To promote greater involvement of civil society in managing forests, the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development (WCFSD) is calling for the establishment of ForesTrust as a citizens' body at the local, national and international levels. ForesTrust, apart from restoring public trust, is meant to safeguard the "public interests" in forests and the vast resources therein.

The first step would be to institute ForesTrust International with the primary aim of initiating four functions—Forest Watch, Forest Ombudsman, Forest Management Council and Forest Award. Other objectives include encouraging the formation of national and local ForesTrusts and serving as an international forum mediating the compulsions of national governments with the aspirations of their citizens and the global community. While the proposal calls for a mainly citizens' body, its membership would be open to governments and industry.

Each function within ForesTrust would undertake specific tasks. Forest Watch would provide a way for non-governmental organizations to be involved in collecting, analyzing and disseminating information about the forest situation and network with organizations at the national and global levels. And it would work closely with local experts and communities to identify actual and potential conflict situations, which would also help expose instances of abuse of power by official authorities and pose a challenge to illegal activities of timber corporations.

The second proposed function—International Forest Ombudsman (IFO)— would serve as an international watchdog and investigator on issues of abuse or mismanagement of forests such as non-sustainable forest practices and corruption associated with forest operations. If so desired by the parties involved, the IFO could also be given conflict-resolution powers. It is anticipated that the Ombudsman would find the data collected by Forest Watch particularly valuable.

The Forest Management Council (FMC), the third branch, would aid in setting standards for sustainable forest management and coordinating the different criteria and indicators—either existing or in development— for sustainable forest management. This body could also be called upon to facilitate international discussion to ensure coordinated approaches and harmonized provisions for internationally traded products. In addition, the FMC could monitor the application of trade provisions and support buyers' groups and consumer organizations that favour sustainably produced forest products.

Last, the Forest Awards would identify and award exemplary forest-related practices of communities, corporations or countries. The award scheme would be similar to that of The Marcus Wallenburg Prize, given in recognition of path-breaking scientific achievements in the field important to forest industries. [safeguarding common interest in forests]

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Word Watch
	civil society n. voluntary associations, organizations, movements and networks that live and work in the social space outside the state and the private sector More in Word Watch Glossary
In Depth
	Lipschutz, Ronnie D. and Judith Mayer. Global civil society and global environ-mental governance: The politics of nature from place to planet. SUNY series in international environmental policy and theory. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press/Cornell University Press, 1996.
Virtual Ideas
	World Wide Fund for Nature forests for life

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