Date Reported:

A large amount of national information already exists on forests and national progress towards sustainable forest management within the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organisations. Therefore, these guidelines do not address topics on which information has been collected recently on a global scale. Reference is made, in particular, to the following sources:

FAO’s Survey on the status and progress in the implementation of national forest programmes, 1998;

FAO/ State of the World’s Forests, 1999;

FAO/Forest Resources Assessment for the year 2000 (FRA 2000).

In addition to updating the attached information on forests that you have submitted to the CSD earlier, please consider the following guidelines in your report. If your country has recently provided information to an intergovernmental body or Secretariat on any of the items listed below, please make reference to the source.

General introduction

Please describe briefly, not exceeding a half a page, the current situation of sustainable forest management in your country. Please include in your description the major post-UNCED achievements related to sustainable forest management in your country. These may relate to, for example, legal and institutional frameworks, forest conservation, low-impact forest harvesting, non-wood products and services, etc). In your response, you may also wish to address gaps and challenges to the development or enhancement of sustainable forest management in your country.

IPF process

At its third session in 1995, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) decided to establish the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF), to continue the intergovernmental forest policy deliberations since UNCED in 1992. The IPF worked over a two year period (1995 – 97) to pursue a consensus and formulate options for further actions in order to: promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests; combat deforestation and forest degradation; promote international cooperation; and to facilitate international trade in forest products. The two years of intensive work of the IPF resulted, in 1997, in over one hundred negotiated proposals for action on a number of issues related to sustainable forest management directed to countries, international organisations, and major groups including the private sector.

The proposals for action of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) are related to, inter alia, national forest programmes, forest assessment, criteria and indicators, traditional forest related knowledge and underlying causes of deforestation.

Please indicate the extent to which your country has participated in the IPF process.

Please indicate if you have assessed the relevance of the IPF proposals for action for your country.

Please describe briefly the major points and concrete steps in implementing the IPF proposals for action in your country.

Please indicate areas where new actions could be taken.

Policy and other instruments, and legal framework

If you have a national forest programme (nfp), is it a part of your national sustainable development strategy? Was your nfp developed or updated in accordance with the guidelines established by the IPF.

Please specify the linkages, if any, between your national forest programme and integrated land management strategy or policy.

Please indicate if effective mechanisms exist to harmonise cross-sectoral policies related to forests (e.g. environment, agriculture, land-use, industry, air, water, economy or other relevant sectors) and how this is reflected in your national forest programme and/or your national sustainable development strategy.

Please indicate if compensation is provided for forest owners who provide non-market environmental benefits to society by managing their forests sustainably.

Please describe, if relevant, recent (post-UNCED) progress in recognising and respecting customary and traditional rights, including the right to land and land tenure of indigenous people, local communities, forest dwellers and forest owners.

Please describe briefly any private or public initiatives on forest certification in your country. If information is available, please evaluate if forest certification has facilitated the access of wood products to national and international markets. Please also indicate if certification has promoted sustainable forest management.

Information

Several regional initiatives are underway on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management such as the Pan-European Process, Montreal process, the Dry Zone Africa, North Africa and Near East, and Central America initiatives, the Tarapoto Proposal, the initiatives of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and African Timber Organization. Many countries have also developed their own national set of criteria and indicators.

Please specify in which of the international initiatives on criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management your country participates.

Please describe briefly the use of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in your country as a tool for (i) reporting, (ii) policy development or (iii) policy monitoring.

Please identify which of the criteria and indicators used in your country could be useful to assess progress towards sustainable forest management at the international level.

In addition to the above, please indicate how information on sustainable forest management is made available to potential users? Can it be accessed via the Internet? Please provide the addresses of the national World Wide Web Sites that contain the requisite data.

Overriding issues

According to the multi-year programme of work of the CSD, the overriding issues in each CSD session are poverty and consumption and production patterns.

Please describe the relationship between forestry and poverty in your country and the impact of each on the other.

Do you currently recycle forest products? If so, what types and in what quantities (as a percentage of total used)?

Please identify discussion, policies or initiatives in your country to promote the use of forest products in place of products made of non-renewable materials.

Other issues

Please identify if there are any other major issues not described above related to sustainable forest management that are important to your country.

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