Monitoring Forest Biodiversity

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Recent advances in the use of permanent plots for monitorin forest biodiversity in the Old World. The theoretical framework behind plot-based monitoring and a description of how plot-based results have been put to a variety of uses, such as defining the number of trees to be sampled in smaller plots, monitoring climatic change, ground-truthing satellite imagery to map paterns and developing new analytical techniques for assessing patterns of diversity. A final section outlines some of the monitoring programmes and networks currently in place in Europe.

Forests represent a remnant wilderness of high recreational value in the densely populated industrial societies, a threatened natural resource in some regions of the world and a renewable reservoir of essential raw materials for the wood processing industry. In June 1992 the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro initiated a world-wide process of negotiation with the aim of ensuring sustainable management, conservation and development of forest resources. Although there seems to be unanimous support for sustainable development from all quarters, there is no generally accepted set of indicators which allows comparisons to be made between a given situation and a desirable one. In a recent summary paper prepared by the FAO Forestry and Planning Division, Ljungman et al. (1999) find that forest resources continue to diminish, while being called upon to produce a greater range of goods and services and that calls for sustainable forest management will simply go unheeded if the legal, policy and administrative environment do not effectively control undesirable practices. Does the concept of sustainable forest management represent not much more than a magic formula for achieving consensus, a vague idea which makes it difficult to match action to rhetoric? The concept of sustainable forest management is likely to remain an imprecise one, but we can contribute to avoiding management practices that are clearly unsustainable.

For effective forest biodiversity monitoring in FAO Sub-regional Office for Central Asia (SEC) countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Türkiye), it is important to develop cost-effective and efficient monitoring methods. The main purpose of the guidelines on forest biodiversity monitoring methodologies is to support FAOSEC countries in their efforts to detect changes in forest biodiversity and to ensure that appropriate measures are taken for sustainable forest management. The monitoring process begins with the assessment of monitoring requirements and the establishment of specific goals for the subsequent development of the monitoring approach. Subsequently, essential factors such as indicators, methods and tools for monitoring, team composition, frequency of monitoring, and data management are identified to shape the monitoring initiative, integrating aspects related to the state, impact, and response. The monitoring process is then concluded through the practical implementation of the program via field investigations, analysis and interpretation of the gathered information, and dissemination of resultant reports to pertinent stakeholders. The guidelines for forest biodiversity monitoring methodologies employ this comprehensive five-step monitoring cycle as a foundation for crafting an efficient forest biodiversity monitoring program. The guidelines on forest biodiversity monitoring methodologies are designed to take into account the changes in pressure, state and response indicators especially for biodiversity monitoring with the contributions of subject-matter experts. This study uses the "Pressure-State-Response" framework that has been frequently used in different global, regional, and national monitoring programs. In the guidelines, monitoring targets for species, habitats, ecosystem services, and forestry practices are defined for each monitoring component by using relevant indicators. Using Türkiye’s national biodiversity database (Noah’s Ark Database) and its monitoring tables as samples, the indicators are tabulated with detailed information on the following topics: •Monitoring Level •Monitoring Period and Frequency •Monitoring Area •Monitoring Method •Monitoring Team/Expertise •Target / Success Criteria For effective implementation of the guidelines, a governance mechanism is also proposed for the participation of regional and national stakeholders. The guidelines serve as a comprehensive framework for monitoring forest biodiversity in FAOSEC countries with the aim of providing practical guidance and recommendations for establishing effective forest biodiversity monitoring systems in those countries. The guidelines also emphasize the importance of harmonization and standardization of biodiversity indicators and methods across countries, enhancing comparability and facilitating regional and global reporting.

How to use this review; Methods; Concepts; Lessons learned; Impacts of participatory monitoring; Conclusions: looking back, looking ahead; Matrix table of case studies, methods and tools.

Forests represent a remnant wilderness of high recreational value in the densely populated industrial societies, a threatened natural resource in some regions of the world and a renewable reservoir of essential raw materials for the wood processing industry. In June 1992 the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro initiated a world-wide process of negotiation with the aim of ensuring sustainable management, conservation and development of forest resources. Although there seems to be unanimous support for sustainable development from all quarters, there is no generally accepted set of indicators which allows comparisons to be made between a given situation and a desirable one. In a recent summary paper prepared by the FAO Forestry and Planning Division, Ljungman et al. (1999) find that forest resources continue to diminish, while being called upon to produce a greater range of goods and services and that calls for sustainable forest management will simply go unheeded if the legal, policy and administrative environment do not effectively control undesirable practices. Does the concept of sustainable forest management represent not much more than a magic formula for achieving consensus, a vague idea which makes it difficult to match action to rhetoric? The concept of sustainable forest management is likely to remain an imprecise one, but we can contribute to avoiding management practices that are clearly unsustainable.

One of the highest priorities for human societies in the 21st century, under the challenges of predicted great environmental changes, is to conserve all kinds of biodiversity across the planet. Among all the biota that exist on Earth, forest ecosystems demonstrate a high degree of biodiversity, being thought to comprise the most diverse ecosystems, as most of the terrestrial species in the world dwell in these ecosystems. Forest biodiversity is interlinked to a web of socio-economic factors, providing an array of goods and services that range from timber and non-timber forest resources to mitigating climate change and conservation of genetic resources; therefore, it is innately linked to ecosystems and human well-being. However, in recent decades, the decrease in forest biodiversity has been a crucial and ongoing environmental issue that needs special attention and adapted ecosystem management. This Special Issue book on forest biodiversity (FB) includes a selected number of research works from all over the world dealing with emerging issues, for understanding FB and its needs for conservation, ecological processes, disturbances, climate change and ecosystems resilience, structural complexity and ecosystem functions, ecological theories and silvicultural practices, and ecosystems stability. More specifically, it includes papers focused on the indicators and methods for assessing and monitoring forest biodiversity, evaluation of practices, planting and silvicultural treatments, and management and monitoring methods, with an overall goal to provide new insights on forest biodiversity conservation, conservation of forest biodiversity in protected areas, treatments of endangered or threatened forest habitats, and sustainable management of forest resources.