Topic: Independent Forest Monitoring (IFM) / Observation Indépendante des Forêts (OIF) / Supervisión Independiente de Bosques

Independent forest monitoring (IFM) is a tool for assessing and strengthening legal compliance in the forest sector internationally. By complementing official forest law enforcement activities with the objectivity and public credibility of an independent third party, IFM can improve transparency in the short term while contributing to the development of a sound legislative and regulatory framework for responsible forest management[citation needed].

Transparency was emphasized as a key element in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) in Copenhagen in December 2009 in its decisions on methodological guidance for forest monitoring systems