Abstract
Thompson, I. D., M. R. Guariguata, K. Okabe, C. Bahamondez, R. Nasi, V. Heymell, and C. Sabogal. 2013. An operational framework for defining and monitoring forest degradation. Ecology and Society 18(2): 20.
Highlights
Forest degradation is a widespread global concern and an important contemporary issue for several United Nations (UN) organizations and conventions
Forest degradation must be measured against a desired baseline condition, and the types of degradation can be represented using five criteria that relate to the drivers of degradation, loss of ecosystem services and sustainable management, including: productivity, biodiversity, unusual disturbances, protective functions, and carbon storage
These groups include the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which set a global target for restoration of at least 15% of degraded ecosystems by 2020 (Convention on Biological Diversity 2010); the UN Forum on Forests that has an objective to reduce degradation; the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that considers degradation on drylands; and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that proposes to recover degraded forests as carbon sinks
Summary
Forest degradation is a widespread global concern and an important contemporary issue for several United Nations (UN) organizations and conventions. Definitions of forest degradation (ITTO 2002, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity 2002, Norris 2012) suggest changes in forest structure, dynamics, and functions resulting mostly from human-induced causes relative to a preferred condition. We included carbon stock as a separate criterion, despite its close link to productivity, because of its high relevance to UNFCCC in the context of emissions reductions and for forest-carbon projects These five criteria should not be viewed as necessarily equivalent; we expect that certain criteria might be considered more important than others, depending on local or national circumstances and on the objectives for a particular forest. The appropriate baselines for indicators should be a combination of what would normally be expected
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