Development of forest aesthetic indicators in sustainable forest management standards

Forest aesthetic indicators are an important aspect of the social component of sustainable forest management (SFM) standards. However, SFM standards have few aesthetic indicators, especially at an international level. A possible reason for this is that public awareness of forest aesthetic values has often been regarded as unscientific or even contradictory to the ecological knowledge of forestry experts and that aesthetic values vary according to the cultural backgrounds of the individuals involved in any assessment. In response to the current lack of aesthetic indicators in SFM standards, several questions have been raised: (1) Does the public think forest aesthetic values are important and to what degree in terms of SFM, (2) Is there any consensus on the aesthetic values among the public and between the public and forestry experts, (3) Are there any differences in perspectives on the absence of aesthetic considerations in SFM standards between the experts participating in the creation and revision of SFM C&I and experts in the fields of forest aesthetics, and (4) How can aesthetic values be effectively and efficiently assessed? In order to address these questions, three surveys were conducted involving the public and experts in four countries. The survey revealed no significant differences in priorities for forest aesthetic values amongst selected groups of public respondents in Korea, China, Japan and Canada. However, significant differences existed between forestry experts and the public. Forest aesthetic values were rated as relatively important by the general public, but both types of experts generally rated the importance of aesthetics higher than did the public. Three major reasons for the lack of aesthetic indicators were provided by the SFM and aesthetic experts: a lack of aesthetic training amongst those designing criteria and indicators; a bias against aesthetics, which are often considered to be highly subjective; and the general omission of people with knowledge of aesthetics during the development of SFM standards. Ten possible aesthetic indicators that could be used in future SFM schemes were developed in this study. The indicators presented here and the direct involvement of aesthetic experts would improve the ability of current SFM frameworks to balance effectively social, environmental and economic values.Forestry, Faculty ofGraduat