Madame Chairman, thank
you for the opportunity to share with
this meeting the progress being made by member
countries of the Montréal Process on “Criteria and Indicators
for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate
and Boreal Forests”.
Launched
in 1994, the “Montréal Process” includes 12 countries
spanning the globe: Australia, Argentina, Canada, Chile,
China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russian Federation,
Uruguay and the United States of America. These countries account for 90% of the world's temperate
and boreal forests, 60% of all forests and 45% of world
trade in forest products.
We
in the Montréal Process
are implementing criteria and indicators to
facilitate forest monitoring, assessment and reporting and
adopt policies and practices that foster
sustainable forest management. At the
XII World Forestry Congress in September 2003 in Québec City, the 12 countries each released its
first Country Forest Report using the 7 criteria and 67 indicators
adopted by Montréal Process countries in the Santiago
Declaration of 1995. These
country reports are designed for
policy makers and the public and reflect
the state of and trends in forests at the national level
based on contemporary scientific understanding of forest
ecosystems and their values to society.
To illustrate
the content of these country reports, the Montréal Process Working Group
published a First
Forest Overview Report 2003 that presents data from
all 12 countries for one indicator under each of the
7 criteria. In this way, the Overview Report highlights the progress and challenges reflected in the individual country reports. (Copies of Overview Report are available in English, French and Spanish.)
Madame Chairman, I wish to say a few words about what we have learned in preparing our first Country Forest Reports and where we go from here.
First,
the country reports reveal that all
countries have made progress in reporting forest information
since 1997 when we prepared our First Approximation
Reports. Our capacity to collect and report on indicators varies greatly among countries and no country is able today to report on all 67 indicators.
Second,
despite differences in forest ecosystems, land
ownership patterns, economic development and government
structure, many countries show some similar trends over
the past few decades. These include decreasing conversion
of forests to agriculture or urban land, increased protection
of soil and water, and small
decreases in forest employment as a percent of overall
employment.
Third,
countries expect to greatly improve their capacity to report on forests and progress on sustainable forest management using criteria and indicators. They will increasingly use C&I as a framework for strategic planning, forest inventory, stakeholder involvement and communicating progress to policy makers, and as a model for monitoring and assessing other natural resource sectors, such as rangelands, mining and freshwater.
Finally,
all countries
agree that the Montréal Process Working Group has provided many benefits as an international forum for collaboration, including catalyzing national efforts, promoting a shared view of sustainable forest management and how to measure it, and fostering bilateral and regional
cooperation among members to build capacity. It has also been extremely useful for
each of us domestically, not least to transfer knowledge from international discussions to our stakeholders at home.
Madame Chairman, with the completion
of the Country Forest Reports, we have demonstrated
that we can assess our forests using the Montréal Process
criteria and indicators, and we have formed a better
understanding of the challenges that remain for us to strengthen our capacity to report using criteria and indicators.
To
meet these challenges and launch the next phase of our work, Canada was pleased to host the first Special “High
Level” Session of the Montréal Process Working Group
during the XII World Forestry
Congress. This Special Session adopted the Québec City Declaration reaffirming our commitment to using the Montréal
Process criteria and indicators to monitor, assess and report on forests and to collaborating through the Montréal Process Working Group. The Special Session also endorsed a robust set of 14 actions, setting forth our vision and course for the next five years. Four actions are especially relevant to the discussions here today. These are to:
- Develop strategies to mobilize resources needed to collect data
- Increase communication and collaboration with other C&I processes
- Use the C&I as the basis for national reporting on sustainable forest management to international
fora, including UNFF, and
- Seek international endorsement of a global set of criteria to provide a framework for existing criteria and indicators processes.
We look forward to working closely with other criteria and indicators processes, the CPF and the UNFF to achieve these objectives and increase global recognition of the contribution of criteria and indicators to sustainable forest management. (Copies of Québec Declaration available in English, French and Spanish.)
Thank you, Madame Chairman.
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