Enhanced Global Reporting on Forest Sustainability

By Laura Nichol
March 2012

Canada brings international forest organizations together to agree on new ways to collaborate on and improve forest sustainability reporting.

Workshop delegates pause to discuss progress and poster presentations

It’s been 20 years since the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED). Known as the “Earth Summit”, this conference led to a number of significant policy documents, including The Statement of Forest Principles. As a result of these principles, organizations that help monitor forest health have made significant improvements tracking conditions and trends in the sustainability of their forests.

The Montreal Process (MP) group, Forest Europe (FE) and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) are the most advanced organizations that monitor and report on indicators of forest sustainability. Together, these entities represent over 100 nations containing virtually all of the world’s forests. However, they each use somewhat different measures of sustainability.

As the current Chair of the Montreal Process Working Group, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) brought representatives from these organizations together for the first time since the UNCED for a two-day workshop. The goal was to find new ways to work together to further promote accountable, science-based forest management and to better coordinate global forest reporting.

Indicators measure progress toward sustaining the environmental, economic, social and cultural importance of forests that define sustainable forest management practices

Aligning Global Reporting

The result of the workshop was a joint statement of collaboration that has been endorsed by each organization. “We recognize the value of working with other processes and organizations to avoid the proliferation of monitoring requirements and associated reporting burdens,” the organizations said in their statement.

The groups have agreed to work with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to better align global reporting requirements for the 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment (GFRA). Produced every five years by the FAO, the GFRA report is the most comprehensive assessment of the world’s forests.

Representatives from the organizations have already begun developing joint data collection schedules and methodologies among the FAO and the three criteria and indicator processes.

“Combining our knowledge and experience in tracking and reporting on forest conditions and trends will help all countries better deal with emerging issues such as climate change, bioenergy and water,” says Joanne Frappier, Canada’s representative for the Montreal Process.

The Benefits of Coordinated Global Reporting

Delegates observe the use of indicators of sustainable forest management from a forest harvesting perspective

Streamlining reporting is expected to improve the quality of international data on forest sustainability. “By enabling countries to use the same data set for multiple international reporting obligations, international reporting will be more consistent and reliable,” says Simon Bridge, head of the Forest Information Strategy Section at NRCan.

Consistent data is important for global cooperation in solving issues that cross national borders. For example, through the Montreal Process, Canada, Mexico and the United States report on common indicators of forest sustainability. “This consistency has allowed these countries to produce forest ecosystem maps that cover the entire North American continent,” says Simon. “As a result, continent-wide management strategies are being developed to help protect biodiversity.”

For more information on criteria and indicators, visit NRCan’s “Criteria and Indicators” web page.

To read about related articles, see Sustainable Forest Management

For information on reproducing articles, please see our non-commercial reproduction section.