The concept of responsible forest management (RFM) is not a new one, but has become a much-used term in recent years. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972 was the first international forum that recognised environmental issues, and introduced the idea of sustainable development as a way of dealing with the environmental dilemmas that faced the world.

In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development published a report entitled "Our Common Future", also known as the Brundtland Report. This report called for the development of new ways to measure and assess progress towards sustainable development. In many ways, this report set the scene for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as the Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

This conference resulted in the publication of non-legally binding documents, and was a milestone in terms of achieving international recognition for the need to deal with a wide range of environmental issues, including the need for sustainable development.

1. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
2. A Statement of principles to guide the management, conservation, and sustainable development of all types of forests Agenda 21
3. United Nations Frameworks Convention on Climate Change
4. Convention on Biological Diversity

While all documents have relevance to sustainable development, the most important in terms of SFM is the Statement of Principles on Forests. Approximately 170 countries, including Ireland, ratified this document. The concept of developing Criteria and Indictors (C&I) as a way of measuring and achieving SFM is introduced in this document.

Five ongoing international initiatives (the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), and the Helsinki, Montreal, Tarapoto, and Dry-zone Africa Processes) have been responsible since then for progressing this concept, and developing region-specific C&I for SFM. The pan-European Helsinki Process is the initiative relevant to Ireland.