High conservation value forest
Encyclopedia
High conservation value forest (HCVF) is a Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC) forest management
designation used to describe those forests who meet criteria defined by the FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship.
Specifically, high conservation value forests are those that possess one or more of the following attributes:
A number of terms have been used somewhat interchangeably with the term HCVF. To a certain extent this arises from translation between languages and to a certain extent it arises from varying approaches at interpretation. The Spanish version uses the terms bosques con alto valor de conservación (forests with high value of conservation) and bosques con alto valor para la conservación (forests with high value for conservation).
As noted, the term HCVF arose following consideration of the term high conservation values; this usage led to the concept of forests having high conservation values and forests with high conservation values. Indeed, the term high conservation value is sometimes given its own acronym HCV; however, the FSC refers to an HCV as "attributes".
.
Examples of forest types which embrace rare or endangered species
include the Dry deciduous forests of Madagascar
the two Monterey Cypress of central coastal California and the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests
of coastal California.
. This panel produced a number of consultation documents on how to identify HCVF, including indicators and verifiers. However, this consultation process was not finalized and FSC has yet to issue any specific guidance regarding HCVF1.
In lieu of formal guidance from FSC, there has been a proliferation of discussion on HCVF, led mainly by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In particular, the need for more precise and practical guidance led to a 2001 initiative by the UK-based consulting company, Proforest Ltd. This initiative led to the production of a three-part High Conservation Value Toolkit (the ‘Global Toolkit’). The Global Toolkit offered a revised definition of HCVF as follows:
A High Conservation Value Forest is the area of forest required to maintain or enhance a High Conservation Value.
This definition provides a new approach to the zonation of HCVF as well as introduces the concept of ‘High Conservation Value’. The inclusion of the term ‘area of forest’ provide clarity that there may be instances where an HCVF zone might be restricted to part of a forest, while the FSC definition implied that the presence of one or more HCV attribute would render the whole forest as to be a ‘high conservation value forest’. Indeed, despite the provision for partial zonation, the Global Toolkit makes it clear that for the purposes of certification, any forest management unit containing even one small HCV is classified as a High Conservation Value Forest, which brings into play extra requirements for consultation, maintenance or enhancement, and annual monitoring. However, the additional burden is determined by the nature of the HCV and will affect only those parts of the forest, and those aspects of management, that are required for the maintenance or enhancement of the HCV (this procedure is explained in more detail in the section on Adaptive Management, below).
There are six recognized forms of High conservation values forests:
The Global Toolkit has not been explicitly endorsed by the FSC but the revised ordering system appears to have gained widespread appeal and there is a recommendation for its use in FSC reports found in a footnote to an FSC reporting standard. The Global Toolkit was intentionally designed for a wide range of users beyond the FSC scheme. Indeed, in December 2005, the popularity of the HCV approach led to the formation of the HCV Resource Network which includes a broad platform of NGOs as well as the World Bank
and the International Tropical Timber Organization
(ITTO).
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council is an international not-for-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. Its main tools for achieving this are standard setting, independent certification and labeling of forest products...
(FSC) forest management
Forest management
200px|thumb|right|[[Sustainable development|Sustainable]] forest management carried out by [[Complejo Forestal y Maderero Panguipulli|Complejo Panguipulli]] has contributed to the preservation of the forested landscape around [[Neltume]], a sawmill town in Chile...
designation used to describe those forests who meet criteria defined by the FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship.
Specifically, high conservation value forests are those that possess one or more of the following attributes:
- forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant: concentrations of biodiversity values (e.g. endemism, endangered speciesEndangered speciesAn endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
, refugia); and/or large landscape-level forests, contained within, or containing the management unit, where viable populations of most if not all naturally occurring species exist in natural patterns of distribution and abundance - forest areas that are in or contain rareRare speciesA rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon or scarce. This designation may be applied to either a plant or animal taxon, and may be distinct from the term "endangered" or "threatened species" but not "extinct"....
, threatened or endangered ecosystemEcosystemAn ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s - forest areas that provide basic services of nature in critical situations (e.g. watershedDrainage basinA drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
protection, erosion controlErosion controlErosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development and construction. Effective erosion controls are important techniques in preventing water pollution and soil loss.-Introduction:...
) - forest areas fundamental to meeting basic needs of local communities (e.g. subsistence, health) and/or critical to local communities' traditional cultural identityCultural identityCultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
(areas of cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance identified in cooperation with such local communities).
