Evaluating forest landscape management for ecosystem integrity
Brendan Mackey, E. Morgan, Heather Keith
Abstract
Protecting forest ecosystems is a critical action for addressing both the climate and biodiversity crises.Effective long-term management of forests requires landscape approaches, but evaluating the management actions is a key challenge.Previous research has suggested evaluation should focus on three interrelated pillars: ecosystem integrity, effective planning, and strong governance.This paper presents a framework for evaluating ecosystem integrity based on the 'Principle, Criteria, Indicator and Verifier' (PCIV) method.The key principle used is ecosystem autopoiesis -the ability of a system for self-generation and maintenance by creating its own parts.Four key criteria are applied, accompanied by a set of nine indicators.Verifiers for each indicator are suggested for which feasible data sources are likely available.The use of the three-pillar framework, including ecosystem integrity, is illustrated using three hypothetical cases representing different forest landscape contexts.Such evaluation can provide practical, consistent, repeatable, and comparable information for stakeholders and decision makers.