STATEMENT ON CRITERIA AND INDICATORS FOR THE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF TEMPERATE AND BOREAL FORESTS

The Governments of Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America, which are participating in the Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests ("Montreal Process") and whose countries contain a significant portion of the world's temperate and boreal forests:

Recognizing that the sustainable management of all types of forests, including temperate and boreal forests, is an important step to implementing the Statement of Forest Principles and Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, and is relevant to the United Nations conventions on biological diversity, climate change and desertification,

Also recognizing the value of having an internationally accepted understanding of what constitutes sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests, and the value of agreed criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management in advancing such an understanding,

Mindful that the application of agreed criteria and indicators will need to take account of the wide differences among States regarding the characteristics of their forests, including planted and other forests, land ownership, population, economic development, scientific and technological capacity, and social and political structure,

Taking note of other international initiatives regarding the development of criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management,

Affirming their commitment to the conservation and sustainable management of their respective forests, and

Having undertaken substantive discussions to develop agreed criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests,

Endorse the non-legally binding Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests annexed to this Statement as guidelines for use by their respective policy-makers;

Encourage other States which have temperate and boreal forests to consider the endorsement and use of these criteria and indicators;

Note the ongoing nature of the discussion on these criteria and indicators and the need to update the annex as new technical and scientific information and data become available and assessment capability increases; and

Request the Government of Chile, on behalf of the above States, to present this Statement, together with its annex, to the FAO Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry, to be held in Rome, March 16-17, 1995, and the third session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, to be held in New York, April 11-28, 1995.

Santiago, Chile
February 3, 1995

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