Criteria and Indicators
The seven criteria and 54 indicators of the Montreal Process provide a common framework for member countries to describe, monitor, assess, and report on national forest trends and progress toward sustainable forest management. They also provide a common understanding within and across countries of what is meant by sustainable forest management and may be understood to constitute an implicit definition of sustainable forest management at the country level provide has become a key tool for defining, measuring, tracking and reporting on national progress toward sustainable forest management.
The seven Montreal Process criteria characterize the essential components of sustainable forest management (e.g. biodiversity conservation).
Each criterion is characterized by a set of quantitative and qualitative indicators, which provide a way to measure or describe the criterion. When measured periodically over time, they indicate change in trends in conditions relevant to sustainable forest management, including environmental, social, economic, and policy conditions. Monitoring these changes provides information needed to evaluate a country's progress toward sustainable forest management; information that is essential to making informed forest policy decisions.
For more information about the Montreal Process framework of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, see the following documents.
Current Set
- The Montréal Process, Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests, Fifth Edition, September 2015 (PDF, 4.3 MB)
- At a Glance - Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators Poster (PDF, 72 KB), French (PDF, 77 KB), Spanish (PDF, 73 KB).
- Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests TECHNICAL NOTES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MONTRÉAL PROCESS CRITERIA AND INDICATORS, Criteria 1- 7, Third Edition, June 2009, Revised July 2014 (PDF, 530 KB)
Set for 2013
- Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests, The Montreal Process, Fourth Edition, October 2009: English (PDF, 0.5 MB), French (PDF, 0.7 MB), Chinese (Third Edition) (PDF, 1.0 MB).
- At a Glance - Poster: Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators (third edition - 2009) (PDF, 94 KB)
- TECHNICAL NOTES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MONTRÉAL PROCESS CRITERIA AND INDICATORS, Criteria 1- 7, Third Edition, June 2009 (PDF, 475 KB)
Set for 2010
- At a Glance - Poster: Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators (second edition - 2007) (PDF, 100 KB)
- TECHNICAL NOTES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MONTRÉAL PROCESS CRITERIA AND INDICATORS, Criteria 1-6, Second Edition, December 2007 (PDF, 298 KB)
Set for 2003
- Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests, The Montreal Process, December 1999 (Second Edition)
- At a Glance - Poster: Montréal Process Criteria and Indicators (first edition - 1995) (PDF, 96 KB)