In February 1995, the Montr al Process countries, meeting in Santiago, Chile, issued a declaration containing a comprehensive set of seven national-level criteria and 67 indicators to guide policymakers, forest managers and the general public in the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. The Santiago Declaration is an important step toward implementing the SFM principles agreed to in Rio. They consider SFM in a holistic way, taking into account all forest goods, values and services. They recognize forests as ecosystems that provide a wide, complex and dynamic array of environmental and socio-economic benefits and services. The Montr al Process indicators are ways to assess or describe the criteria.
Many indicators are quantitative, such as the percentage of a country s forest cover.
Others are qualitative or descriptive, such as indicators related to forest planning, public participation, and investment or taxation policies. All indicators provide information about present forest conditions and, over time, signal the direction of change in the forests. Together, the seven criteria and the 67 indicators of the Montr al Process reflect an ecosystem-based approach to SFM and the need to serve human communities. They bring renewed rigour and breadth to forest management and to Report planning, monitoring, and policy development. They also established a Technical Advisory Committee to provide advice on technical and scientific issues.