8 July 2013: Forest Europe has announced the release of the ‘Final Draft Report – Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management,’ which is coordinated and conducted by the European Forest Institute (EFI) and provides a picture of how the pan‐European FOREST EUROPE set of Criteria and Indicators has been implemented. The project is funded by the Government of Germany.

The report provides the results of the project, which tested criteria and indicators in 46 countries with regard to both their effectiveness in evaluating and reporting on sustainable forest management (SFM) and their role in policy making at the national and regional levels. The measures include 6 criteria, 35 quantitative indicators, and 17 qualitative indicators.

The project activities fall under seven integrated work packages: project management and dissemination; criteria and indicator development and implementation; national assessments and reports on criteria and indicators; regional criteria and indicators workshops in the Western Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe; a Pan-European criteria and indicators forum; a final report and recommendations; and a networking and web-platform.

The final report of the project notes that implementation of the criteria and indicators has varied across Europe. With regard to effectiveness, the measures have supported monitoring and reporting on SFM, however the lack of clear objectives and thresholds has limited progress. Regardless, increased political commitment for SFM has been observed. [Forest Europe Press Release] [Website: Implementing Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Europe] [Publication: Final Draft Report – Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management]