Criteria and Indicators

Background

Every major forest policy arena in the world has agreed that criteria and indicators (C&I) are a critically important forest policy and management tool. As used in this context, a criterion is a category of forest-related conditions or processes that characterize an element of sustainable forest management. Each criterion is accompanied by a set of related indicators designed to quantitatively or qualitatively assess current conditions and monitor change over time.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Forests supports the use of the Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests. These C&I were formally agreed upon in 1995 by the 10 countries, including the United States, then participating in an international technical working group known as the Montreal Process. Thus, they are often referred to as the Montreal C&I.

The Montreal C&I were designed to evaluate SFM at the national level and consist of seven criteria and, following the recent indicator review and refinement process described below, 64 indicators are grouped beneath those criteria  The number of indicators falling under each criterion is listed below. 

1. Conservation of biological diversity (9 indicators)
2. Maintenance of productive capacity of forest ecosystems (5 indicators)
3. Maintenance of forest ecosystem health and vitality (2 indicators)
4. Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources (5 indicators)
5. Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles (3 indicators)
6. Maintenance and enhancement of long-term multiple socio-economic benefits to meet the needs of society (20 indicators)
7. Legal, institutional, and economic framework for forest conservation and sustainable management (20 indicators)

The formal declaration of the Montreal C&I is documented in the Santiago Declaration, so named for the location of the meeting that finalized the Montreal C&I. The individual indicators and how they are organized beneath the various criteria are available at the Santiago Declaration link above. Since the Santiago Declaration, two additional countries have joined the Montreal Process.

It is important to emphasize that the Montreal C&I are a tool and a framework for data collection and reporting. As such, they are neither management standards nor regulations. The Montreal C&I do not assess whether SFM has been achieved, and they are not a means of forest certification. Click here to download a publication that explores the key differences between the Montreal C&I and forest certification. The Montreal C&I are simply a tool that articulates a common frame of reference from which to engage in complex, shared discussions about how our country's diverse forest stakeholder community can work together to achieve the goal of SFM at the national level.

Indicator Refinements

In April 2005, the USDA Forest Service, with the assistance of a planning group from the Roundtable on Sustainable Forests, coordinated three technical workshops on the refinement of the indicators in the Montréal C&I.  Workshop results are posted under Meeting and Workshop Summaries.  Participants involved in the workshops were tasked with developing the wording and rational for possible indicator refinements that would later be used by the U.S. Government delegation to suggest changes to the other Montréal Process countries at a series of technical meetings in 2006. 

At its Seventeenth Meeting on July 2006, in Sapporo, Japan, the Montréal Process Working Group reviewed and agreed upon indicator refinements proposed by the Montréal Process Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).  The Report was based on the work done by the TAC over three indicator review meetings held in Iguazú, Argentina, in June 2004; Sochi, Russia in October 2005; and Malalcahuello, Chile, in November 2005.  The TAC proposed indicator refinements to the Montreal Process Working Group (WG) at their 17th Meeting in Sapporo, Japan on July 24-28, 2006.  The WG agreed to a final set of revised indicators for Criteria 1-6, but did not agree to a revised set of Criterion 7 indicators.  The WG agreed to retain the 1995 indicators for Criterion 7 for the next reporting period.  Click here to download the summary of the indicator refinements agreed to at the Sapporo meeting.