Skógræktarritið - 15.05.2001, Side 193

SKÓGRÆKT HANDAN SKÓGARMARKA/ NSSE
STEFANIE LINSER
The Importance of a Theoretical
Background of Indicators for
the Assessment of Sustainable
Forestry
SAMANTEKT
Dagskrá 21, niðurstaða Ríó-ráðstefnunnar um sjálfbæra þróun, gerir
ráð fyrir að til verði vísar sem hægt sé að nota til að meta framfarir í
sjálfbærri þróun. Grein þessi lýsir fræðilegu þaklandi slíkra vísa,
kostum þeirra og göllum.
Introduction
Western world understanding of
management and value of
forests, and its importance in
land use planning have changed
considerably during the last
decades, especially since the first
Ministerial Conference on the
Protection of Forests in Europe
in Strasbourg in 1990, followed
by the United Nations Confer-
ence on Environment and
Development (UNCED) in Rio in
1992, the second Ministerial
Conference in Helsinki and the
third one in Lisbon in 1998.
Questions concerning the work
with indicators for the assess-
ment of sustainable forest man-
agement have been on the agen-
da during all these conferences.
Definitions of criteria and
indicators
In accordance with the Helsinki-
Process (Third Ministerial
Conference on the Protection of
Forests in Europe 1998), criteria
characterize or define the essen-
tial elements or set of conditions
or processes by which sustain-
able forest management may be
assessed. The direction of
change within each criterion is
shown by periodically measured
indicators.
In the social-scientific discus-
sion and also within the develop-
ment of environmental indica-
tors, there is a broad consensus
about the definition of indica-
tors, which can be named as a
deductive approach, because it is
derived from theoretical consid-
erations (Fues 1998: 21). The
common sense of these concepts
is reflected in the following defi-
nition of Nohlen (1991: 324):
"An indicator is a variable, wfiicfi
mediates or sfiows quantitative or
qualitative information about
complex circumstances or problem
areas. Tfie indicator informs about
observable and measurable clues
for certain circumstances or tfieo-
retical constructions whicfi are
considered to be unobservable."
Into this social-scientific
approach you can also insert the
definitions of indicators used
within the forest certification
process (Schneider 1995):
• An indicator is a quantitative
measure of an effect, which can
not specify itself whether the
modification is good or bad.
And an indicator is a quantita-
tive measure of time-related
changes to indicate how well
each criterion meets the goals
set. (Helsinki-Process).
• An indicator is a measurement
of an aspect of the criterion - a
quantitative or qualitative vari-
able which can be measured or
described and which when
observed periodically demon-
strates trends (Montreal-
Process).
Functions of indicators
Indicators are needed because
people are concerned about the
environment. People need to be
informed about the state of the
environment and how and why it
is changing, so that they can eas-
ily understand and monitor gov-
ernment policies. Indicators can
provide a means of linking envi-
ronmental impacts to socio-eco-
nomic activity, and may in some
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