Criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management (SFM) are an increasingly common policy tool to implement sustainable management of forests and monitor progress. They are crucial as they define related specific targets for improving monitoring, reporting and assessment of key aspects of SFM.

However, there is a lack of knowledge among policy- and decision-makers on the use of C&I for various aspects of forests and forestry.

The Joint UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section together with specialists on monitoring SFM – among them our colleague Stefanie Linser – developed five policy briefs to inform about various important aspects of C&I for SFM applications:

1. Criteria and indicators – an universal policy tool for Sustainable Forest Management
2. National Forest Inventory – tool for decision making
3. Information Systems – tool for better forest policy and management
4. Criteria and indicator-based international Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting (MAR)
5. Criteria and indicators for forest-related communication

You can read the policy briefs here: Forest Assessment | UNECE.