Building upon the National Report on Sustainable Forests and

U.S. National Report to UNFF:

Assessment, Action and the Need for a National Dialogue on

Sustainable Forest Management

Al SamplePinchot Institute for Conservation

National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003

“This report provides factual

information. It explains what we

know and do not know about

forest sustainability. But this

report will cause no change by

itself. . .”

National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003

“Our actions speak louder than words. This report gives us a golden opportunity to better understand SFM and to immediately begin doing what we know needs to be done on the ground to improve forest sustainability.”

Proposals for Action: Short history

• 1997 - UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests

(IPF): 150 Proposals for Action to promote

country progress toward sustainable forest

management

• 1999 - UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests

(IFF): 120 addition Proposals for Action to

promote policy dialogue on unresolved issues

• 2000-2005 - UN Forum on Forests (UNFF): to

oversee implementation of Proposals for Action

UNFF 2 (2002) themes:

• Combating deforestation and forest

degradation

• Forest conservation and protection of unique

ecosystems

• Conservation strategies for countries with low

forest cover

• Rehabilitation/restoration of degraded lands

• Promotion of natural and planted forests

• Concepts, terminology and definitions

UNFF 3 (2003) themes:

•Economic aspects of forests

•Forest health and productivity

•Maintaining forest cover to meet

present and future needs

UNFF 4 (2004) themes:

•Traditional forest related knowledge

•Forest-related scientific knowledge

•Social and cultural aspects of forests

•Monitoring, assessment and reporting

terminology

•Criteria and indicators of SFM

US Commitment

The US has agreed to implement the

IPF/IFF Proposals for Action in a manner

consistent with national priorities and

within political, social, and economic

limits.

Purposes of country reports

1. Domestic. Facilitate a country’s own internal assessment of forest conditions and trends as a basis for evaluation and potential further actions to promote SFM.

2. International. Serve as a basis for technical and/or financial assistance to promote SFM—or as a model to guide other nations as they build their own institutional, legal and policy framework for SFM.

US country report to UNFF:

Unique approach

Existing responses to Proposals for

Action from:

• Government: federal, state and tribal

• Private forest landowners

• Forest industry

• Conservation NGOs

Consultation with stakeholders:

• Acceptability of current conditions

and trends

• Adequacy of existing actions

• Options for possible further actions

• Prioritization among possible actions

Key concerns:

• Loss of forest cover and shifts in forest land use

• Fragmentation by development and other

non-forest land uses

• Forest industry divestitures and loss of long-

term commitment to SFM

• Parcelization of private forests into smaller,

less manageable tracts

Key concerns:

• Conservation of biological diversity

• Representation of full range of ecotypes

• Habitat protection for rare, local, and T&E

species

• Alien invasive species displacing native species

• Aggressive competition

• Introduction of new pathogens

Key concerns:

• Large scale insect and disease outbreaks, and

uncontrolled spread from public to adjacent

private lands

• Catastropic wildfire that threatens communities

as well as forest resources

• Displacement of natural forests by forest

plantations

• Climate change effects on forest ecosystems

Policy change and implementation tools:

• New voluntary market-based mechanisms

(rather than government regulation) for

promoting SFM

• Forest certification

• Provide consumers with environmentally

sound wood products

• Enhance public confidence in forest

management

Policy change and implementation tools:

• Monetize ecosystem services to facilitate

increased financial support for private forest

landowners providing multiple public benefits

• Protect high conservation value forests on both

public and private lands

• Conservation easements in which public

conservation values can be demonstrated and

monitored over time

Policy change and implementation tools:

• Community-based stewardship for ecological

restoration and long-term maintenance of a variety

of conservation values

• Renewable energy development

• Biomass energy to offset fossil fuel use and GHG

• Development of new markets to facilitate

ecological restoration and forest improvement

Information systems and management:

• Improved data collection, with agreed upon

protocols for collecting, organizing, and

sharing information on forests

• Focused, objective-based monitoring as a

basis for change analysis

Information systems and management:

• Improved reporting of forest information,

with better synthesis as a basis for policy

change and decision making

• Better evaluation and prioritizing of

information systems, considering budgets

and human resources

Periodic snapshots important, but not sufficient to address priority needs for improving SFM in US forests

• What does the information mean (interpretation)?

• How can it serve as a basis for improvement in collective

efforts to gather, monitor and report information?

• How can it serve as a basis for identifying specific

opportunities for timely, effective action on forest

conditions and trends widely acknowledged to be:

• Unacceptable

• High priority

How should the National Report on Sustainable Forests – 2010 read differently from the 2003 report?

• Changes measurable in the near-term

• Changes measurable only over longer-term, but

requiring decisive action now for progress to

become apparent in subsequent National Reports

on Sustainable Forests

Ongoing national dialogue on SFM needed:

• Broaden range and diversity of stakeholders with

an opportunity to participate

• Facilitate coordination among institutions on:

• Policy development

• Improvements in information systems

• Action-oriented to address unsatisfactory forest

conditions and trends in advance of next National

Report

Roundtable on Sustainable Forests

• Focused to date on development of factual basis for the

National Report assessment of conditions and trends

• Is RSF capable (and suitable) as an action mechanism

for promoting improvements in SFM, not just

assessment?

Reports available for review at:

•www.pinchot.org/international/unff

(US reports-long version, including

policies, programs, activities by public

private and nonprofit sectors)

•www.un.org/esa/forests/reports-unff5

(country reports-short version)

Pinchot Institute contacts

Al Sample (202) 797-6580

alsample@pinchot.org

Mary Chapman (202) 797-6585

mchapman@pinchot.org