European Forest Institute/policy portal/metadata elements

EFI Policy Portal

Information Portal on Forest Policies, Institutions and Instruments
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These are the metadata elements used in the template:EFI policy portal used by the 4 categories "policy process", "policy instrument", "institution", and "policy process and instrument".

Short title

Short titles can be used to replace long official titles of some policy processes and/or policy instruments (e.g. EU Timber Regulation, Bern Convention, Aarhus Convention or acronyms). If there is not a short title available, the official titles are displayed.

Type of template

There are four major types of EFI policy portal templates which consist of a set of metadata elements (common and specific):

• Policy process
• Policy instrument
• Institution
• Policy process and instrument

Start

Start refers to the year and/or date when a particular policy process or an instrument has entered into force or has been established. Start refers to the year and/or date when an institution has been founded. If there is not a start year or date, there will be no "duration" line displayed.

End

End refers to the year and/or date when a policy process or an instrument has stopped being into force. End refers to the year and/or date when an institution has stopped functioning as such. If there is not an end year or a date available, "duration" will be replaced by a simple "Start date". In case, a policy process, instrument or an institution is still in force/operation, "duration" will be replaced by "Start date- ongoing".

Scope

Scope refers to the spatial applicability of a policy process, instrument and institution. For the purposes of this policy portal, the following spatial scopes are identified:

• Global scope refers to a policy process,instrument and institution that has a global/worldwide applicability
• Pan-European scope pertains to policy processes, instruments and institutions that are applicable to all or most of the countries in Europe
• European Union (EU) scope relates to policy processes, instruments and institutions that apply to the 27 EU Member States
• Regional scope pertains to policy processes, instruments and institutions applicable to a particular region in Europe (e.g. West European, Central European, Central-East European, East European, South European, South-East European, Mediterranean,Atlantic European, North European, Alpine region, Carpathian region, etc)
• National scope relates to national policy processes, instruments and institutions
• Other refers to policy processes, instruments and institutions that apply to any other spatial scope (e.g. UNECE, ENA FLEG, etc).

Policy area

In most cases, cross-sectoral policy impacts on the forest and forestry are associated with the following policy areas:

• Agriculture and land use
• Biodiversity
• Climate change and energy
• Environment(general) includes generally environmental/nature conservation, water, soil, and/or air protection, waste management, etc.
• Forests and forestry
• Rural development
• Trade
• Socio-economics
• Sustainable development
• Other

More than one policy area can apply to a particular policy process, instrument and institution.

Language

Language(s) of the information source.

URL

The website address of the information source (if it is available).

Format

The file format (html, pdf, ppt, excel, etc) of the source.

Access

The ease of having an access to a source: free, non-free, subscription, or paid.

Publisher

A person, organisation/institution or service responsible for making the source available.

Country

The location of the publisher.

Date

The date (dd/mm/yy) when the information source was entered or last modified/updated in the policy portal.

Type of instrument

This metadata element is relevant only for categories "policy instrument" and "policy process and instrument":

There are three main types of policy instruments:

• Regulatory
• Economic/financial
• Informational

More detailed description about the different types of policy instruments can be found at the policy instrument page.

Form of instrument

The form of a policy instrument refers to the different types of regulatory, economic/financial and informational instruments. This metadata element applies only to categories "policy instrument" and "policy process and instrument".

• Regulatory: International agreement/treaty, convention, act, directive, white paper (EU), green paper (EU),decision, regulation, ordinance, decree, order, etc. Soft law (non-legally binding) instruments include resolutions, declarations, recommendations,communication, guidelines, action plans, principles, statements, etc. In case a regulatory instrument has a different form from the above-mentioned "other" should be selected/displayed.

• Economic/financial: incentives (for investments), subsidies, disincentives, labeling, certification, taxes, fees, marketable permits, quotas, loan, grant, compensation, fund, support, etc. In case an economic instrument has a different form from the above-mentioned "other" should be selected/displayed.

• Informational: educational (school, university) programs, courses, campaigns, events, workshops, conferences, monitoring and/or information systems, national inventories, reports, databases, printed educational materials,scientific publications,etc. In case an informational instrument has a different form from the above-mentioned "other" should be selected/displayed.

Policy and/or legal framework

This metadata element applies only to the category policy instrument. It specifies the policy and/or legal framework within which a policy instrument is developed/adopted/operating. For example, the EU Biodiversity Action Plan, a non-legally binding regulatory instrument, has been set out under the umbrella and within the framework of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the EU Birds and Habitats Directives as well as the EU Communication on "Halting Biodiversity Loss by 2010 – and Beyond: Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being".

