Sustainable forest development in Mexico: a hierarchical system of criteria and indicators

Strategic evaluation is a basic and essential component of programmes aimed at sustainable forest development.1 Its purpose is to monitor progress in achieving objectives so as to enhance the chances of success either by guiding or correcting the process, or by changing the strategic plan (Sharplin, 1985). Strategic evaluation also assists in defining, identifying and detecting changes and dynamics within the system that favour sustainable development. The process of strategic evaluation must itself be dynamic, because organizations work in dynamic environments in which both internal and external conditions can change drastically and the organizations need to be able to react swiftly to take any necessary corrective action to ensure progress towards sustainable development (David, 1987). This article describes a study carried out in Mexico to establish a hierarchical system of principles, criteria, indicators and verifiers to measure the progress of sustainable forest development in Mexico's cool temperate forest regions. The system was based on national and international benchmarks (including the Montreal Process on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests outside Europe, in which Mexico participates) and adapted for the social, cultural and ecological conditions within the reference area. It was then used in a strategic evaluation of sustainable development in the Chihuahua Model Forest Programme, in the Tarahumara range in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. This 110 067 ha area comprises seven forest ejidos (communal landholdings) and has a population of 22 417 inhabitants. A participatory strategy underpinned all decision-making in the study. The system was developed through partnership between forest communities and ejidos and a multidisciplinary team of researchers and experts working in forest development