Today, though there is a common understanding of what constitutes SFM,
descriptions of the concept vary due to :

• Differences in the perspectives of various stakeholders  countries and their
  governments, forest dwellers, NGOs, industry, etc..

• Different socioeconomic, ecological and cultural environments and
  conditions.

• The progress in global and regional forestry dialogue.

The conditions, history and development of forest management in India are all quite
unique and, therefore, the C & I developed for the sustainable management of forests
in other parts of the world might not be suitable for India. Further, in India, since the
focus is now on conservation and people's participation, the forest management
priorities and goals of our country are substantially different from those of most
other, timber producing countries.

IIFM's Initiative

It was with this realization that the Indian Institute of Forest Management
IIFM. initiated the Bhopal-India Process in 1998 to develop a practical and
indigenous mechanism for monitoring SFM in the country. The Bhopal-lndia Process
was intended to synchronize India's SFM efforts with the rest of the world. It was
thought that the development of C & I for SFM in India would provide the most
effective way to set management targets that are in harmony with the National Forest Policy  (1988) This would also provide a mechanism to monitor the targets and provide feedback to decide on what should be the direction of development. Bhopal was chosen as the locus of SFM activity in India not only for its central geographic location, but also for being on an imaginary genetic superhighway connecting the 2 biodiversity hotspots: the Western Ghats and the eastern Himalayas. This initiative found support of a specially constituted Technical Group on SFM and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Two technical meetings were organised in 1998 by IIFM for initiating,the process. The deliberations at these meetings led to a tentative list of 7 Criteria, namely:

1. Biodiversity Conservation,

2. Forest Productivity  Timber as well as Non- Timber.,

3. Socioeconomic Factors,

4. Extent of Forest Area,

5. Forest Health and Vitality,

6. Soil and Water Conservation, and

7. Legal, Policy and Institutional Arrangements.

It was decided to adopt a three-tier hiemrchical structure for India, involving Principles, Criteria and Indicators , for defining SFM.

Information on this page is part of the Forest Information System Project of IIFM.

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