Revised ITTO criteria and indicators for the sustainable management of tropical forests |
May 2005
|
The purpose of the ITTO C&I is to provide member countries with a tool for monitoring, assessing and reporting changes and trends in forest conditions and management systems at the national and FMU levels. By identifying the main elements of sustainable forest management, the C&I provide a means of assessing progress towards sustainable forest management and the ITTO Objective 2000, which is “to enhance the capacity of members to implement a strategy for achieving exports of tropical timber and timber products from sustainably managed sources”.
The information generated through the use of these C&I will help communicate more effectively the status of efforts towards sustainable forest management. It will also assist in developing strategies for sustainable forest management, focusing research efforts where knowledge is still deficient and
identifying weaknesses.
When the indicators are made operational, a sound basis will be created for assessing, monitoring and reporting on sustainable forest management. The ITTO C&I should serve as a framework within which each country can develop its own system for determining sustainability at the national and FMU levels.
The ITTO C&I should continue to be reviewed and refined to benefit from experience and to reflect new concepts of sustainable forest management. Revision should take into account evolving knowledge about the functioning of forest ecosystems, human impacts on forests, whether planned or unplanned, and the changing needs of society for forest goods and services.
|
