Technical Bulletin No. 0857: Wildlife and Biodiversity Metrics in Forest Certification Systems

Forest certification systems based on agreements in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Agenda 21, all include criteria, indicators, or principles that address biodiversity as a critical component to sustainable development. Several certification systems were reviewed for biodiversity and wildlife considerations. We identified two approaches to forest certification—one based on analyzing an organization’s current management processes and the other based on analyzing actual measurements of forest components against desired standards or outcomes.