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Criteria and indicators (C&I) have emerged as a powerful tool to promote sustainable forest management (SFM). Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNECD) in Rio in 1992, several different international processes and initiatives have developed criteria and indicators as a policy instrument to evaluate and report progress towards SFM. FOREST EUROPE is the pan‐European policy process for the sustainable management of the continent's forests. It develops common strategies for its 46 participating countries and the European Union on how to protect and sustainably manage forests. The FOREST EUROPE process has developed a pan‐European C&I set, which consists of 6 criteria and 35 quantitative indicators (describing the forest status and changes) as well as 17 qualitative indicators (describing the national forest policies, institutions and instruments towards SFM). By now, the pan‐ European set has served as the basis for State of Europe’s Forests assessments in 2003, 2007 and 2011, and provided the basis for regional and national policy formulation, analysis and monitoring. However, the picture of how the pan‐European set has been implemented remains rather vague.
The CI-SFM project aims to fill that gap. Furthermore, a working definition has been developed and will be tested during the project.
The CI-SFM project aims to:
a) analyse the implementation of C&I for SFM in the 46 signatory states of the FOREST EUROPE process,
b) strengthen the process and use of C&I, not only as a tool for monitoring and reporting, but also for policy making at national and European level.
To meet these objectives, the project will carry out activities under seven integrated Work Packages. The expected outcome will provide an objective review of the results of the pan‐European Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CI-SFM), and how they have been implemented at the European, national and sub‐national levels and contributed to other sectors. The project will also identify challenges and develop recommendations for improving the C&I set and their further development and implementation in an evolving international environment – in consideration of European and national level needs. The outputs will be:
- A state of the art report
- Regional workshops and a pan-European Forum,
- A final summary report, including recommendations to the implementing countries and the C&I process
The project is coordinated and conducted by the European Forest Institute (EFI), in close cooperation with FOREST EUROPE Liaison Unit, UNECE/FAO, METLA and relevant experts.
The project is also carried out with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV).
