The project Strengthening criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in policy and practice was designed to:

1.  further develop and harmonise indicators of SFM, and
2.  strengthen their use as a tool in planning, decision making and in monitoring and reporting in policy at national, regional and global levels and in forest management practice.

The three-year project (2014-2016) has undertaken national, regional and global consultations in Africa, Asia, Near East and North Africa, and Latin America. These involved governmental and non-governmental bodies and other stakeholders, reviewing C&I uses and discussing needs of stakeholders at different levels (local, national, regional, global) and opportunities to strengthen their use by learning from good examples and lessons learned. 

The project has proposed further indicator development and priority actions to strengthen applicability and use of criteria and indicators. The expected outcomes were: 

• broad agreement at technical level amongst key bodies and C&I processes on further elaborated and harmonized indicators of SFM
• a proposed common vision on the further promotion and use of forest indicators as tool for strengthening SFM, and
• a joint understanding on a roadmap for implementation by key partners.

The project was implemented by FAO in partnership with key global and regional C&I and forest–related processes and initiatives (UNFF, ITTO, Montreal Process, FOREST EUROPE, COMIFAC, ACTO). This project is carried out with the financial support of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).