Ecological indicators: Imperative to sustainable forest management

Sustainable forest management (SFM) deals with ecologically sound practices that maintain the forest ecosystem integrity, productivity, resilience and biodiversity. Ecological sustainability ensures continuing function of ecosystems which are considered as ecological life support system. Several attempts have been made world over to develop criteria and indicators, which are specific to various forestry conditions and recognized as appropriate tools for assessing and monitoring progress towards sustainable forest management. In India, the process for measuring forest sustainability has started by evolving national level set of Criteria and indicators in the form of Bhopal–India process. The Bhopal–India process specifies 8 criteria and 43 indicators. The first 4 criteria pertain exclusively to ecology with 21 related indicators. Thus, nearly half of the criteria and indicators pertain to ecological dimensions that largely govern sustainability of forests. Rest of the criteria of the base set pertains to economic and social aspects with related indicators. This provides holistic approach of monitoring the forest resources.