There is increasing pressure on the forestry industry to adopt sustainable practices, but a lack of knowledge about how to facilitate this, and how to measure sustainability. This book reviews current thinking about scientifically based indicators, and sustainable management of natural forests and plantations. Information is applicable to boreal, temperate and tropical biomes. The contents have been developed from papers presented at a IUFRO conference held in Australia, in order to develop a state-of the art report on this subject.
The Montreal Process was formed to advance the development of internationally agreed-upon criteria & indicators for sustainable forest management. The Canadian commitment to this process is demonstrated by the development of a domestic set of seven criteria & indicators, six of this relate to forest conditions, attributes, functions, or benefits. The seventh relates to the overall policy framework that can facilitate sustainable forest management and support efforts to conserve, maintain, or enhance the conditions, attributes, and benefits captured in the first six criteria. This report begins with an introduction describing forest ecosystems and forest management in Canada, explaining the area of forest covered by the report, and indentifying Canada-specific forest management characteristics to help place the criteria & indicators framework in context. The main section contains reports on the criteria, each with an introduction and reports on the corresponding indicators (what is being measured, indicator data or factual description, information sources). The final section contains a summary of all the criteria as well as an overview of Canada's ability to report on them and plans to enhance reporting capability in the future. Includes glossary.
During its 200-year history the concept of sustainable forest ecosystem management has been the object of scientific and political discussion, with varying degrees of intensity - promoted with vehement fervour during periods of social or economic crisis, and less intensely during periods of stability. This volume, which forms part of the book series Managing Forest Ecosystems, presents state-of-the-art contributions presented by 9 leading authors from North America, Europe, Australia, and Southern Africa. If technical knowledge is a constraint to the implementation of sustainable management, this book contains a wealth of information which may be useful to students and practitioners alike. The specific target readership includes company management, the legal and policy environment, and forestry administrators. This book's unique feature is its holistic approach which includes ecological, socio-political, and timber supply issues.
Provides an assessment of the international forest regime, in reponse to calls from many quarters, including the UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) and the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, as well as several NGOs. The focus is mainly on action taken by countries at the global level, in the framework of legally binding instruments and institutions. It builds on previous analyses of the international forest regime by looking beyond the legal mandates to begin exploring the actual performance of the components against their mandates. With the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) Proposals for Action as the point for departure, the effectiveness and impact of individual legal instruments and global instutions are analyzed, as is the potential for synergy between them.
This paper analyses the development of certification programmes in three countries (Indonesia, Canada and Sweden) using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) as a theoretical reference point. The ACF is an actor-based framework for analysing policy processes and has not previously been applied in a developing country. Actors in the three countries took different approaches to certification. In Canada, in a programme development process supported by the forest products industry, a management systems approach was taken. In Sweden, performance standards were developed in a process initially driven by NGOs. In Indonesia, certification was led by an NGO within a framework established by government, and a performance standards approach was used. The paper concludes that forest certification can be best understood as a policy instrument that promotes and facilitates policy-orientated learning among actors, and provides indirect incentives for improved forest management. Learning occurs both as the standards to be used for certification are developed, and as they are implemented. The benefits of learning and consensus building among actors (such as NGOs, forest companies, private forest owners, indigenous peoples, governments, etc.) who have traditionally been in conflict with each other can be significant. On the other hand, where fundamental changes in forest policy (such as tenure and forest revenue reform) are needed, certification should not be seen as a substitute for these A further conclusion is that, while public policies change over periods of decades, the private policies of retailers and forest product companies can adapt more rapidly to changing circumstances. The concept of a ‘fast track’ of private policy change, compared to the slower track of governmental policy change, is therefore proposed and described. A number of interesting theoretical and empirical avenues for further research on certification are discussed.
Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Europe theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This theme on Area Studies - Regional Sustainable Development Review: Europe reviews initiatives and activities towards sustainable development in Europe such as: International Cooperation; Toward Sustainable Forest Management; Sustainable Mountain Development in Europe; Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development; Protection of the Quality and Supply of Freshwater Resources; Local Authorities' Initiatives in Support of Agenda 21 - Europe; Strengthening the Role of Farmers; Transfer to and within Europe's Rural Areas; Exploring Pathways to Sustainable Living: Emancipatory Environmental Education; The Development of International Agreements Covering the World's Forests; The Nature Of Peace and Security; The Ethics of Sustainability; Sustainable Transport in Europe; Resort Europe: The Limits of Mass Tourism and the Rise of Sustainable Practices. Although these presentations are with specific reference to Europe, they provide potentially useful lessons for other regions as well. This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.
