Assessing forest integrity and naturalness in relation to biodiversity
Until recently, efforts at assessing and monitoring forests have focused on the amount (area) of forest remaining and/or its standing timber volume. Increasingly the multiple benefits and functions of forests, including provision of non-wood forest products, hydrological functions, carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection have been recognised, and their consideration in forest assessment has been recommended. There is now a perception that not all forests are equal, whether it be for tim ber production or for conservation of biodiversity. The international community has placed a high priority on assessing and monitoring the capacity of forests to provide any given range of services and conveying this information to policy and decision-makers and the general public (Nyyssonen & Ahti 1996). In this paper we discuss: • ways in which the capacity of forests to maintain their original biodiversity can be assessed at broad geographical scales; • the problems inherent in such as sessments; • the most useful ways of presenting the results, and • steps that need to be taken to ensure effective monitoring in the future.
| Format: | Book (stand-alone) biblioteca |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2000
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| Online Access: | https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/AD654E http://www.fao.org/3/a-ad654e.pdf |
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