Background

This initiative began in April 2004 with collaboration between the government of BC, through the Forest Practices Board, and FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership. Over the past 10 years, much work had been done to try and achieve SFM in BC, but there lacked a cooperative approach at the provincial level to bring SFM to the forefront.

Out of this collaboration, the Common Ground for Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forests for British Columbia was born. This group consists of public, private, non-government and academic institutions. This group is committed to collaborating on developing common criteria and indicators for measuring and reporting on sustainable forest management performance in British Columbia. They have agreed that a collaborative approach will improve communication, reduce duplication and redundancy, increase efficiency, and make more effective use of investment funds.

"The Goal of the Common Ground Steering Committee is to facilitate collaborative development of scientifically sound, commonly accepted C&I and to increase awareness of the need for working models with generally acceptable methods of measurement and practical application."

- Common Ground Group (http://www.forrex.org/bcci/)

Progress to Date

The foundation projects for this web site, beginning in 2004 and spearheaded by the Common Ground Steering Committee, FORREX, and the University of British Columbia, focused on developing a common suite of criteria and indicators which could be used throughout the province of B.C. The first in a series of papers that came out of these projects was “Scientific Review and Gap Analysis of Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management” (Hickey and Innes, 2005). It focused on determining common scientifically sound, useful, and effective criteria and indicators and monitoring systems for British Columbia’s forests. The paper outlined the methodology for a 3000+ indicator matrix, including only indicators which were scientifically reviewed and pertained to forestry in B.C. This indicator matrix was then analysed and systematically reduced by researchers in the Sustainable Forest Management Laboratory at UBC. Feedback from the government and industry representatives on the resulting list of indicators was heard at a forum held in February 2005.

This process yielded a list of 300+ indicators, sub-indicators and measures, organized under the hierarchy of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM) Criteria and element framework. This list of indicators was then reported on with rationale, basic description, methods of measurement, organizations who were using it, organizations who reported data for it, uncertainties and research needs, references, and further reading (for each indicator) in the publication “Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management: Review of Potential Indicators” (McHugh et al, 2005). It was originally hoped that this rigorous reporting would yield a final suite of indicators for SFM in BC; however, the researchers soon realized that a diverse cultural and physical landscape such as BC may benefit from a tool that would help local (forest management unit (FMU)-level) indicator initiatives chose indicators that were suitable to their region of BC. Having a common set of indicators from which to select a FMU-level suite also unites the various initiatives within the province and creates an opportunity for provincial-level legislation for SFM. This website represents that common set of indicators. Each indicator listed here has either been conceived in BC or is pertinent to management, conservation, economy, and society in British Columbia.

Hickey, G.M. and J.L. Innes. 2005. Scientific Review and Gap Analysis of Sustainable Forest Management Criteria and Indicators Initiatives: FORREX Forest Research Extension Partnership, Kamloops, B.C. FORREX Series 17. URL: www.forrex.org/publications/FORREXSeries/FS17.pdf

McHugh, A., Gough, A. and Innes, J.L. 2005. Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management: Review of Potential Indicators. University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry, Sustainable Forest Management Lab. Unpublished report. URL: http://sustain.forestry.ubc.ca/Site/C%20and%20I.htm