These tools (guidelines, criteria and indicators, National Forest Programmes' principles) have been developed within the FOREST EUROPE process in order to set a common policy framework for SFM in the pan-European region.

However, current demands and potential needs for these tools may be different from those existing when the tools were first formulated. They need, therefore, to be developed further to better incorporate new knowledge and to address emerging issues.

In this respect, special emphasis was made during the meeting on how SFM tools may interact with other sectors and thematic areas (inter alia, biodiversity, climate change, bioenergy/biomass, verification and forest certification).

During the discussions, the experts considered the main findings and recommendations of the EFI project on 'Implementing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management' and the 'Ad-hoc Working Group on sustainability criteria for forest biomass production, including bioenergy' (established as part of the FOREST EUROPE Programme of Work approved in 2007 in Warsaw).  They debated how these results could be taken into account to improve the SFM tools.

Different options for developing the SFM tools further, especially the indicators, were also discussed.

This was the second meeting of this Expert Group, which gathered for the first time in November 2012.  The main outcomes of this Group's analysis of the demands and potential needs for the further development of SFM tools will be useful to consolidate pan-European policies for the promotion and implementation of sustainable forest management.

More information about this part of the FOREST EUROPE Programme of Work related to the further development of SFM and its tools can be found at this link: http://www.foresteurope.org/en/sfm_tools