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Building upon the National Report on Sustainable Forests and U.S. National Report to UNFF: Assessment, Action and the Need for a National Dialogue on Sustainable.

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Presentation on theme: "Building upon the National Report on Sustainable Forests and U.S. National Report to UNFF: Assessment, Action and the Need for a National Dialogue on Sustainable."— Presentation transcript:

1 Building upon the National Report on Sustainable Forests and U.S. National Report to UNFF: Assessment, Action and the Need for a National Dialogue on Sustainable Forest Management Al Sample Pinchot Institute for Conservation

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3 National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003 “This report provides factual information. It explains what we know and do not know about forest sustainability. But this report will cause no change by itself...”

4 National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003 “Our actions speak louder than words. This report gives us a golden opportunity to better understand SFM and to immediately begin doing what we know needs to be done on the ground to improve forest sustainability.”

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6 Proposals for Action: Short history 1997 - UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF): 150 Proposals for Action to promote country progress toward sustainable forest management 1999 - UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF): 120 addition Proposals for Action to promote policy dialogue on unresolved issues 2000-2005 - UN Forum on Forests (UNFF): to oversee implementation of Proposals for Action

7 UNFF 2 (2002) themes: Combating deforestation and forest degradation Forest conservation and protection of unique ecosystems Conservation strategies for countries with low forest cover Rehabilitation/restoration of degraded lands Promotion of natural and planted forests Concepts, terminology and definitions

8 UNFF 3 (2003) themes: Economic aspects of forests Forest health and productivity Maintaining forest cover to meet present and future needs

9 UNFF 4 (2004) themes: Traditional forest related knowledge Forest-related scientific knowledge Social and cultural aspects of forests Monitoring, assessment and reporting terminology Criteria and indicators of SFM

10 US Commitment The US has agreed to implement the IPF/IFF Proposals for Action in a manner consistent with national priorities and within political, social, and economic limits.

11 Purposes of country reports 1.Domestic. Facilitate a country’s own internal assessment of forest conditions and trends as a basis for evaluation and potential further actions to promote SFM. 2.International. Serve as a basis for technical and/or financial assistance to promote SFM—or as a model to guide other nations as they build their own institutional, legal and policy framework for SFM.

12 US country report to UNFF: Unique approach Existing responses to Proposals for Action from: Government: federal, state and tribal Private forest landowners Forest industry Conservation NGOs

13 Consultation with stakeholders: Acceptability of current conditions and trends Adequacy of existing actions Options for possible further actions Prioritization among possible actions

14 Key concerns: Loss of forest cover and shifts in forest land use Fragmentation by development and other non- forest land uses Forest industry divestitures and loss of long- term commitment to SFM Parcelization of private forests into smaller, less manageable tracts

15 Key concerns: Conservation of biological diversity Representation of full range of ecotypes Habitat protection for rare, local, and T&E species Alien invasive species displacing native species Aggressive competition Introduction of new pathogens

16 Key concerns: Large scale insect and disease outbreaks, and uncontrolled spread from public to adjacent private lands Catastropic wildfire that threatens communities as well as forest resources Displacement of natural forests by forest plantations Climate change effects on forest ecosystems

17 Policy change and implementation tools: New voluntary market-based mechanisms (rather than government regulation) for promoting SFM Forest certification Provide consumers with environmentally sound wood products Enhance public confidence in forest management

18 Policy change and implementation tools: Monetize ecosystem services to facilitate increased financial support for private forest landowners providing multiple public benefits Protect high conservation value forests on both public and private lands Conservation easements in which public conservation values can be demonstrated and monitored over time

19 Policy change and implementation tools: Community-based stewardship for ecological restoration and long-term maintenance of a variety of conservation values Renewable energy development Biomass energy to offset fossil fuel use and GHG Development of new markets to facilitate ecological restoration and forest improvement

20 Information systems and management: Improved data collection, with agreed upon protocols for collecting, organizing, and sharing information on forests Focused, objective-based monitoring as a basis for change analysis

21 Information systems and management: Improved reporting of forest information, with better synthesis as a basis for policy change and decision making Better evaluation and prioritizing of information systems, considering budgets and human resources

22 Periodic snapshots important, but not sufficient to address priority needs for improving SFM in US forests What does the information mean (interpretation)? How can it serve as a basis for improvement in collective efforts to gather, monitor and report information? How can it serve as a basis for identifying specific opportunities for timely, effective action on forest conditions and trends widely acknowledged to be: Unacceptable High priority

23 How should the National Report on Sustainable Forests – 2010 read differently from the 2003 report? Changes measurable in the near-term Changes measurable only over longer-term, but requiring decisive action now for progress to become apparent in subsequent National Reports on Sustainable Forests

24 Ongoing national dialogue on SFM needed: Broaden range and diversity of stakeholders with an opportunity to participate Facilitate coordination among institutions on: Policy development Improvements in information systems Action-oriented to address unsatisfactory forest conditions and trends in advance of next National Report

25 Roundtable on Sustainable Forests Focused to date on development of factual basis for the National Report assessment of conditions and trends Is RSF capable (and suitable) as an action mechanism for promoting improvements in SFM, not just assessment?

26 Reports available for review at: www.pinchot.org/international/unff (US reports-long version, including policies, programs, activities by public private and nonprofit sectors) www.un.org/esa/forests/reports-unff5 (country reports-short version)

27 Pinchot Institute contacts Al Sample (202) 797-6580 alsample@pinchot.org Mary Chapman (202) 797-6585 mchapman@pinchot.org


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