Target

An object, area, or a result at which a policy process, instrument and institution aims at (e.g. biodiversity loss, sustainable forest management, forest damage, etc)(max. 5 words).

Legal status

This metadata element applies only to policy processes (mainly conventions, agreements, treaties) and regulatory policy instruments. The legal status of a policy process/regulatory instrument can be either legally-binding or non-legally binding. Legally-binding legal status indicates that a policy process/regulatory instrument has been consciously made and two or more parties agree to certain provisions that each party must follow. Failure to adhere to the agreed provisions can allow one of the parties to take legal actions against the other party. Examples of legally binding policy processes and instruments include: conventions, international agreements and treaties, regulations, directives, ordinances, laws, etc). Non-legally binding status indicates that policy processes/instruments such as declarations, recommendations, guidelines, action plans, strategies, communications have no binding legal effect, but have an undeniable moral force and provide practical guidance to the Parties.

Main formal decision making body

This metadata element refers only to category "policy process" and "policy process and instrument". A decision-making body is responsible for taking important strategic decisions, key to the functioning of a policy process. In most cases, it represents an association of all the countries that are parties/signatories/members to the particular policy process ( e.g. Conference of the Parties, Ministerial Conferences, etc). For instance, the decision making body of FOREST EUROPE is the FOREST EUROPE Ministerial Conference. Ministerial Conferences on the Protection of Forests in Europe took place in 1990 in Strasbourg, in 1993 in Helsinki, in 1998 in Lisbon, in 2003 in Vienna, 2007 in Warsaw and 2011 in Oslo. At ministerial conferences the ministers responsible for forests in Europe take decisions on issues of highest political and social relevance regarding forests and forestry.

Main implementing body

This metadata element applies only to categories "policy processes" and "policy process and instrument". In most cases the main implementing bodies are relevant signatories and/or refer to institutions (e.g. ministries, organisations, agencies,universities, etc) at different levels ( international, European, regional, national, and local) that implement a policy. For example, FOREST EUROPE provisions and principles are being implemented by regional, national and local authorities, research organisations and institutions.

Type of institution

In the policy portal, forest institutions are defined as forest and forest-related (cross-sectoral) entities that have interest in and/or influence on the pan-European forests and forest activities and can be classified as follows:

• (Inter)governmental institutions/organisations
• Non-governmental organisations
• State forest institutions
• Private forest institutions
• Other forest or non-forest related institutions/organisations.

Field of work

The functions of a forest or forest-related institution/organisation can relate to a diverse range of fields:

• Economics
• Science
• Policy
• Research
• State/private forest sector
• Other

This metadata element refers only to category institutions and one or more of the six fields of work should be specified.

Function(s)

Function(s) is a metadata element that applies only to the category institutions and is aimed at describing the main activities and/or services of an organisation/institution (max 100 words). The functions shall be related to forests, if such information is available.

Thematic priority(ies)

Thematic priority(ies) applies only to institutions and refers to the most relevant topics or subject areas within the given institution (e.g. forest resource assessment, social and cultural issues, policy and cross-sectoral issues, etc).

Description

Description is aimed at defining a particular policy process, instrument and institution by providing a detailed explanation of certain aspects, characteristics, or features (max 100 words).

Objective

Objective is a statement that describes what a policy process, instrument and institution aims to accomplish. Generally, an objective is broader in scope than a goal and might consist of few individual goals.

Linkage (s) to policy process, instruments and institutions

This metadata element applies to all categories "policy process", "policy instrument", "institution" and "policy process and instrument" and indicates the linkage(s) of a policy process, instrument and institution to other policy processes, instruments and institutions. This mainly refers to any kind of contribution, collaboration, synergies, support, membership and/or partnership. The titles of the listed processes, institutions and/or instruments shall be displayed with their short titles or acronyms.

Monitoring, assessing and reporting

Monitoring, assessing and reporting applies only to categories "policy process", "policy instrument" (in particular regulatory instruments) and "policy process and instrument". It provides information on how the progress towards the implementation of a process and/or instrument is evaluated and reported (e.g. annual/biennial reports; national reports; use of criteria and indicators; etc).

Keywords

A set of words/phrases that are used to convey the main subject/topic of a policy process, instrument and institution from the forest and other sectors. The maximum number of keywords to be specified should not exceed 10.