Significance and Use
5.1 This guide is intended to be used by developers of standards and other documents in the field of renewable resources and green building to evaluate whether the attributes of a specific forest management system meet the intent of sustainable forest management.
5.2 In addition to the attributes addressed by this document, some users may wish to impose other evaluation criteria intended to satisfy goals beyond maintaining sustained-yield and sustainable forest management. While these issues are not specifically addressed in this guide, some are discussed in Appendix X1, Commentary.
Scope
1.1 This guide provides a list of criteria and indicators that have been shown to be useful in achieving the goals of a sustainable forest management plan. This guide lists a set of criteria considered to be important for the following tasks:
| Criterion | Element | Indicator |
| 1. Conservation of biological diversity | 1.1 Ecosystem diversity | 1.1a Area and percent of forest by forest ecosystem type, successional stage, age class, and forest ownership or tenure |
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| 1.2 Species diversity | 1.2a Number of native forest associated species | |
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| 1.3 Genetic diversity | 1.3a Number and geographic distribution of forest associated species at risk of losing genetic variation and locally adapted genotypes | |
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| 2. Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems |
| 2.a Area and percent of forest land and net area of forest land available for wood production |
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| 3. Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality |
| 3.a Area and percent of forest affected by biotic processes and agents (for example, disease, insects, invasive species) beyond reference conditions |
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| 4. Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources | 4.1 Protective Function | 4.1a Area and percent of forest whose designation or land management focus is the protection of soil or water resources |
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| 4.2 Soil | 4.2a Proportion of forest management activities that meet best management practices or other relevant legislation to protect soil resources | |
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| 4.3 Water | 4.3a Proportion of forest management activities that meet best management practices, or other relevant legislation, to protect water related resources | |
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| 5. Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles |
| 5.a Total forest ecosystem carbon pools and fluxes |
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| 6. Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of societies | 6.1 Production and consumption | 6.1a Value and volume of wood and wood products production, including primary and secondary processing |
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| 6. Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of societies | 6.1 Production and consumption | 6.1e Total and per capita consumption of non-wood products |
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| 6.2 Investment in the forest sector | 6.2a Value of capital investment and annual expenditure in forest management, wood and non-wood product industries, forest-based environmental services, recreation, and tourism |
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| 6.3 Employment and community | 6.3a Employment in the forest sector |
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| 6.4 Recreation and tourism | 6.4a Area and percent of forests available or managed for public recreation and tourism, or both |
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| 6.5 Cultural, social and spiritual needs and values | 6.5a Area and percent of forests managed primarily to protect the range of cultural, social and spiritual needs and values |
1.1.1 To describe, assess, and evaluate progress toward sustainability of forest management at the national, regional, or individual forest level.
1.1.2 To inform the policy debate at regional, national, and international levels.
1.1.3 To evaluate the attributes of a forest management certification or evaluation system with a specific combination of forest management principles, practices, or adaptations, where such practices are evaluated against a set of prescribed standards. Although this guide provides a qualitative list of criteria for evaluation of forest conditions, it does not purport to recommend any specific forest management certification or evaluation system or subset of overall attributes. The guide does not replace forest certification or verification standards.
1.2 This guide will require compilation of information from multiple sources across various governmental and nongovernmental agencies. For this guide to be useful, it is recommended that the information collected is in alignment with that which is already collected for other purposes; otherwise these indicators may be too great an effort to combine in a timely fashion.
1.3 This guide cannot replace education or experience and should be used in conjunction with professional judgment such as that provided by foresters, forest scientists, and wood technologists.
1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
