The Panel encouraged countries to integrate national-level criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in national forest assessments, including qualitative indicators, where appropriate;
The Panel encouraged all countries, where appropriate and on a step-by-step basis, to improve national forest resources assessment, forest statistics and the capacity to analyse and make proper use of forest resources information, and encouraged donor countries and international organizations to support those initiatives;
The Panel urged countries, universities and relevant organizations and major groups to strengthen research on forest inventory and monitoring techniques with a view to expanding the scope and improving the quality of forest assessments;
The Panel requested FAO, in consultation with Governments and relevant organizations, including UNEP, to prepare and distribute a detailed plan for the implementation of the global forest resources assessment for the year 2000. The plan should provide for the inclusion of a broad range of forest values, including non-timber values, and should include detailed cost and funding options associated with potential new parameters, actions, targets and responsibilities for carrying out the assessment consistent with the recommendations of the Expert Consultation and with due regard to the requirements arising from internationally or regionally agreed criteria and relevant indicators for sustainable forest management;
The Panel requested FAO to implement the global forest resources assessment 2000, in collaboration with international organizations, countries and other organizations with competence in assessments, and to share the results of the assessment effectively with the international community;
The Panel requested FAO, in consultation with countries and relevant international organizations and in an open and transparent manner, to formulate an internationally acceptable set of definitions of key terms used in the assessment of all types of forests and their resources, and to promote their adoption;
The Panel urged FAO, in partnership with other international organizations, the Intersecretariat Working Group on Forest Statistics, national institutions and non-governmental organizations, to address the need for better coordination and avoidance of overlap between forest and other related information systems, and for clearer prioritization in data collection;
The Panel encouraged countries to begin a consultation process with all interested parties at the national, subnational and local levels to identify the full range of benefits that a given society derives from forests, taking the ecosystem approach fully into consideration.
The Panel requested the Centre for International Forestry Research, in collaboration with relevant organizations and in consultation with a group of internationally recognized experts, as well as in conjunction with national, regional, intergovernmental and non-governmental bodies, to develop as soon as possible mechanisms to:
(i) Guide the identification and definition as well as prioritization of global and eco-regional interdisciplinary
research problems, taking into account national priorities and closely linked to practical and operational forest management issues;
(ii) Promote consortia or networks to lead and organize global forest research and ensure that results are made
available to all users;
(iii) Build global capacity for forest research and develop new and innovative means for disseminating information and technologies;
(iv) Mobilize resources to accomplish the above objectives;
The Panel called on the Conferences of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention to Combat Desertification, within their areas of competence, to promote research and analysis undertaken by those Conventions and to address gaps in existing knowledge where relevant to their mandate;
The Panel urged the United Nations system, international financial institutions and countries to examine the need to expand the capacity of existing research institutions at the regional and subregional levels, and where appropriate the establishment of new regional/subregional centres for research, development and extension, including for biological diversity and forest products and other forest goods and services;
The Panel encouraged countries and regional and international research organizations to extend on-site research and to enhance its prioritization and the application of its results, with the involvement of all interested parties, in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of research so as to enhance its relevance and impact.
The Panel encouraged countries, in collaboration with international organizations, to make use of available methodologies to provide improved estimates of the value of all forest goods and services and allow for more informed decision-making about the implications of alternative proposals for forest programmes and land-use plans, taking into account that the wide range of benefits provided by forests are not adequately covered by present valuation methodology, and that economic valuation cannot become a substitute for the process of political decision, which includes consideration of wide-ranging environmental, socio-economic, ethical, cultural and religious concerns;
The Panel requested international organizations and relevant institutions to prepare comprehensive documents on the available forest valuation methods and data-sets required for the evaluation of forest goods and services, in particular those that are not traded in the marketplace;
The Panel invited countries and relevant international organizations and institutions to promote research to further develop forest valuation methodologies, in particular those related to deforestation and forest degradation, erosion, and criteria and indicators, taking into account the particular circumstances of each country.
The Panel encouraged countries to proceed to prepare, through a participatory approach, national-level criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management, and, taking cognizance of specific country conditions and on the basis of internationally and regionally agreed initiatives, to initiate and to implement them, where appropriate, while recognizing that further scientific and technical examination, including field testing, will itself provide valuable experience and assist in further refinement and development;
The Panel urged countries to promote, as appropriate, the use of internationally, regionally, subregionally and nationally agreed criteria and indicators as a framework for promoting best forest practices and in facilitating sustainable forest management; to encourage the formulation and implementation of criteria and indicators on a cross-sectoral basis and with the full participation of all interested parties; to include them in national forest programmes; to establish and, where appropriate, clarify links between criteria and indicators employed at the national level and at the subnational or at the forest management unit/operational levels; and to promote their compatibility at all levels;
The Panel encouraged countries not yet participating in any of the ongoing international and regional initiatives on criteria and indicators to become involved as soon as possible, thereby gaining benefit from the experience of the existing processes as well as contributing new insights; and urged donor countries and multilateral and international organizations to provide adequate technical and financial assistance to developing countries and economies in transition to enable them to be involved and participate in the further development, field testing and implementation of criteria and indicators at the national, subnational and forest management unit/operational levels;
The Panel urged countries and international organizations, in particular FAO, UNEP and other participants in international and regional initiatives, to undertake efforts to achieve a common international understanding on concepts, essential terms and definitions used in formulating and developing criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (and to promote their adoption); on indicators for forests in similar ecological zones; on mutual recognition among sets of criteria and indicators as tools for assessing trends in forest management and conditions at the national level; and on transparent methods for the measurement of indicators and the collection, assembly, storage and dissemination of data;
The Panel recommended that FAO and participants in regional and international initiatives draw on commonalities between criteria and indicators developed in such initiatives, as well as on the Forest Principles, and recommended that criteria and indicators be used by FAO and other relevant organizations in order to improve consistency in reporting on forest assessment and sustainable forest management;
The Panel requested that the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity take note of the work of the various existing initiatives on criteria and indicators to ensure that the work done by the Convention on Biological Diversity on developing and implementing biodiversity indicators would be consistent with and complementary to them.
