(Agenda Item 4)
14. FAO/UNEP Secretariat Note, Part I: "General Review of the International Initiatives on the Formulation of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management at National Level"/1 was presented by Mr. B. Taal from UNEP. The meeting was thoroughly briefed on subsequent developments so far in the four international initiatives covered by the paper, which are: the Helsinki Process, the Montreal Process, the "Tarapoto Proposal on Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability for the Amazon Forest", and the initiatives taken by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) regarding sustainable forest management.
1/
The full version of this FAO/UNEP Secretariat Note (Part I and II) is available from the Forest Resources Division, Forestry Department, FAO and from UNEP (in English and French). A shortened version of this Note is given in Annex 3.
15. The meeting was further informed about activities carried out by a number of both governmental agencies and national and international non-governmental organizations, including those of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in developing principles and standards for sustainable forest management at the forest management unit level.
16. In addition, the meeting was briefed on the support provided by FAO and UNEP to the process of developing criteria and indicators and on the role these two organizations played in facilitating a dialogue among on-going initiatives. The participants were fully informed on: (i) the outcome of the FAO/ITTO Expert Meeting on the Harmonization of Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management; (ii) the recommendations of the 12th Session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO) on the report of the above expert meeting; (iii) the "Rome Statement on Forestry" by the Ministerial Meeting on Forestry regarding the development of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management and the need to involve countries and eco-regions presently not participating in any of those initiatives; (iv) the work programme of the recently established Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) by the CSD regarding its role in the development of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management and its support to help promote a dialogue and compatibility among the existing international initiatives. Information on an expert meeting on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in the Near East Region (Cairo, October 1996) and on a similar meeting planned for the Central American countries (venue and timing of meeting still to be decided) was also provided to the participants.
17. The participants were briefed by a representative from the Helsinki Process on the experience gained so far by the European countries in the development and use of national level criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management. The meeting was also informed by a representative from CIFOR on the objectives and preliminary findings of the research work promoted and coordinated by the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in the field testing of criteria and indicators at the forest management unit level.
