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Working Group Meeting Report

1st Meeting of the Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests
Montréal Process

Geneva, Switzerland
June 21-22, 1994

  1. The Working Group (WG) on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests met for the first time in Geneva, June 21-22, 1994. Participants included Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. Pekka Patosaari, representing the Helsinki process secretariat and a representative of Germany also participated in the meeting. Dr. Jag Maini of Canada served as chair.
  2. The group agreed on the attached statement of its Purpose and Working Methods. As indicated in the statement, the group will work to develop criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests, with a view to reaching consensus among participants in advance of the 1995 session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The WG clarified that such a consensus on broad criteria and indicators would provide a common framework to describe and assess forest sustainability at the national level.
  3. Participants recognized that forests are an integral part of the long-term sustainable development of individual countries and of the temperate and boreal region as a whole. As such, forest sustainability could be viewed as the contribution of forests to sustainable development policies and programs at national and regional levels.
  4. Some countries noted that the term sustainable forest management implies only forest production or active use of silvicultural techniques and does not adequately encompass notions of forest protection and preservation. Therefore, for the purposes of its work, the WG agreed to adopt the working phrase, "criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests". It was understood that criteria and indicators to be considered by the WG would then cover the full range of uses and benefits provided by forests.

    In adopting this phrase, the WG noted that countries in the temperate and boreal region differ in a variety of ways including the quantity, quality, characteristics and diversity of their national forest endowments; forest conditions relative to the national population (e.g., amount of forest cover per capita); expectations of how forests should contribute or relate to the needs of society; and stages of economic development.
  5. Participants agreed that working definitions for such terms as criteria and indicators are needed. At its next meeting the WG will review definitions used in the Helsinki process, the Montreal documents and others provided by participants.
  6. Following a review by countries of their respective activities regarding forest sustainability, including domestic work on national level criteria and indicators and current thinking on more broadly applicable criteria and indicators, participants agreed that each country should work to identify criteria and indicators that could apply broadly to forests in the temperate and boreal region. The Working Group agreed that a composite text would be developed after participants had undertaken this preparatory work.
  7. The WG welcomed a presentation by Mr. Pekka Patosaari on the status of the Helsinki process. The group also welcomed the announcement by the U.S. that it will co-sponsor with the Rockefeller Brothers Fund a technical meeting on criteria and indicators for conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests, September 7-10 in Olympia, Washington. The U.S. noted that one objective of the meeting will be to explore areas of convergence that might be emerging from the Helsinki process, the Montreal process and the work of individual countries.
  8. Participants agreed that the following international organizations could make a useful contribution to technical discussions on criteria and indicators and could be invited to participate in the WG: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wildlife Fund-International, Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), and IUFRO.
  9. The WG agreed to make this report available to the participants of the First Expert Level Follow-up Meeting of the Helsinki Conference, 23-24 June 1994 at Geneva.
  10. The next meeting of the Working Group will be held on 28 July 1994 in New Delhi, India, and will be chaired by Jag Maini.

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Attachment

WORKING GROUP ON CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF TEMPERATE AND BOREAL FORESTS

Ottawa, Canada
5 July 1994

BACKGROUND

In September of 1993, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) convened a seminar of experts on the subject of "Sustainable Development of Boreal and Temperate Forests". The seminar, held in Montreal, Canada, was attended by 150 representatives of 44 countries representing North America, Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Japan. In addition, seven international non-governmental organizations and 5 international government organizations were represented.

The meeting was designed to examine the concept of sustainable development of forests. The working sessions focussed on defining environmental and socio-economic criteria for sustainable forest development, and providing potential indicators to assess country-level performance against those criteria. The meeting produced two summary documents, one on possible environmental criteria and indicators, and one on possible socio-economic criteria and indicators. While these were not consensus documents, participants agreed they would form a useful basis for further discussion.

The success of the CSCE seminar led many participating countries to call for follow-up and continued work towards specifying a comprehensive definition of sustainable development of boreal and temperate forests. At a follow-up meeting of key countries held by Canada in Washington, D.C., in December 1993, European countries indicated they would continue to work on forest criteria and indicators within the Helsinki Process. Canada proposed that non-European countries like Japan, Russia, the United States and Canada might look at a broader examination and harmonization of criteria for boreal and temperate forests.

Canada subsequently held an informal meeting on April 22nd in Kuala Lumpur to examine the options for the harmonization of approaches to defining criteria and indicators of sustainable development of boreal and temperate forests. Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and the USA, as well as a member of the Helsinki process secretariat and Germany, participated in the meeting. Participants agreed that it would be useful to establish an informal working group to advance discussions on criteria and indicators for sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests, with a view to developing consensus over the course of the coming year. It was also agreed that efforts should be made at an appropriate time to seek convergence with the ongoing Helsinki process.

PURPOSE AND WORKING METHODS

Purpose

The purpose of the Working Group is to advance the development of internationally agreed criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests, with a view to developing a consensus among participants preparatory to the 1995 session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Such a consensus will help establish a common understanding, language and definition of what constitutes conservation and sustainable management of forests in the temperate and boreal region. The Working Group will make efforts at an appropriate time to explore areas of convergence with the ongoing Helsinki process.

Participation

The Working Group will include representatives from interested countries with temperate and boreal forests. Participation by others will be welcomed as agreed by the group.

Working Methods

The Working Group will be informal in nature and will pursue its work on an ad hoc basis as agreed by participants. Therefore, only minimum support will be needed to handle logistical arrangements. Canada will facilitate this support, with assistance from others. The Chair will be decided on a meeting by meeting basis. To further facilitate its work, the Working Group will seek to meet in conjunction with already scheduled international forest meetings. When the group decides to have a written result of its meeting, the text will be agreed by participants at the close of the meeting. Participants agree to distribute the results of the group's deliberations to interested countries, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations. The guiding principles of the group will be transparency and flexibility.

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