Energy Indicators for Sustainable Development: Guidelines and Methodologies International Atomic Energy Agency United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs International Energy Agency Eurostat European Environment Agency

(c) International Conventions and Agreements: Many international agreements 
exist encouraging countries to maintain or increase their forested areas. Specific forest 
agreements include the Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for 
a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development 
of All Types of Forests (the Forest Principles of the United Nations Conference on 
Environment and Development [UNCED]) and the International Tropical Timber 
Agreement. Many other international agreements deal with forests within the context 
of natural resources and environment conservation; for example, the Convention on 
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the 
Convention on the Conservation of Wetlands of International Importance Especially 
as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention), the Convention on Biological Diversity, 
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 

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United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). In addition, several 
regional conventions cover forests. 
(d) International Targets/Recommended Standards: There are no international 
targets or standards set for size of forest or rate of deforestation. It is understood, 
however, that the higher the deforestation rate, the more critical the environmental 
impact might be in a country or region. Several countries have set targets for the 
extent of their forest area, either in absolute values or as a percentage of the total land 
area of the country. 
(e) Linkages to Other Indicators: This indicator is linked to several social and 
economic indicators, such as consumption of combustible renewables and waste 
(CRW) per capita; share of CRW in energy mix, and in particular share of fuelwood 
in CRW; and share of households or population without electricity or commercial 
energy, or heavily dependent on non-commercial energy.