The book contains the peer-reviewed, revised and edited invited keynote, overview and review papers presented at a IUFRO/CIFOR/FAO conference for each of the seven generic sustainability criteria for forest management. The sustainability criteria covered are: (i) social and economic functions and conditions; (ii) legal and institutional frameworks; (iii) productive capacity; (iv) ecosystem health and vitality; (v) soil and water protection; (vi) global carbon cycles; and (vii) biological diversity. Criteria and indicators (C&I) are a relatively new tool that have been developed to help better define sustainable forest management and assist with measuring change in forest condition and output of goods and services from forests. Application of C&I in forests has the following potential benefits: (i) raising awareness of, and political commitment for, Sustainable Forest Management; (ii) providing a tool for reporting, at a range of levels, on the state and trend in condition of forests; (iii) when forming part of an environmental management system, providing a way of assessing progress against management objectives, and thus supporting adaptive forest management; and (iv) providing an important plank for the certification of forests as sustainability management, and the associated green labelling of forest products.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / R. John Raison, David W. Flinn and Alan G. Brown -- Application of Criteria and Indicators to Support Sustainable Forest Management : Some Key Issues / R. John Raison, David W. Flinn and Alan G. Brown -- Policy Inflation, Capacity Constraints : Can Criteria and Indicators Bridge the Gap? / Stephen Bass -- Between Voodoo Science and Adaptive Management : the Role and Research Needs for Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management / Ravi Prabhu, H. Jack Ruitenbeek, Timothy J.B. Boyle and Carol J. Pierce Colfer -- 'Whose Forest is this, Anyway?' Criteria and Indicators on Access to Resources / Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Agus Salim, Anne Marie Tiani, Bertin Tchikangwa, Mustofa Agung Sardjono and Ravi Prabhu -- Representing the Future : A Framework for Evaluating the Utility of Indicators in the Search for Sustainable Forest Management / Stephen F. McCool and George Stankey -- SFM Indicators as Tools in Political and Economic Contexts : Actual and Potential Roles / Ewald Rametsteiner -- Legal Frameworks in Criteria and Indicator Approaches / Olli Eeronheimo -- Collaborative Action and Technology Transfer as Means of Strengthening the Implementation of National-level Criteria and Indicators / Froylan Castaneda -- Inventory and Forecasting Productive Capacity for Natural Forests / Ross Penny, Cris Brack, Klaus von Gadow and Gyde Lund -- Indicators for Sustained Productive Capacity of New Zealand and Australian Plantation Forests / C.T. Smith, A.D. Gordon, T.W. Payn, B. Richardson, S.H. Schoenholtz, M.F. Skinner, P. Snowdon and G.G. West -- Indicators to Guide Management for Multiple Forest Use / F.O. Beese and B. Ludwig -- Impacts of Environmental Stress on Forest Health : the Need for More Accurate Indicators / John L. Innes and David F. Karnosky -- Guiding Concepts for the Application of Indicators to Interpret Change in Soil Properties and Processes in Forests / R. John Raison and M.A. Rab -- Catchment and Process Studies in Forest Hydrology : Implications for Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management / John Roberts -- The Role of Forests in the Global Carbon Cycle / Miko U.F. Kirschbaum -- Ecosystem-level Forest Biodiversity and Sustainability Assessments for Forest Management / Bryan Finegan, Walter Palacios, Nelson Zamora and Diego Delgado -- Assessing the Success of Off-reserve Forest Management in Contributing to Biodiversity Conservation / P.J. Kanowski, S.J. Cork, D. Lamb and N. Dudley -- Spatial Patterns and Fragmentation : Indicators for Conserving Biodiversity in Forest Landscapes / Richard H. Loyn and Clive McAlpine -- An Approach to Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management at the Sub-national Level in European Forestry / Bernard Roman-Amat, Michel Hermeline and Jean-Marie Michon -- Conclusions / R. John Raison, David W. Flinn and Alan G. Brown.

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Title from PDF title page (viewed September 4, 2013).