CIFOR Indicator L8

Indicator – L8. Total employment in all forest-related sectors

Consultant's Initials:

GSA

Source:

CCFM

Identification No. in source: Use all refs:

5.3.2

Class:

Economic

Recommendation (after field testing) Yes or no

Revised Indicator Suggested? #

L8a

Box A:

Principle - Society accepts responsibility for sustainability.

Criterion- There is equitable access to and distribution of economic rents.

Indicator - Total employment in all forest-related sectors.

Box B: Definition:

Total direct national employment in the forest products industries (Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, 1997).

Box C: Attributes

Rated on a scale of 1-5, where 1=no/bad/unimportant and 5=yes/good/important

Precisely defined? (clear)		5	Useable?	5
Is it applicable to other areas/ecosystems? (robust)		5
Sensitive?		5
Easy to detect, record and interpret?		5
Is it applicable to all landowners?
	Yes
	No	x

Box D: Applicability to Different Landowners. Explain any differences.

This indicator does not apply to different land tenures since it is a summary measure of all forestry-related employment regardless of tenure or institutional status.

Box E: Overlap:

CIFOR – BAG: L6, 1.2.2

CIFOR – ECON: C3.1.4, "Employment of local population in forest management"

CCFM: L4, 5.3 L9, 6.3.1 L10, 6.3.2

Box F: Geo-Political Scale:

Global	X
North America	X
Intermountain West	X
Study area
Tenure
Site

Notes:

This indicator measures total national employment in forest-related sectors. This is not likely to be relevant at the forest management unit level.

Box G: Indicator Characteristics:

Diagnostic
Predictive
Both	X

Notes:

Clearly the indicator is diagnostic, but could also have limited predictive capability if time series trends are examined.

Box H: Indicator Function:

Structure
Function/Process
Composition
Perturbation
Not Applicable	X

Notes:

This classification does not apply to socioeconomic systems.

Box I: Underlying Concepts:

The indicator measures national employment in forestry-related sectors as a proxy for the productive efficiency of the industry. At the scale of the forest management unit, this indicator is too gross to provide anything more than a context within which the performance of local industries can be examined.

Box J: Relevance to Sustainable/Unsustainable Management:

While the assessment of employment in forestry-related sectors can be a useful indicator of sustainability, it is more appropriate to measure local employment related to local forest management rather than to use a national scale.

Box K: Measurement Methods:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No measurement methods were assessed.

Box L: Data Required:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No data requirements were assessed.

Box M: Data Used for the North American Test:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No test was conducted.

Box N: Example Results:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No test was conducted

Box O: Assessing the Practicality:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No test was conducted

Box P: Assessing the Information Value:

The indicator is not accepted because of inappropriate scale. No test was conducted

Box Q: Overall assessment:

Rejected. The indicator is uses an inappropriate scale.

Box R: Did you rewrite or revise to a new indicator. If so what?

The indicator was revised to the CIFOR-ECON 3.1.4 (L8a) "Employment of local population in forest management".

Box S: References:

Canadian Council of Forest Ministers. 1997. Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forest Management in Canada. Technical Report. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forestry Service, Ottawa, Canada. Fo75-3/6-1997E.

Appendix:

Please record your notes on evaluating the indicator here.

The national scale is inappropriate at the forest management unit level.