This paper details the difficulties in definitions related to planted forests over recent decades, highlights trends in use of key definitions, recognizes processes underway to harmonize forest related definitions and points to the emerging way forward.
Planted forests can resemble natural ecological processes to a greater or lesser extent. Increasingly planted forests of exotic species are referred to as plantation forests (with single or few species, even age class, uniform planting density). Planted forests of indigenous species are increasingly referred to as forms of semi-natural forest or modified natural forest (depending on degree of naturalness, including mixed species and age classes and variable planting density).
Planted forests are often intensively managed for production purposes, but can also be established for protection, conservation or socio-economic purposes in which case the management may be less intensive. This distinction is important in global assessments that attempt to capture the extent of productive, protective, conservation of biological diversity, and socio-economic functions of forests, which are key criteria for sustainable forest management.
The complementary global forest resources assessment process coordinated by FAO in collaboration with UNEP and UNECE under the guidance of an advisory group; and the harmonization of forestry related definitions process coordinated by FAO in collaboration with the IPCC, CIFOR, IUFRO and UNEP have gathered momentum and strong endorsement from a wide stakeholder base of country experts, academics, scientists, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations. There is a determination to resolve the difficulties in forest related definitions related to modified natural forests, semi-natural forests, planted forests and plantation forests that have hindered policy and decision-makers, planners and foresters for decades. However, it is recognized that harmonization does not mean standardization but includes adjustments for improved compatibility, consistency, comparability, linkages and hierarchies between terms and documentation of similarities and differences.
