Efforts in forest management over the past decade have focused on the implementation of sustainable forest management, an approach that balances environmental, socio-cultural and economic objectives of management in line with the Forest Principles agreed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992.
These efforts have stimulated changes in forest policy and legislation and in forest management practices in many countries. Public participation in forest management has increased in many countries. Broader approaches to forest management, such as ecosystem management and landscape management, are becoming more widely accepted and implemented. These approaches recognize the dynamism of ecological and social systems, the benefits of adaptive management, and the importance of collaborative decision making. Integrated strategies for forest conservation, in which conservation of forest resources and biological diversity entails management both inside and outside forest protected areas, are increasingly being developed as are cross-sectoral linkages.
Despite indications that there may be cause for cautious optimism with regard to the status of forest manageemnt worldwide, reliable information on status and trends is not readily available. Few attempts have been made in the past to estimate the extent of sustainable forest management in the world as a whole. Given the number of countries and the wide variety of forest types, local conditions and management objectives, and the relatively recent concept of sustainable forest management, this is, perhaps, not surprising. Previous attempts have, as a consequence, focused on specific regions and on specific management objectives and definitions of sustainable forest management.
This document provides information on status and trends in forest management by reporting on three selected national-level forest management indicators: whether the country is a member of an international initiative to develop and implement criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management; the area of forest covered by a management plan in each country; and the area of forest certified as being under sustainable management for timber production in each country.
The results of this study were presented in the Global Forest Resources Assessment. Main Report (FAO, 2001b) as well as in State of the World’s Forests 2001 (FAO, 2001c).
The present study complements three other forest management related desk studies undertaken as part of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, which provide information on other important forest management indicators such as the area of forest classified as protected area, the area under approved forest harvesting schemes and the area of forest available for wood supply. Refer to the above two publications for details.
It is hoped that current efforts to define, implement and report on national level criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management will facilitate future reporting on the status and trends in forest management.
Rome, November 2001.
El Hadji Sène
Director
Forest Resources Division
Forestry Department
