Publication

Summary: "The international forest policy deliberations have made progress over the past decade in fostering political commitment for sustainable forest management. In the effective implementation of these commitments the role of science and technology (S&T) is crucial.
 

Policy and decision makers should take into full account the potential of markets as means for expressing the full range of values and for distributing the multiple benefits. To this end, it is of vital importance to determine appropriate absolute and relative values for the many benefits provided by forests and to include real costs of production and distribution in market prices. For this purpose, S&T should provide, and further develop, its substantive scientific knowledge on the valuation of forest goods and services, the provision of market and trade related data and information, and on market-based policy instruments.
 

There is a great need for policy and decision makers to adopt a universally accepted definition on forest health. In addition, more appropriate approaches should be used for monitoring and assessing forest health over the medium- to long-term in response to the various natural and anthropogenic
stresses that affect forest health. S&T should provide and further improve scientific knowledge and technology addressing the broad range of factors involved in degrading forest health and productivity.
 

In order to be able to maintain forest cover for present and future generations, policy and decision makers need to address more effectively the various anthropogenic stresses for forest ecosystems and forest biodiversity by means of strengthened dialogue and cooperation with other sectors. In addition, impacts of forestry practices on the roles and functions of forest ecosystems should be addressed. S&T has an important role in generating substantive scientific knowledge about the role and functions of forests and the impacts of stresses, as well as new technologies for monitoring, assessment and reporting of forest resources, including remote sensing.
 

All these efforts require adequate institutional and human resource capacity. Therefore, the transfer of technology, improvement of education, and capacity-building continue to be important tasks."