Monitoring And Assessment For Sustainable Forest Management At Forest Management Unit Level In Northeast China

Forest management unit (FMU) is the cornerstone of forest management practice. Therefore, tomonitor the whole process of forest management at FMU level consists of the key point torealize the sustainable forest management (SFM). This refers to through the monitoring andassessment activities to understand forest conditions and impacts of forest managementactivities, further evaluate of the current situation and predict its future trends, and timelyamend the management plan and related forest management activities. However, the currentsystem, to a large degree, attach more attention to large-scale national and regional level forestmonitoring and assessment, rather than FMU, and resource monitoring supported by thelimited ecological status has been considered as the major aspect. Despite the research on thisissue conducted by some research institutions and scholars, the absence of specific empiricalresearch due to the quantification of monitoring indicators and evaluation methods do pose anumber of significant challenges.Based on the theory and objectives of SFM, this paper studied and established an integratedforest monitoring and assessment system (IFMAS) targeting FMU level. Through thecomprehensive analysis, a Northeast China FMU level IFMAS was proposed, which wasfurther tested at Muling Forestry Bureau in Heilongjiang province. Based on the monitoringdata of this Bureau, the paper made an overall assessment. The outcomes and the majorfindings of the study include:(i) Combined with grounded theory to analyze the5key sustainable forest managementstandards suitable to the Forest in Northeast China, i.e. Montreal International process standardand indicators, Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management, Northeast ForestIndicators of Sustainable Forest Management, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Principlesand Criteria, and China forest certification standard. And on the basis of this, the study putforward a preliminary framework for monitoring and assessment indicators; (ii) Made a comprehensive analysis on impacts of forest management activities in the areas ofenvironment, society and economy and set up an impacts matrix of forest managementactivities. Through a consultation process with key forestry experts, the study selected andidentified the monitoring and assessment indicator, and finally put forward an completeintegrated monitoring and assessment indicators, and their weight;(iii) Proposed a set of monitoring methods, monitoring cycle, monitoring supportive system,and evaluation methods, and further built up a sustainable forest management integratedmonitoring and assessment index system at FMU level for the forest in Northeast China. Thesystem consists of forest resources, the environment, social and economic objectives layer, athe evaluation indexes layer (10indicators), two evaluation index layer (24indicators),monitoring indicators layer (36Indicator), a total of four levels;(iiii) Conducted a empirical study on the established system at Muling Forestry Bureau inHeilongjiang Province, i.e. setup a integrated monitoring and assessment system applied to thepractice of Muling Forestry Bureau, and made a compressive assessment based on themonitoring data in its2000-2010management period. Through Synthetical Index Method, itsuggested the final comprehensive evaluation index is0.775, and forest resources index valueis0.839, environment evaluation index is0.714, social evaluation index is0.733, andeconomic evaluation is0.820. Because of the given threshold to reach SFM is1, a gap exists inthe Bureau and it cannot fully to achieve sustainable forest management yet.As a conclusion, the system can be applied at FMUs, which means, the selected indicators canreflect their management activities and the relevant impacts, the implementation methods canbe adapted to their practice, and the assessment method can also become an instrument toappraisal their performance. Therefore, the system is worthy to be spread nationwide topromote SFM in China.In terms of the innovations, the established integrated system targets to FMU level, and coverforest resources, environment, economy and society. Its study methodology has made use ofthe control theory, grounded method and impact matrix. Therefore, it has realized the innovations in both studying content and methods.