Implementing sustainability in the global forest sector: Toward the convergence of public and private forest policy

Sustainable forest management (SFM) has remained at the forefront of forestry discussions globally for several decades and is an important concept both for the forestry and forest products sectors. While the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines SFM as “the stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in a way, and at a rate, that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels, and that does not cause damage to other ecosystems” (MCPFE 2001), countless derivations from this basic definition are reflected across the various regulatory and voluntary programs that are in operation globally. This variation occurs largely because each program adopts its own criteria and indicators to assess, verify, and incentivize SFM practice, based on its unique interests and geographic focus (Prabhu et al. 1999).