively provides
a common, implicit definition of sustainable forest management. The seven
thematic areas were acknowledged by the international forest community at the
fourth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests and the 16th session of
the Committee on Forestry.[15][16]. These thematic areas have since been enshrined in the Non-Legally Binding Instrument on All Types of Forests as a reference framework for sustainable forest management to help achieve
the purpose of the instrument.
Ecosystem approach
The Ecosystem Approach has been prominent on the agenda of the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) since 1995 .
The CBD definition of the Ecosystem Approach and a set of
principles for its application were developed at an expert meeting in Malawi in 1995, known as the Malawi Principles.[17] The definition, 12 principles and 5 points of "operational
guidance" were adopted by the fifth Conference of Parties (COP5) in 2000.
The CBD definition is as follows
The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land,
water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an
equitable way. Application of the ecosystem approach will help to reach a
balance of the three objectives of the Convention. An ecosystem approach is
based on the application of appropriate scientific methodologies focused on
levels of biological organization, which encompasses the essential structures,
processes, functions and interactions among organisms and their environment. It
recognizes that humans, with their cultural diversity, are an integral
component of many ecosystems.
Sustainable forest management was recognized by parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2004 (Decision
VII/11 of COP7) to be a concrete means of applying the Ecosystem Approach to
forest ecosystems. The two concepts, sustainable forest management and the
ecosystem approach, aim at promoting conservation and management practices
which are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable, and which
generate and maintain benefits for both present and future generations. In
Europe, the MCPFE and the Council for the Pan-European Biological and Landscape
Diversity Strategy (PEBLDS) jointly recognized sustainable forest management to
be consistent with the Ecosystem Approach in 2006.[18][19][20][21]
Independent certification
Growing environmental awareness and consumer demand for more socially
responsible businesses helped third-party forest certification emerge in the 1990s as a credible tool
for communicating the environmental and social performance of forest
operations.
There are many potential users of certification, including: forest
managers, scientists, policy makers, investors, environmental advocates,
business consumers of wood and paper, and individuals.
With third-party forest certification, an independent organization develops standards of good forest management,
and independent auditors issue certificates to forest operations that comply
with those standards. Forest certification verifies that forests are
well-managed—as defined by a particular standard—and chain-of-custody
certification tracks wood and paper products from the certified forest through
processing to the point of sale.
This rise of certification led to the emergence of several different
systems throughout the world. As a result, there is no single accepted forest
management standard worldwide, and each system takes a somewhat different
approach in defining standards for sustainable forest management.
In its 2009-2010 Forest Products Annual Market Review United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe/Food and Agriculture Organization stated:
"Over the years, many of the issues that previously divided the (certification)
systems have become much less distinct. The largest certification systems now
generally have the same structural programmatic requirements[22]."
Third-party forest certification is an important tool for those seeking to
ensure that the paper and wood products they purchase and use come from forests
that are well-managed and legally harvested. Incorporating third-party
certification into forest product procurement practices can be a centerpiece
for comprehensive wood and paper policies that include factors such as the
protection of sensitive forest values, thoughtful material selection and
efficient use of products.[23]
There are more than 50 certification standards worldwide, addressing the
diversity of forest types and tenures. Globally, the two largest umbrella
certification programs are:
- Programme for the Endorsement of
Forest Certification schemes (PEFC)[1]
- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
The area of forest certified worldwide is growing slowly. PEFC is the
world's largest forest certification system, with more than two-thirds of the
total global certified area certified to its Sustainability Benchmarks. [24][25]
In North America, there are three certification standards endorsed by PEFC
– the Sustainable Forestry Initiative[26], the Canadian Standards Association’s Sustainable Forest Management
Standard[27], and the American Tree Farm System[28]. FSC has five standards in North America – one in the United States[29] and four in Canada[30].
While certification is intended as a tool to enhance forest management
practices throughout the world, to date most certified forestry operations are
located in Europe and North America. A significant barrier for many forest managers in developing countries is that they lack the capacity to
undergo a certification audit and maintain operations to a certification
standard.
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