National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003

1. Building upon the National Report on Sustainable Forests and U.S. National Report to UNFF:Assessment, Action and the Need for a National Dialogue onSustainable Forest ManagementAl SamplePinchot Institute for Conservation

3. National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003 “This report provides factual information. It explains what we know and do not know about forest sustainability. But this report will cause no change by itself. . .”

4. National Report on Sustainable Forests-2003 “Our actions speak louder than words. This report gives us a golden opportunity to better understand SFM and to immediately begin doing what we know needs to be done on the ground to improve forest sustainability.”

6. Proposals for Action: Short history • 1997 - UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF): 150 Proposals for Action to promote country progress toward sustainable forest management • 1999 - UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF): 120 addition Proposals for Action to promote policy dialogue on unresolved issues • 2000-2005 - UN Forum on Forests (UNFF): to oversee implementation of Proposals for Action

7. UNFF 2 (2002) themes: • Combating deforestation and forest degradation • Forest conservation and protection of unique ecosystems • Conservation strategies for countries with low forest cover • Rehabilitation/restoration of degraded lands • Promotion of natural and planted forests • Concepts, terminology and definitions

8. UNFF 3 (2003) themes: • Economic aspects of forests • Forest health and productivity • Maintaining forest cover to meet present and future needs

9. UNFF 4 (2004) themes: • Traditional forest related knowledge • Forest-related scientific knowledge • Social and cultural aspects of forests • Monitoring, assessment and reporting terminology • Criteria and indicators of SFM

10. US Commitment The US has agreed to implement the IPF/IFF Proposals for Action in a manner consistent with national priorities and within political, social, and economic limits.

11. Purposes of country reports • Domestic. Facilitate a country’s own internal assessment of forest conditions and trends as a basis for evaluation and potential further actions to promote SFM. • International. Serve as a basis for technical and/or financial assistance to promote SFM—or as a model to guide other nations as they build their own institutional, legal and policy framework for SFM.

12. US country report to UNFF: Unique approach Existing responses to Proposals for Action from: • Government: federal, state and tribal • Private forest landowners • Forest industry • Conservation NGOs

13. Consultation with stakeholders: • Acceptability of current conditions and trends • Adequacy of existing actions • Options for possible further actions • Prioritization among possible actions

14. Key concerns: • Loss of forest cover and shifts in forest land use • Fragmentation by development and other non-forest land uses • Forest industry divestitures and loss of long-term commitment to SFM • Parcelization of private forests into smaller, less manageable tracts

15. Key concerns: • Conservation of biological diversity • Representation of full range of ecotypes • Habitat protection for rare, local, and T&E species • Alien invasive species displacing native species • Aggressive competition • Introduction of new pathogens

16. Key concerns: • Large scale insect and disease outbreaks, and uncontrolled spread from public to adjacent private lands • Catastropic wildfire that threatens communities as well as forest resources • Displacement of natural forests by forest plantations • Climate change effects on forest ecosystems

17. Policy change and implementation tools: • New voluntary market-based mechanisms (rather than government regulation) for promoting SFM • Forest certification • Provide consumers with environmentally sound wood products • Enhance public confidence in forest management

18. Policy change and implementation tools: • Monetize ecosystem services to facilitate increased financial support for private forest landowners providing multiple public benefits • Protect high conservation value forests on both public and private lands • Conservation easements in which public conservation values can be demonstrated and monitored over time

19. Policy change and implementation tools: • Community-based stewardship for ecological restoration and long-term maintenance of a variety of conservation values • Renewable energy development • Biomass energy to offset fossil fuel use and GHG • Development of new markets to facilitate ecological restoration and forest improvement

20. Information systems and management: • Improved data collection, with agreed upon protocols for collecting, organizing, and sharing information on forests • Focused, objective-based monitoring as a basis for change analysis

21. Information systems and management: • Improved reporting of forest information, with better synthesis as a basis for policy change and decision making • Better evaluation and prioritizing of information systems, considering budgets and human resources

22. Periodic snapshots important, but not sufficient to address priority needs for improving SFM in US forests • What does the information mean (interpretation)? • How can it serve as a basis for improvement in collective efforts to gather, monitor and report information? • How can it serve as a basis for identifying specific opportunities for timely, effective action on forest conditions and trends widely acknowledged to be: • Unacceptable • High priority

23. How should the National Report on Sustainable Forests – 2010 read differently from the 2003 report? • Changes measurable in the near-term • Changes measurable only over longer-term, but requiring decisive action now for progress to become apparent in subsequent National Reports on Sustainable Forests

24. Ongoing national dialogue on SFM needed: • Broaden range and diversity of stakeholders with an opportunity to participate • Facilitate coordination among institutions on: • Policy development • Improvements in information systems • Action-oriented to address unsatisfactory forest conditions and trends in advance of next National Report

25. Roundtable on Sustainable Forests • Focused to date on development of factual basis for the National Report assessment of conditions and trends • Is RSF capable (and suitable) as an action mechanism for promoting improvements in SFM, not just assessment?

26. Reports available for review at: • www.pinchot.org/international/unff(US reports-long version, including policies, programs, activities by public private and nonprofit sectors) • www.un.org/esa/forests/reports-unff5 (country reports-short version)

27. Pinchot Institute contacts Al Sample (202) 797-6580 alsample@pinchot.org Mary Chapman (202) 797-6585 mchapman@pinchot.org