November 2015: The Program on Forests (PROFOR) has released the draft of a sourcebook, titled ‘National Socioeconomic Surveys in Forestry: Guidance and Survey Modules for Measuring Multiple Roles of Forests in Household Welfare and Livelihoods,’ which aims to provide a standard tool to measure the socioeconomic value of forests and their role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Developed in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) group and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) of the CGIAR Consortium, the sourcebook informs on the multiple socioeconomic benefits that forests provide to households.

The book compiles technical guidance for the use of different components of household surveys and explains how data can be collected. Based on LSMS experience, it takes a community-level survey approach tailored to the forestry sector covering areas such as: income derived from forest products; contribution of non-timber forest products to household food and nutrition; employment and business benefits; forest-related assets; energy; health benefits; and safety in times of food shortage or crisis.

The book aims to support national statistics offices, other government agencies, non-governmental organizations and research organizations interested in collecting comparable, household-level data on forest socioeconomic benefits. [Publication: National Socioeconomic Surveys in Forestry: Guidance and Survey Modules for Measuring Multiple Roles of Forests in Household Welfare and Livelihoods (DRAFT)] [PROFOR News Release] [PROFOR Video on national socioeconomic surveys in forestry]