Sustainable Forest Management

Introduction
Forest operations are most likely to meet economic, silvicultural, social and environmental objectives, if based on a well defined management plan. The assistance in forest management planning will therefore result in a forest management plan that includes harvest planning, road engineering, cutting operations, etc.

Experience
Proper management planning is also a prerequisite for certification. The implementation is the responsibility of the concession holder. However, FORM can assist the concession holder to realise an optimal implementation, amongst others through its excellent experience in GIS-services. Various projects have been implemented so far by FORM for a wide range of companies in Scandinavia, the United States, West and Central Africa and South-east Asia.

Global concern in response to the effects of unsustainable logging operations in tropical rainforests led to the development of certification as a tool to stimulate Sustainable Forest Management (SFM).
Forest certification is a voluntary market driven mechanism that considers the economic, biological and social aspects of sustainability.

Sustainable Forest Management
Sustainable Forest Management is based on the following principles:

• Goods and services derived from the forest have to meet present-day needs.
• Their continued availability and contribution to long-term development has to be secured.
• Administrative, legal, technical, economic, social and environmental aspects of the conservation and use of forests are the basis.
• Various degrees of deliberate human intervention, ranging from actions aimed at safeguarding and maintaining the forest ecosystem and its functions, to favouring specific socially or economically valuable species or groups of species for the improved production of goods and services.

Our expertise
FORM International is a private consulting firm established in 1992. The firm is specialised in SFM issues and has actively been involved in forest certification since 1994. It has acted as an independent consultant to provide services in certification issues. FORM has experience in different aspects of certification. View our elaborate project list.