Voluntary Guidelines On National Forest Monitoring

VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ONNATIONALFORESTMONITORING

VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ONNATIONALFORESTMONITORINGFOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONSROME, 2017

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viiAcronyms.ixPart A: Background and principlesSection 1: Background11.1 General role of national forest monitoring.11.2 Goals and scope of national forest monitoring.21.3 Increasing information needs at the national level.21.4 Key issues and key questions for national forest monitoring.31.5 Indicators of sustainable forest management as core attributes to be assessed in national forest monitoring.51.6 Forest monitoring as a complex undertaking.61.7 Purpose of these Voluntary Guidelines.61.8 Scope and goals of the Guidelines.7Section 2: Principles of National Forest Monitoring92.1 Governance principles.102.2 Scope principles.112.3 Design principles.132.4 Data principles.142.5 Overall principles.142.6 Cross-cutting issues.16Part B: GuidelinesSection 3: Foundation elements213.1 Institutionalization.213.2 Developing national capacity.223.3 Developing partnerships and collaboration.223.4 Strengthening research and research institutions in forest monitoring.23Section 4: Strategic elements254.1 Mandate.254.2 Identification of information needs.254.3 Stakeholder identification and engagement.274.4 Communication and dissemination.274.5 Integration of young experts.284.6 Data management and archiving.284.7 Impact assessment.29Section 5: Operational elements315.1 Preparation.325.1.1 Population of interest and sampling frame .325.1.2 Identification and specification of variables to be recorded .325.1.3 Review of existing data and information.335.1.4 Uncertainty levels for the expected products.345.1.5 Assessment and optimization of available expertise and human resources development.35iii

5.2 Statistical design.365.2.1 Integration of field and remote-sensing data.365.2.2 Sampling design.375.2.3 Plot design.415.2.4 Estimation design .425.2.5 Model selection.435.2.6 Errors in forest inventories and quality assurance.445.2.7 Design of control measurements.465.3 Operational design.475.3.1 Producing the field manual.485.3.2 Design of the information management system.505.3.3 Building the teams.505.3.4 Training.515.3.5 Fieldwork planning.525.3.6 Fieldwork implementation.535.3.7 Supervision of fieldwork.535.3.8 Auxiliary data collection and supervision.545.4 Data management, data analyses, documentation and reporting.545.4.1 Data entry and management.555.4.2 Data quality control.565.4.3 Data analyses.565.4.4 Documentation.575.4.5 Reporting.575.4.6 Communication and dissemination.585.4.7 Dialogue on the NFMS and its results.595.4.8 Evaluation and impact analysis.60Concluding observations. 61BoxesBox 1: A brief history of national forest monitoring.1Box 2: Forest-related information is increasingly valued.3Box 3: Key questions in national forest monitoring.4Box 4: Two dimensions of national forest monitoring.5Box 5: Good decisions require good information.5Box 6: Terminology is key in all surveys.7Box 7: Need for national ownership.10Box 8: Defining the information needs.12Box 9: Development and integration of emerging issues in national forest monitoring.13Box 10: Stakeholder identification.27Box 11: An optimal solution?.31Box 12: Uncertainty.34Box 13: Precision.35Box 14: Periodic or panel approach.38Box 15: Simple random and systematic sampling design.38Box 16: The non-response.39Box 17: Designing sampling and experimental plots.41Box 18: Estimation as a core element.43Box 19: Errors.45Box 20: Some strategies for measurement supervision.47Box 21: Meaningful estimates.57Box 22: Communication and dissemination.59iv

ForewordEvidence-based policies and practices that support highly productive andsustainably managed agricultural sectors are key to achieving FAO’s goalsof eradicating hunger and eliminating poverty for the benefit of presentand future generations. To achieve these goals, stronger national capacitiesto collect, compile and analyse data, and to generate and disseminateinformation tailored to specific audience needs are essential.Understanding forest resources and their changes is key to national andinternational environmental and developmental policy processes and isrequired by many international agreements, including the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Conventionon Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to CombatDesertification (UNCCD), the UN Forest Instrument and the SustainableDevelopments Goals (SDGs).Consequently, the demand for reliable and up-to-date national forestry dataand stronger analytical capacities at a national level has grown considerablyin recent years. In response, forums such as the 16th Conference of the Parties(COP16) have asked the UNFCCC to undertake activities to develop robust andtransparent national forest monitoring systems for REDD . Similarly, the 21stSession of the Committee on Forestry (COFO21) recommended further workwith member countries to prepare voluntary guidelines on national forestmonitoring.The guidelines at hand draw on the rich experiences and lessons learnedfrom FAO member countries and FAO national forest monitoring projectsand initiatives, as well as key inputs provided at international workshops andtechnical meetings and by institutional partners and stakeholders. They aredesigned to support member countries’ efforts to strengthen their nationalforest monitoring capacities, increasing their transparency and long-termreliability. They offer ‘good practice’ principles and a general framework, aswell as tools for planning and implementing multi-purpose national forestmonitoring grounded in nationally appropriate and scientifically soundpractices that account for domestic information needs and internationalreporting requirements.FAO is pleased to have coordinated the development of these voluntaryguidelines and congratulates member countries, organizations, institutions,and authors that prepared and adopted this important tool to strengthensustainable forest management at national and global levels.Ms Eva Müllerv FAODirector, Forestry Policy and Resources Division (FOA)Forestry Department

IntroductionNational information needs on forests have grownconsiderably in recent years, evolving from forestarea and growing stock information to key aspectsof sustainable forest management, such as the roleof forests in the conservation of biodiversity andthe provision of other ecosystem services. Morerecently, information on changes in carbon stocks,socio-economic aspects including the contributionto livelihoods and poverty reduction, governanceand broader land use issues has become critical fornational planning.The forest sector faces increasingly diverseinformation needs regarding land use and forestresources. This information is also necessary forpolicy-makers and other stakeholders to effectivelyenhance the role of forests in reducing the impact ofclimate change and providing other key ecosystemservices. To help realize the contribution of forests tosustainable energy and food security, policy-makersrequire more and better data, including informationon trends and outlooks and the broader context,such as demand for food, energy and wood fibreand employment and rural development issues. Theymust also meet the growing demand for evidence offorest management outcomes.Stronger national capacities are essential to collect,compile and analyse data and to generate anddisseminate information tailored to audience needs.In 2010, however, only 45 countries worldwidewere able to assess changes in forest area andcharacteristics through consecutive systematicnational forest inventories. 1 Moreover, it is likelythat these do not fully reflect the additional nationalinformation needs outlined above.Comparability and consistency are key elements toproviding timely and reliable forest information atdifferent scales. In this context, countries need toestablish and consolidat

The aim of these Voluntary Guidelines is to assist with the creation and operation of NFMSs. The guidelines include good practice principles, guidelines and a general framework. It also incorporates a set of decision-support tools for planning and implementing a multi-purpose NFMS grounded in nationally appropriate and scientifically