Forestry Department Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

The Forest Resources Assessment Programme

Forests are crucial for the well being of humanity. They provide foundations for life on earth through ecological functions, by regulating the climate and water resources and by serving as habitats for plants and animals. Forests also furnish a wide range of essential goods such as wood, food, fodder and medicines, in addition to opportunities for recreation, spiritual renewal and other services.

Today, forests are under pressure from increasing demands of land-based products and services, which frequently leads to the conversion or degradation of forests into unsustainable forms of land use. When forests are lost or severely degraded, their capacity to function as regulators of the environment is also lost, increasing flood and erosion hazards, reducing soil fertility and contributing to the loss of plant and animal life. As a result, the sustainable provision of goods and services from forests is jeopardized.

FAO, at the request of the member nations and the world community, regularly monitors the world’s forests through the Forest Resources Assessment Programme. The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000 (FRA 2000) reviewed the forest situation by the end of the millennium. FRA 2000 included country-level information based on existing forest inventory data, regional investigations of land-cover change processes and a number of global studies focusing on the interaction between people and forests. The FRA 2000 Main report is published in print and is available on the World Wide Web.

The Global Forest Resources Assessment update 2005 (FRA 2005) has been requested by the FAO Committee on Forestry in 2003. The FRA 2005 will use common thematic areas of the Criteria for Sustainable Forest Management as a reporting framework. FRA 2005 will also focus on the specific conditions and issues in each country.

The Forest Resources Assessment Programme is organized under the Forest Resources Division (FOR) at FAO headquarters in Rome. Contact person is:

Peter Holmgren, Chief FORM [email protected]

or use the e-mail address: [email protected]

DISCLAIMER

The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Working Paper Series is designed to reflect the activities and progress of the FRA Programme of FAO. Working Papers are not authoritative information sources – they do not reflect the official position of FAO and should not be used for official purposes. Please refer to the FAO forestry website (www.fao.org/forestry ) for access to official information.

The FRA Working Paper Series provides an important forum for the rapid release of preliminary findings needed for validation and to facilitate the final development of official quality-controlled publications. Should users find any errors in the documents or have comments for improving their quality they should contact [email protected].

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 4

1.1 Background to FRA 2005 4

1.2 Purpose of this report 4

2 Scope of Country Reporting to FRA 2005 5

3 Methodology for country reporting to FRA 2005 6

3.1 The process 6

3.2 Step one – Identification and selection of national data sources 7

3.3 Step two – Analysis of National data 7

3.4 Step three – Reclassification of data 10

4 Guidelines for preparation of the National Reporting Tables 12

4.1 General aspects 12

4.2 How to report when data are weak or missing 12

4.3 Table T1 – Extent of Forest and Other wooded land 13

4.4 Table T2 – Ownership of Forest and Other wooded land 15

4.5 Table T3 – Designated functions of Forest and Other wooded land 17

4.6 Table T4 – Characteristics of Forest and Other wooded land 22

4.7 Table T5 – Growing stock 23

4.8 Table T6 – Biomass stock 26

4.9 Table T7 – Carbon stock 30

4.10 Table T8 - Disturbances affecting health and vitality 32

4.11 Table T9 – Diversity of tree species 33

4.12 Table T10 – Growing stock composition 35

4.13 Table T11 – Wood removal 36

4.14 Table T12 – Value of wood removal 39

4.15 Table T13 – Non-wood forest products removal 40

4.16 Table T14 – Value of non-wood forest products removal 42

4.17 Table T15 – Employment in forestry activities 43

5 Guidelines for preparation of country reports on thematic areas 44

6 How to use the template 45

7 Contact information for technical support 47

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Complete example of country reporting for table T1

Appendix 2 – List of UN official country areas

Appendix 3 – Roundwood production officially reported to FAO

Appendix 4 – Historical exchange rates

Appendix 5 – Conversion factors for volume, biomass and carbon

Abbreviations used

AG	Advisory Group to FRA
C&I	Criteria and Indicators (for Sustainable Forest Management)
COFO	Committee on Forestry, the main statutory body of the FAO Forestry Department, meeting every second year in Rome
FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAOSTAT	FAO Statistical Databases, see http://faostat.external.fao.org
FRA	The FAO-led Global Forest Resources Assessment
FRA 2000	Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, see www.fao.org/forestry/fra2000report
FRA 2005	Global Forest Resources Assessment update 2005, see www.fao.org/forestry/fra2005
NC	National Correspondent to FRA
SFM	Sustainable Forest Management
CBD	Convention on Biological Diversity
CSD	United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
DBH	Diameter at breast height
FORM	Forest Resources Development Service
IPCC	International Panel on Climate Change
ITTO	International Tropical Timber Organization
IUCN	The World Conservation Union
MDG	Millennium Development Goals
MCPFE	Ministerial Conference on Protection of Forests in Europe
NFI	National Forest Inventory
NWFP	Non-wood forest products
OWL	Other wooded land
OLWTC	Other land with tree cover
SOFO	State of the World’s Forests (FAO biennial publication)
UNECE	United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
UNEP	United Nations Environment Programme
UNFF	United Nations Forum on Forests
UNFCCC	United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
USD	United States Dollar
UNEP-WCMC	World Conservation Monitoring Centre (of UNEP)