Why and how to measure forest governance at local level: A set of indicators

The methodologies and operational instruments for the assessment of forest governance are still under development. While there are some advanced initiatives focused on forest governance assessment at international/national scale, there are relatively few at local level. However, assessments of local forest governance would be useful for both policy-makers and practitioners. The paper presents and discusses an original set of indicators to measure the quality of forest governance at local administrative/spatial level and the method used to develop them. A draft list of indicators (mainly process-oriented) has been formulated with respect to seven governance key-dimensions (sustainability, efficiency, effectiveness, participation, transparency, accountability and capacity). This draft list has been tested in two pilot applications (data collection by means of questionnaires). The indicators, which include both dichotomous and continuous variables, can be standardized in a few composite indicators to provide concise information about governance performance. Despite some methodological limitations that need to be further explored, the final set of 78 indicators appears to be a simple and practicable assessment tool, that can be used either for external or internal evaluations. Additional tests are needed to consolidate the tool.