Criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management in Canada

Abstract

Sustainable forest management is an international as well as a Canadian domestic concern. Sustainability is characterised by a framework of criteria and associated indicators which identify its principal attributes and the parameters which can be measured to assess the extent to which sustainability is being achieved. Canada is developing a set of criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management for domestic purposes, and is participating in a number of similar international initiatives which will establish international norms for sustainability. Harmonisation of these various initiatives will ensure international acceptance and understanding amongst global regions of similar and dissimilar forest zones. Implementation, a follow-up goal, will ensure that the principal objectives of sustainable forest management, as espoused by the National Forest Strategy for Canada, are achieved.