Sustainability indicators around the world
From the Autumn 2008 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
Kris Gounder (second left) and working group delegates admiring the performance of the provenance (red tape) from NSW Kendall management area.
Twelve countries, representing 60 percent of the world’s forests, met together at the 18th meeting of the Montréal Process working group, held in Argentina in November, 2007.
The working group was formed in 1994 to develop internationally consistent criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests.
Forests NSW regulations and systems manager, Kris Gounder, attended with the support from the Forestry and Forests Products Committee.
“I provided the working group with our perspective on the implementation and reporting of sustainability under the Montreal Process criteria and indicators,” Kris said.
“Forests NSW sustainability reporting is highly regarded. Countries showed keen interest on how we use one dataset to respond to multiple reporting requirements and that the report is externally verified.
The working group approved new criteria one to six, technical notes and agreed to consider criteria seven at the next meeting. Australia will be releasing the 2008 State of the Forest report in March this year, which is based on the new approved indicators.
“Forests NSW is progressing towards incorporating the new indicators for all future sustainability reporting to ensure this set of indicators meets both the regulatory and non regulatory reporting requirements,” Kris said.
The working group’s field trip demonstrated the significant growth rates of Eucalyptus grandis. Between 1980 and 1993 new provenances were introduced, with 120 to 179 open-pollinated families from NSW being introduced in 1991-92.
“It was exciting to witness the performance of the trees from NSW compared to the other countries’ seed lots,” Kris said.
Kylie Davies - Communications, Sydney
