Criterion 7. Legal, Institutional, and Economic Framework for Forest Conservation and
Sustainable Management
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010
Indicator 7.62.
Capacity To Conduct and Apply Research and Development Aimed at Improving Forest Management and Delivery of Forest Goods and Services and New Technologies and the Capacity To
Assess the Socioeconomic Consequences Associated With the Introduction of New Technologies
What is the indicator and why is it important?
Indicator 7.62 is a measure of the capacity to assess the effects
of new technologies in a broadly defined forest sector on
the socioeconomic structure in which the technologies are
applied (e.g., employment, industrial output, valued added,
or productivity in the forest sector). New technology drives
economic efficiency but has potential social and environmental
consequences that should also be considered.
Private enterprise interests drive much of the implementation
of new technologies based on the research performed, as
described in Indicator 7.60. Implementation occurs through
voluntary adoption of promising technologies, supported by a
variety of government incentives, subsidies, and taxes. Most
of this technology adoption is market driven, based on public
research that is disseminated through extension, education,
scientific publications, conferences, and technical meetings.
What has changed since 2003?
What does the indicator show?
Development of new technologies for sustainable forest
management is largely a research and planning exercise, but is
not mandatory or prescriptive in most cases. Federal research
was classed as prescriptive earlier, so it is included here for
consistency. But the brunt of technology development and
assessment is derived from informational, educational, fiscal, or
economic policy mechanisms.
Little direct evaluation of the socioeconomic consequences
of the introduction of new technologies exists, although some
socioeconomic studies and rural development analyses include
this as a component of their analyses. No notable changes have
occurred since 2003.
Table 62-1. Policy and Governance Classification.
Mechanism
Nondiscretionary/mandatorya
Informational/educationalb
Discretionary/voluntaryc
Fiscal/economicd
Market basede
Scale:
National (N),
Regional (R),
State (S),
Local (L)
N
N, S
N
N
N
Approach
Prescriptive
Process or
Systems Based
Performance or
Outcome Based
Private
Enterprise
L
R, A
R, A
S
I, S, T
M
Laws (L), Regulations or Rules (R), International Agreements (I), Government Ownership or Production (G).
Education (E), Technical Assistance (T), Research (R), Protection (P), Analysis and Planning (A).
c
Best Management Practices (B), Self-regulation (S).
d
Incentives (I), Subsidies (S), Taxes (T), Payments for Environmental Service (P).
e
Free enterprise, private market allocation of forest resources (M), or market based instruments and payments, including forest certification (C) wetland banks (W), capand-trade (T), conservation easement or transfer of development rights (E).
a
b
Last Updated June 2011 1