16 January 2015: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) convened an expert meeting on criteria and indicators (C&I) for sustainable forest management (SFM) to discuss progress in the implementation of the project, ‘Strengthening criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in policy and practice.’

The meeting gathered different perspectives on experiences, needs and potential for C&I among stakeholder groups. Some of these perspectives are captured in expert interviews on C&I in Southeast Asia and the Amazon Basin, certifying forest products, using C&I as a communications tool, and measuring the state of forests.

Next steps in the project include convening regional workshops in Africa, Asia and Latin America to introduce the project and share experiences and lessons learned and the publication of a final project report including proposed indicators. The project aims to further develop and harmonize C&I on SFM and strengthen the use of C&I in planning, decision-making and monitoring and reporting. The project is slated to run for two years from 2014 through 2015. [Publication: Criteria and Indicators – for sustainable forest management][Executive Summary from meeting]