History
The arose relatively recently in connection with the development of standards for the certification of forest management. The term was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council, A.C. (FSC), which is an international accreditation association1 incorporated in 1995. The FSC first started considering the term high conservation values in 1996 and formally included the term high conservation value forests in the FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship in January 1999.A number of terms have been used somewhat interchangeably with the term HCVF. To a certain extent this arises from translation between languages and to a certain extent it arises from varying approaches at interpretation. The Spanish version uses the terms bosques con alto valor de conservación (forests with high value of conservation) and bosques con alto valor para la conservación (forests with high value for conservation).
As noted, the term HCVF arose following consideration of the term high conservation values; this usage led to the concept of forests having high conservation values and forests with high conservation values. Indeed, the term high conservation value is sometimes given its own acronym HCV; however, the FSC refers to an HCV as "attributes".
Examples
Examples of the large landscape globally important forests include the Canada boreal forest and the remaining Amazon rainforestRainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
.
Examples of forest types which embrace rare or endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
include the Dry deciduous forests of Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
the two Monterey Cypress of central coastal California and the Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests
Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests
Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forests are rare temperate forest assemblages associated with a limited range portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains of northern California. There are only three known small forests of this type, all situated in Santa Cruz County, California...
of coastal California.
HCVF Toolkits
Following the inclusion of the term in the FSC P&C in 1999, the FSC formed an Advisory Panel for the Implementation of high conservation value forests and the precautionary principlePrecautionary principle
The precautionary principle or precautionary approach states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those...
. This panel produced a number of consultation documents on how to identify HCVF, including indicators and verifiers. However, this consultation process was not finalized and FSC has yet to issue any specific guidance regarding HCVF1.
In lieu of formal guidance from FSC, there has been a proliferation of discussion on HCVF, led mainly by non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In particular, the need for more precise and practical guidance led to a 2001 initiative by the UK-based consulting company, Proforest Ltd. This initiative led to the production of a three-part High Conservation Value Toolkit (the ‘Global Toolkit’). The Global Toolkit offered a revised definition of HCVF as follows:
A High Conservation Value Forest is the area of forest required to maintain or enhance a High Conservation Value.
This definition provides a new approach to the zonation of HCVF as well as introduces the concept of ‘High Conservation Value’. The inclusion of the term ‘area of forest’ provide clarity that there may be instances where an HCVF zone might be restricted to part of a forest, while the FSC definition implied that the presence of one or more HCV attribute would render the whole forest as to be a ‘high conservation value forest’. Indeed, despite the provision for partial zonation, the Global Toolkit makes it clear that for the purposes of certification, any forest management unit containing even one small HCV is classified as a High Conservation Value Forest, which brings into play extra requirements for consultation, maintenance or enhancement, and annual monitoring. However, the additional burden is determined by the nature of the HCV and will affect only those parts of the forest, and those aspects of management, that are required for the maintenance or enhancement of the HCV (this procedure is explained in more detail in the section on Adaptive Management, below).
There are six recognized forms of High conservation values forests:
- HCV1. Forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant concentrations of biodiversity values (e.g. endemism, endangered species, refugia).
- HCV2. Forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant large landscape level forests, contained within, or containing the management unit, where viable populations of most if not all naturally occurring species exist in natural patterns of distribution and abundance.
- HCV3. Forest areas that are in or contain rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems.
- HCV4. Forest areas that provide basic services of nature in critical situations (e.g. watershed protection, erosion control).
- HCV5. Forest areas fundamental to meeting basic needs of local communities (e.g. subsistence, health).
- HCV6. Forest areas critical to local communities’ traditional cultural identity (areas of cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance identified in cooperation with such local communities).
The Global Toolkit has not been explicitly endorsed by the FSC but the revised ordering system appears to have gained widespread appeal and there is a recommendation for its use in FSC reports found in a footnote to an FSC reporting standard. The Global Toolkit was intentionally designed for a wide range of users beyond the FSC scheme. Indeed, in December 2005, the popularity of the HCV approach led to the formation of the HCV Resource Network which includes a broad platform of NGOs as well as the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
and the International Tropical Timber Organization
International Tropical Timber Organization
The International Tropical Timber Organization is an intergovernmental organization that promoted conservation of tropical forest resources and their sustainable management, use and trade.-Organization:...
(ITTO).
See also
- Intact forest landscapes
- Biological integrityBiological integrityBiological integrity is associated with how “pristine” an environment is and its function relative to the potential or original state of an ecosystem before human alterations were imposed. Biological integrity is built on the assumption that a decline in the values of an ecosystem's functions are...
- Ecological healthEcological healthEcological health or ecological integrity or ecological damage are the symptoms of an ecosystem's pending loss of carrying capacity, its ability to perform ecological services, or a pending ecocide, due to cumulative causes such as pollution. it can also be defined as farming so as to minimize the...
- Conservation priorities