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Despite a long history of forest conversion and forest degradation due to unsustainable logging practices, the natural forests of Southeast Asia still constitute an immense renewable resource and provide vital contributions to the economic and social development of the region. Invariably, the countries of the region commit to the principle of sustainable forest management (SFM), as expressed in their respective forest policies and/or sector strategies. In line with the international policy debate (e.g. UNCED, 1992: Rio Declaration and Forest Principles) the definition of SFM applied by these countries has gradually evolved from a focus on sustained timber production to concepts which embrace economic, environmental and social aspects. However, the actual management of the bulk of natural forests in Southeast Asia does not conform to the principles of SFM. Annual harvesting rates are far beyond sustainable levels and conventional timber extraction with high environmental impact is still widespread practice. The reasons are manifold and vary with the countries (refer to Chapter 1.2). Experience has shown that the actual implementation of SFM is primarily a socio-cultural and an economic problem or challenge. However, the paradigm shift from sustainable timber production to sustainable multi-purpose forest management also requires a set of new management tools, instruments and standards, which have to be tailored to meet the requirements of a given country. GTZ has assisted a number of Southeast Asian partner countries in their endeavour to develop and implement the new management paradigm for quite some time. Work in most projects was focused on natural production forests. In line with this, the scope of this document is to capture and analyze the experiences made with regard to developing SFM systems for natural production forests.