Suchergebnisse

The development of criteria and indicators (C&I) for good forest management was identified as one of the essential components of a research and demonstration project in the Brazilian Amazon under the leadership of Embrapa Eastern Amazon and CIFOR. Four steps were envisaged: (1) Definition of a preliminary list of regionally adapted C&I during an international expert workshop; (2) Evaluation and refinement of this list by four key stakeholder groups (researchers, government officials, managers, and local actors); (3) Development of monitoring and auditing prototypes based on the assessment results, and (4) Validation of the defined instruments through supervised application in different forest enterprises and auditing entities. As part of this process, a field-test of a preliminary list of C&I by stakeholder group confirmed the high practicability of C&I based control activities as well as the need and potential of participatory methods in the development process. Further analysis confirmed that practical work on C&I systems will have to focus more at the verifiers level. Social and ecological verifiers need to be more specific and practicable methods for their assessing will have to be developed. To ensure an effective interpretation of monitoring and auditing results it is recommended to structure the C&I in four categories: existence and quality of documentation, efficient implementation plans, impact of enterprise activities, and external conditions for sustainability.

Community managed forest systems embody a considerable portion of the wisdom, knowledge, and practical skills and management necessary for the sustainability of forest resources globally. These systems, however, are under threat in many ways, including from the rapid rate of change of their political, socio-economic, and biophysical contexts. Adapting forest management sufficiently quickly and effectively to meet these changes is both urgent and very challenging. This Guide introduces criteria and indicators of sustainability for community managed forest landscapes (CMF C&I) as a potential learning and communication tool that can help meet that challenge. It draws on CIFOR's collaborative research on CMF C&I in Brazil, Indonesia, and Cameroon to propose a flexible step-by-step approach to developing and implementing self or collaborative forest monitoring systems, and gives examples of C&I developed by communities in these countries. The approach is targeted to communities and their partners in forest management, such as NGOs, government, or development projects, who are seeking strategies to improve local well-being and forest sustainability through more effective learning, collaboration, and decision-making in local forest management.

If one is of the mindset that the world is fundamentally chaotic and irrational, then the discpline of economics probably has little to offer. But if one accepts the notion that there is some method to the apparent madness of individuals, governments and organizations, then economic inquiry does have no some contributions to make. In this excercise, we argue that economic criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management should reflect the dimensions of efficiency, equity and sustainability, and need to look beyond the forest stand to institutional and policy issues. If we let such criteria inform our decisions, we may yet end up with exploitation of the forests. It would, however, be rational exploitation; rational explotation reflecting an enlightened self-interest that captures the broader global needs of current and future generations

The assessment of sustainability of public services is an important issue, especially at local level, takeninto account the central role of local governments as a major public employer and provider of a diversity ofservices. Local governments are close to citizens and are moving faster than other public sector levels withregard to the integration of sustainability principles in their operations and strategies. A sustainabilitylabel to communicate public service performance enables to disclose information directly to serviceusers. However, there is a dearth of research about labels addressing specific sustainability criteria forlocal services. The main aim of this research was the development of a conceptual framework to definea sustainability label, as a tool to assess and communicate sustainability of local public services. Theapproach was developed taking into account criteria of the European Union Ecolabel and indicators ofthe Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. The ecolabel is a relatively well-known voluntary instrumentin Europe and has the potential for application in public service activities and operations, but only assessthe environmental component of sustainability. The Global Reporting Initiative, in particular the SectorSupplement for Public Agencies, was then used to integrate the other sustainability components. Thirty-six (36) criteria and respective indicators were adapted for the proposed sustainability label conceptualframework. A Portuguese local public service was used as an exploratory case study to test the proposedconceptual model into practice. The overall results demonstrate that few criteria were accomplished inthis local public service, stressing that new practices and public policies need to be adopted to invertthe current trend, especially through the application of assessment systems. This exploratory case studyresearch has shown how useful can be a sustainability label to support local governments in evaluatingand communicating the sustainability performance of their public services. This case could drive andsupport other government levels, including central and regional public administration, in adopting andexploring public service labels and their associated performance approaches. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In the quest for global standards, "Criteria and Indicators" (C&I) are among the foremost mechanisms for defining and promoting sustainable tropical forest management. This paper examines some challenges posed by this approach, focusing on examples that reflect the ecological aspects of tropical forests at a management-unit level and assessments such as those required in timber certification. C&I can foster better forest management. However, there are confusions and tensions to reconcile between general and local applications, between the ideal and the pragmatic, and between the scientific and the democratic. To overcome this requires a sober appraisal of what can realistically be achieved in each location and how this can best be promoted. Good judgment remains the foundation of competent management. Data can inform this judgment, but an over-reliance on data collection and top-down bureaucratic interventions can add to problems rather than solving them. These arguments stress compromise, planning, guided implementation, and threat preparedness. Importance is also placed on skills and institutions: the building blocks of effective forest management. The authors suggest some options for improving forest management. Although a wider discussion of these issues is necessary, procrastination is harmful. Action is needed.

Public transport is a key element of sustainable transport in medium and large cities. Therefore, it is important that city residents want to use it. This paper aims to determine the criteria of the public transport infrastructure which have the most influence on passenger satisfaction with the public transport system. The criteria of public transport infrastructure of stops, vehicles, and route network were analysed. The primary attention was focused on rating these criteria from the most to the least important one. The analysis of scientific papers, specialized literature, Europe Union regulations, Lithuanian legislation, and recommendations were used to explore the necessary criteria that have a significant effect on the popularity of public transport, its functionality and gives a reference on how to raise the willingness of the citizens to use public transport. The experts (14 experts were involved) and social surveys (440 respondents were involved) were used to identify the evaluation criteria of public transport infrastructure and to investigate the state of these criteria. These criteria were grouped into three larger groups according to their nature (public transport infrastructure of stops, vehicles and route network) and were rated and prioritized by the multi-criteria analysis. The results reflect the priorities of criteria parameters of public transport infrastructure. The results show that when investing in public transport infrastructure, the main priority should be attributed to the infrastructure elements, such as public transport priority in the streets, then shelters, lighting, cleanness of bus stops and vehicles, which are physically appreciable. These parameters have the most significant impact on improving the level of service of public transport infrastructure in urban areas.