Small scale banana plantation, Tanzania
Background
The World's forests are subject to many challenges and may be exposed to even greater changes during the coming decades.
These changes may be caused by: 1) an increasing demand for forest goods (e.g. fibre, fuel wood) and services (e.g. carbon storage), 2) changes in forest cover, species composition and productivity as an effect of climate change (CO2, temperature, precipitation) and pollution (e.g. nitrogen, ozone) and, 3) land use changes driven by an increasing demand of food, cash crops and bioenergy crops. One of the responses of the international community (e.g. in the Kyoto process) to these changes is initiation of large scale forest projects aiming at reforestation, afforestation and avoidance of deforestation and degradation of forests. If such forest projects are not thoroughly assessed and carefully managed, there is a risk that many natural resource and socio-economic values will be threatened and that the project objectives not reached. Using the sustainable forest management (SFM) concept in the implementation of these projects will help to avoid the most negative effects.
Definition
According to the FAO, several recent international meetings have suggested that the following seven thematic elements are key components of SFM:
- Extent of forest resources;
- Biological diversity;
- Forest health and vitality;
- Productive functions of forest resources;
- Protective functions of forest resources;
- Socio-economic functions;
- Legal, policy and institutional framework.
