Comments on Global Core Set of forest-related indicators.
Indicator # 1 “Forest area as proportion of total land area”
“Forest area as proportion of total land area” allows to produce / compute “Forest area net change rate (%/per year)” if such forest area proportion is provided for different years, in particular at regular time intervall (e.g. every 5 years). Ideally, it would sound more convenient to provide “Forest area” (in ha) instead of “Forest area proportion”, as (i) forest area is needed to compute Forest area proportion, (ii) is needed to compute indicator 3 in tonnes/ha and (iii) is more
However nor “Forest area proportion” nor “Forest area” are good indicatord to measure progress towards sustainable forest management. Indeed there is probably no relationship between forest area (or proportion) and progress towards sustainable forest management (e.g. Indonesia has a high forest area proportion but is probably performing poorly in terms of sustainable forest management). The change rate seems more appropriate for the purposes of this global Core Set of forest-related indicators.
Indicator # 3 “Above-ground biomass stock in forest”
The modification (tonnes instead of tonnes/ha) is justified as tonnes/ha can be derived (from indicator in tonnes and Forest Area). However, similary to comment made for indicator 1, “Above-ground biomass stock in forest” in itself is not a good indicator to measure progress towards sustainable forest management. Indeed there is probably no relationship between biomass stock in forest and progress towards sustainable forest management (e.g. again the example of Indonesia which has a high biomass stock in forest). A change rate would be more appropriate for the purposes of this global Core Set of forest-related indicators.
However if original data are expected to be provided as most convenient solution to compute appropriate indicators (such as change rate), it is indeed a good solution to provide biomass stocks in forest at regular time intervals together with forest area (indicator 1).
Frédéric Achard