3 Rationale for a Global Forest Survey

Forestry information requirements are multi-dimensional and include parameters relevant to commercial, environmental and socio-economic benefits from the forest. Little or nothing has been done in developing countries to survey and measure all these parameters at once in an integrated approach. Even less are the works that have been conducted using sound statistical methods, which yield relevant, detailed, comprehensive and reliable information. In line with these general concerns and within the framework of its mandatory mission, FAO has been conducting, for more than 50 years, periodic assessment and monitoring of the world forest resources. Through its Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) programme, it has been providing useful information on the state and changes of the forest cover at global level. Information has been gathered from two main sources. The first from the country baseline information sets and the second generated from a sample of the remote sensing survey designed and carried out across the tropical regions.

The Scope, quality and relevance of the information on the forest resources vary tremendously from country to another. In the developing world, there are few nations who invested significantly for developing and maintaining up-to-date baseline information on their resources following proper biometrical techniques. Others, sometimes despite the substantial contributions of the forest resources in their economies and in local biodiversity conservation, invested little or nothing in inventories. Country reports and documents providing forestry statistics are usually of different values as some are result of crude assessments or of dangerous extrapolations or even of obsolete sources disregarding changes in the mean time.

The remote sensing survey carried out by FRA since 1980, although statistically correct and constituting an interesting approach for the study of the forest cover state and rates of changes, was implemented only for the tropics, at low sampling intensity (10%) and with limited ground truthing. The salient aspect of this survey is the generation of a standardised transition matrix computed from the results of inter-independent interpretation of Landsat TM scenes each of them recorded at different date. The transition matrix allows not only to capture the changes occurred during a given reference period, but to provide an understanding of the process of changes and the causes of deforestation and/or degradation of the forest cover. This approach was not designed for a global survey of the forest resources nor to generate other important data on floristic composition (species) and physiognomic characteristics (structure and stockings, etc) of the forests. It was not also designed to provide information on patterns of ownership of forestlands, management and harvesting systems, state of ecosystems in general, effects of fires on forests, slash and burn, shifting cultivation, etc.

The southern hemisphere regions, which contain the greater part of terrestrial biodiversity in the planet (UNEP 1995, Global Biodiversity Assessment), are far from being properly surveyed in terms of forest resources with social, economic and environmental view points, despite the efforts deployed by the international community through FAO over the last half century.

In every international forest event, the international community has been showing an increasing concern for the trend of negative changes in forest cover particularly within the developing world. Deteriorating social conditions of local populations in some regions have pushed the rural people to live in and from forests: by clearing developed natural forests for cultivation, practising uncontrolled burning for agriculture, hunting and pasturing and by disorganised and unsustainable harvesting of forest products (timber, fuel-wood and other non-wood products).

Member countries commonly agree that FE should be embarked in a process of continuous development of new methods for forest resources assessment and monitoring, to produce the most relevant and cost-effective information for the general decision making, policy formulation, forest conservation and management at local, national and international levels.

The proposed GFS is therefore the logical step by FAO that will meet the users needs with most descriptive and reliable information on the quality and size of the forest resources and ecosystems at global level, and on the way the resources are being used. It is a step further by FAO in laying new foundations for assisting member countries in building their national capacities for resources assessment and sustainable management through a multilateral co-operation involving governments, donors and FAO.

Needs for forestry information are various and multidimensional. They vary according to the interests governed by the mandates of the international bodies, being either governments or international organisations. The table below highlights the level of interests of governments and international organisations in some information elements generated by forest surveys.

Forestry and related information needs

(_***) : High interests; (_**) : Medium interests; (_*) : Low interests; (-) : No interest

The GFS would therefore constitute an opportunity to encourage and assist countries from the developing world to set up their forest resources monitoring systems under which periodic surveys will be conducted at national level. It would also constitute the framework for disseminating and use of proper surveying methodologies and techniques, generating reliable, relevant and homogenised information on the forests, biodiversity and associated social environments. It will constitute a forum for a more targeted and fruitful co-operation between donors, governments as recipient and FAO as technical assistance provider for sustainable management of forest resources, with a holistic approach and the best profit by the modern technologies.