Abstract The concepts underlying the post-Brundtland drive towards sustainable forest management (SFM) have been relatively well defined since 1995. While substantial progress has been made in the science and policy fields related to SFM internationally, a number of significant challenges remain. Inter-jurisdictional examples include determining the appropriate sampling frequencies required to obtain meaningful trends or develop well-founded opinions, the correlation of indicators from different jurisdictions, and problems associated with extrapolation to varying scales of application. More specifically, issues related to monitoring and information reporting (including incentives, funding, the level of streamlined data and information systems, linkages between organizations, critical analyses designed to identify indicators, structured reports and the effectiveness of extension services), remain as challenges for policy makers and forest managers internationally. The papers included in this Special Issue of Ecological Indicators describe a range of innovative approaches to developing forest-related indicator frameworks at varying scales of management, and mark some significant developments in the science underlying indicator utility.