2001•Agritrop (Cirad)Requires access
Development of criteria and indicators for forest plantations from assessment toward communication tools for management
Philippe Guizol, Dwi R. Muhtaman
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Abstract
The rapid loss of forest resources from teak plantations in Java is a serious problem that is raising interest in finding new systems of management that will ensure sustained availability of resources. At the same time, all around the world a growing number of stakeholders are becoming involved in forest management. Sustainable forest management (SFM) has become the goal for many countries and stakeholders. But the definition of sustainability may differ significantly among stakeholders, who often have différent perceptions and interests. Achieving a common definition of sustainability is the first step needed for stakeholders involved in forest management to reach agreement on oals. An impressive amount of work has already been done to develop criteria and indicators (C&I) for forest sustainability. CIFOR's pioneering work in this area has included efforts to develop a set of C&I for forest plantations. The article describes the process involved in developing these C&I. The process is collaborative and cross-disciplinary, and particularly aims to improve the communication among experts. The fundamental purpose of C&I was to provide a means of assessing forest sustainability at the national level. However, research now includes efforts to develop C&I for use at the forest management unit (FMU) level. In the forest plantation sector, there is growing demand for linking C&I to forest management needs. C&I are seen as a tool that can help shareholders make collective decisions about forest management. A shortcoming of C&I so far is a lack of indicators that reflect interaction between the biological and social dynamics of forest use and management. This can be overcome by linking C&I with dynamic models. Multi-agent models and the use of scenarios to describe biological and social interactions offer new perspectives to guide the development of tools that will be useful in real-life situations of plantation management.