Climate & Environment
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)
Managing forests to balance timber production, biodiversity, carbon and livelihoods across generations — the core concept of forest certification.
Definition
Sustainable forest management is the stewardship and use of forests in a way and at a rate that maintains their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and potential to fulfil relevant ecological, economic and social functions, at local, national and global levels, without causing damage to other ecosystems (the pan-European/Ministerial Conference definition adopted by the FAO). It is operationalised through criteria and indicators processes and certification schemes (FSC, PEFC), covering harvest levels, regeneration, protection of high conservation values and community rights.
Overview
The overview for this term is being prepared.
Review
Help keep this definition useful and accurate.
Submitted reviews stay private until an editor decides whether to accept and attribute them.
Contribute to this entry
How would you like to contribute?
Every endorsement and suggested edit is checked by an editor before anything changes publicly.