The Advisory Group of the Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CI-SFM) project met with the Project Team in Geneva for a roundtable discussion about the project’s developments. Progress overview and an outline on the work packages were specially highlighted.

The project’s scope was first discussed in light of the developments that took place since the project’s Kick-Off meeting. First, the implementation status of the criteria and indicators (C&I) was brought up by Roman Michalak of the UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section. It was principally underlined in terms of policy issues and decision making at a national level, and how it could be presented as a complete Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) tool to the general public. Ana Belén Noriega Bravo of FOREST EUROPE Liaison Unit Madrid reflected furthermore on what would be the best tool to assess SFM. She emphasized the need to show how C&I have served decision making among the FOREST EUROPE signatories, and in which ways C&I could be revised to be even more adequate.  

Matthias Schwörer, of the BMELV, spoke first on behalf of the donors to give their perspective on the project: he stressed again the significance of the CI-SFM project, and how important it would be to exchange the available experience among European countries on the use and implementation of C&I. The upcoming Legally Binding Agreement (LBA) was then further discussed: it could lead to not only have C&I as an element to highlight multi-functionality, but also to offer a framework for development and a follow-up process, as a means to keep C&I alive and set new policy directions. The General Co-ordinating Committee (GCC) gave its perspective in the same direction, underlying that the CI-SFM project could have a greater impact than what was initially thought through at the last ministerial conference in Oslo when it was decided to follow a double track approach with the LBA. C&I could therefore be taken to the policy level.

The meeting went on with progress overviews and additional suggestions from the group, as well as with presentations  of the project’s Work Packages (WPs) by the EFI project team: Bernhard Wolfslehner, of EFICEEC, presented WP2 (State of the Art of C&I development and implementation), Hubert Inhaizer, of EFICENT-OEF, talked about WP3 (National assessments and reports on C&I implementation), WP4 (Regional C&I Workshops) and WP5 (pan-European C&I Event), and Paul Rougieux, of EFICENT-OEF, concluded with WP7 (Networking and web platform).

Meeting minutes

FOREST EUROPE Expert group met on November 26, 2012 in Madrid to propose Improvement Tools for SFM. Hubert Inhaizer, CI-SFM project leader, gave a presentation on Implementing Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Europe.