The State of Forestry in Finland 2000. Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Finland
Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö
12 / 2000
Julkaisusarja:
Publications of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 5a/2000This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:952-453-024-4Tiivistelmä
At the second Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, held in Helsinki in 1993, the European countries and the European Union agreed to promote the implementation, on both the national and the international level, of the forest principles adopted by the UN Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (UNCED 1992). The criteria and descriptive and quantitative indicators for sustainable forest management were drafted in the follow-up process of the resolutions of the Helsinki Conference (the Helsinki process, Geneva 1994 and Antalya 1995). The pan-European criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, as well as the practical principles for their implementation, were adopted by the third Ministerial Conference in Lisbon in 1998. All signatory states were committed to continue the implementation, revision and further development of the criteria and indicators.
In Finland, work for the preparation of national criteria and indicators was launched in 1994, and the first report on the national criteria and indicators was completed and published in 1997. In August 1998, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry appointed a new working group to undertake the further development of the criteria and indicators. The new group had broad representation of interest groups in forestry. The target for the working group was the adaptation of the criteria and indicators especially to the monitoring of the national forest programme and regional forest programmes. The overall goal was also to maintain the globally recognised status and know-how of Finland in the development of the assessment and monitoring of sustainable forest management.
The national criteria and indicators were produced in the same spirit of open participation and cooperation as the National Forest programme 2010 and the regional forest programmes. In the past two years, the working group met a total of 15 times, and all invited interest groups participated actively in its work. As a result a reinforced and more clearly focused national consensus on the content of sustainable forest management was outlined and the factors with which the sustainability can be measured and monitored in practice. The majority of the indicators are based on scientific research, although some are designed to also measure social values related to forests and silviculture.
This report can be used in the outlining of Finnish national forest policy, the monitoring and revision of forest programmes, in forest certification, and in reporting on progress in the sustainable utilisation and management of forests. It also provides reliable information on the state and trends of sustainable forest management in Finland for all people interested in forests, both in Finland and abroad.
I wish to extend my most heartfelt thanks to all parties and persons involved in the work for their valuable contribution, and congratulate them on a job well done.
In Finland, work for the preparation of national criteria and indicators was launched in 1994, and the first report on the national criteria and indicators was completed and published in 1997. In August 1998, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry appointed a new working group to undertake the further development of the criteria and indicators. The new group had broad representation of interest groups in forestry. The target for the working group was the adaptation of the criteria and indicators especially to the monitoring of the national forest programme and regional forest programmes. The overall goal was also to maintain the globally recognised status and know-how of Finland in the development of the assessment and monitoring of sustainable forest management.
The national criteria and indicators were produced in the same spirit of open participation and cooperation as the National Forest programme 2010 and the regional forest programmes. In the past two years, the working group met a total of 15 times, and all invited interest groups participated actively in its work. As a result a reinforced and more clearly focused national consensus on the content of sustainable forest management was outlined and the factors with which the sustainability can be measured and monitored in practice. The majority of the indicators are based on scientific research, although some are designed to also measure social values related to forests and silviculture.
This report can be used in the outlining of Finnish national forest policy, the monitoring and revision of forest programmes, in forest certification, and in reporting on progress in the sustainable utilisation and management of forests. It also provides reliable information on the state and trends of sustainable forest management in Finland for all people interested in forests, both in Finland and abroad.
I wish to extend my most heartfelt thanks to all parties and persons involved in the work for their valuable contribution, and congratulate them on a job well done.