3 November 2014: FOREST EUROPE convened a Round Table Meeting on updating sustainable forest management (SFM) tools, during which it was agreed that the pan-European criteria and indicators (C&I) for SFM need to be revised and updated.

The meeting set out guiding principles for the updating process, calling for a balance between the environmental, economic and socio-cultural pillars of SFM. The meeting agreed that the current C&I are valuable and, as such, should not be drastically changed, however, lessons learned and experiences from Europe and the rest of the world could yield improvements.

It was also agreed that proposals on updates for each indicator would be considered by the Expert Level Meeting to be held in January 2015. The evaluation of the proposals will consider the feasibility of applying the C&I, the added value of the change, and the availability and reliability of associated data. [FOREST EUROPE Press Release] [Publication: Round Table Meeting on Updating the Sustainable Forest Management Tools – Background Paper]