Forestry terminology

Process to harmonize forest-related definitions

The process to harmonize forest-related definitions is closely linked to the activities of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF). The definitions included are highly relevant to the Forest Resources Assessment.

FAO has facilitated three meetings of this process:

FAO, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) jointly organized the first Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders, which was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome on 23-25 January 2002. The meeting started a process which aims to achieve more consistency in the use of forest-related definitions, thus contributing to reducing reporting requirements and respective costs for countries, as well as facilitating communication and negotiation between international conventions, processes and instruments. The meeting recommended, inter alia, establishing a Task Group; preparing a comprehensive analytical framework; and organizing another expert meeting to review the framework and decide on further action.

The Second Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders was jointly organized by FAO and IPCC, in collaboration with CIFOR, IUFRO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at FAO Headquarters, Rome, on 11-13 September 2002. The Meeting reiterated the need for a common understanding of, and harmonization between, forest-related definitions of core terms used by different international processes and instruments. This would reduce errors in employing terms; the reporting burden on countries and related costs; and the confusion in communicating with the media and the public at large. It recommended wide dissemination and use of the comparative analytical framework of forest-related definitions between international processes, which was developed during this definitions process.

The Third Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders was organized by FAO in collaboration with CIFOR, IPCC, ITTO, IUFRO and UNEP under the umbrella of the CPF. It was held in Rome from 17-19 January 2005 and attended by over sixty experts. The overall objective was to contribute to improved communication and information on forest-related issues by 1) taking stock of developments in forest-related reporting processes since the second expert meeting, and 2) harmonizing, to the extent possible, definitions relating to biophysical constitutions of forest resources and human interventions to manage forests for various purposes. The key terms discussed were natural forests, planted forests, forest plantations, trees outside forests, as well as managed and unmanaged forests. The meeting was conducted on the premise that harmonization is not standardization, i.e. the purpose is not necessarily to achieve common definitions but to improve consistency, compatibility and comparability.

There was general, although not unanimous, agreement on the working definitions of natural forest, planted forest, and forest plantation, which is a subset of planted forest. The meeting also reached general agreement on a working definition of forest management. It was recognized, however, that the concept of managed/unmanaged forests adopted in the climate change regime is broader than the one traditionally used in the forestry community.

In addition to discussing the above core terms, several groups addressed multi-lingual aspects of forest-related definitions, identified typical problems, and stressed the need for continued work. One group discussed the term ¿trees outside forests¿ and proposed further efforts for harmonization, including the agriculture and other relevant sectors.

Proceedings

Proceedings from the 1st Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-Related Definitions 22-25 January 2002
Proceedings from the 2nd Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-Related Definitions 11-13 September 2002
Proceedings from The Third Expert Meeting on Harmonizing Forest-related Definitions for Use by Various Stakeholders. Rome from 17-19 January 2005

Forestry terminology

Process to harmonize forest-related definitions

Proceedings

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