Intact forest landscape
Encyclopedia
An Intact Forest Landscape—IFL is an unbroken natural landscape
of a forest
ecosystem
and its habitat
—plant community components, in a current extant forest zone. It is a natural environment
with no signs of significant human activity or habitat fragmentation
, and of sufficient size to contain, support, and maintain the complex of indigenous biodiversity
of viable populations of a wide-range of biota
genera
and species
, and their ecological effects
.
, World Resources Institute
, Biodiversity Conservation Center, International Socio-Ecological Union, and Transparent World. The IFL concept has since been used both in regional and global forest monitoring projects, such as Intact-Forests.org, and in scientific forest ecology
research projects.
Technically, an IFL is defined as a territory within today’s global extent of forest cover which contains forest and non-forest ecosystems minimally influenced by human economic activity, with an area of at least 500 km2 (50,000 ha) and a minimal width of 10 km (measured as the diameter of a circle that is entirely inscribed within the boundaries of the territory).
Areas with evidence of certain types of human influence are considered disturbed and consequently not eligible for inclusion in an IFL:
Areas with evidence of low intensity and old disturbances are treated as subject to “background” influence and are eligible for inclusion in an IFL. Sources of background influence include local shifting cultivation activities, diffuse grazing by domesticated animals, low-intensity selective logging and hunting.
This definition builds on and refines the concept of a frontier forest that was developed by the World Resources Institute
.
Most of the world’s original forests have either been lost to conversion or altered by logging and forest management. Forests that still combine large size with insignificant human influence are becoming increasingly important as their global extent continues to shrink.
Ecosystems are generally better able to support their natural biological diversity and ecological processes the lower their exposure to humans and the greater their area. They are also better able to absorb and recover from disturbance (resistance and resilience).
Fragmentation and loss of natural habitats are the main factors threatening plant and animal species with extinction
. Forest biodiversity
largely depends on intact forest landscapes. Large, roaming animals (such as forest elephants, great apes, bears, wolfs, tigers, jaguars, eagles, deer etc.) especially require that intact forest landscapes be preserved. Loss of natural habitat can occur through introduction of forest monoculture
or by even aged timber management, which are also destructive of biodiversity and wildlife abundance. For example, many wildlife species such as the Wild turkey
depend upon variegation of tree ages and sizes for its optimal sub-canopy flight; forests that have been managed for even aged composition fail to achieve abundance values of the Wild turkey and many other organisms.
Large natural forest areas are also important for maintaining ecological processes and supplying ecosystem services like water and air purification, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, erosion
and flood control
.
The conservation value of forest landscapes that are free from human disturbance is therefore high, although it varies among regions. At the same time the cost of conserving large unpopulated areas is often low. The same factors that have kept them from being developed, such as remoteness and low economic value, also help to reduce the cost of protecting them.
Several international initiatives to protect forest biodiversity (CBD
), to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (IGBP, REDD), and to stimulate use of sustainable forest management practices (FSC
) require that large natural forest areas be preserved. Mapping, conservation and monitoring of Intact Forest Landscapes is a therefore a task of great global significance.
Several attempts have been made since the mid-to-late 1990s to map the remaining extent of large natural forests. At the global level, these include: Wilderness Areas map by McCloskey and Spalding, Human Footprint map by Sanderson et al.; and Frontier Forests map by Bryant et al. These efforts have generally combined already existing maps and information to identify areas of low human impact at a coarse scale, typically no finer than 1:16 million.
The IFL mapping initiatives differ from these by using the IFL definition mentioned above, by using information from satellites in addition to other sources, and by producing results at a much finer scale, approximately 1:1 million.
The first regional IFL map was presented by Greenpeace Russia in 2001, covering Northern European Russia. The report also contains a complete description of the IFL concept and mapping algorithm.
A number of regional IFL maps were presented in 2002–2006, using similar methods, by a group of scientists and environmental non-governmental organizations under the framework of Global Forest Watch - an initiative of the World Resources Institute
.
Still using the same method, a global IFL map was prepared in 2005–2006 under the leadership of Greenpeace
, with contributions from: Biodiversity Conservation Center, International Socio-Ecological Union, and Transparent World (Russia), Luonto Liitto (Finnish Nature League), Forest Watch Indonesia, and Global Forest Watch, a network initiated by the World Resources Institute
.
The global IFL map relies on publicly available high spatial resolution satellite imagery (provided by GLCF and USGS) and on a simple and consistent set of criteria (see Definition).
Within today’s global extent of forest ecosystems, IFLs are estimated to cover 23% (13.1 million km2). Two [biomes] hold almost all of these IFLs: dense tropical and subtropical forests (45%) and boreal forests (44%), while the proportion of IFLs in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests is very small. IFLs remain in 66 of the 149 countries that that could potentially have them. Three of these countries — Canada
, Russia
, and Brazil
— contain 64% of the total IFL area. 19% of the global IFL area is under some form of protection, but only 10% is strictly protected, i.e., belongs to IUCN protected areas categories I–III.
Forest degradation can be assessed through IFL monitoring.
The distinction between intact and non-intact forest landscapes can be used to account for losses of carbon from forest degradation, as proposed by Mollicone et al. The global IFL map provides a geographically explicit baseline with several advantages:
Nature conservation strategies can be formulated using IFL maps.
Conservation of large IFLs is a robust and cost-effective way to protect biodiversity and maintain ecological integrity and should therefore be an important component of a global conservation strategy. The remoteness and large size of these areas provide the best guarantee for their continued intactness. Withdrawing remaining intact areas from the production base would lead to small or negligible economic loss.
Russian NGOs have, for example, used IFL maps to argue that the most valuable of the remaining intact natural landscapes of Northern European Russia and Far East be preserved, and to propose several new national parks: Kutsa and Hibiny (Murmansk Region), Kalevalsky (Karelia Republic) and Onezhskoye Pomorye (Arkhangelsk Region).
Sustainable forest management can be underpinned by IFL maps.
Several boreal countries are using the IFL concept in the context of forest certification. One of the categories of High Conservation Value Forest used by the Forest Stewardship Council
is analogous to that of IFLs. The formulation used in the Canadian and Russian national FSC
standards - globally, nationally, or regionally significant forest landscapes, un-fragmented by permanent infrastructure and of a size to maintain viable populations of most species - calls for IFL maps for implementation. IFLs are directly mentioned among other categories of High Conservation Value Forest in the FSC
Controlled Wood standard.
Several forest products retailers have committed not to use wood from IFLs unless intactness values are preserved, e.g., IKEA
and Lowe’s, or to invest only in companies that maintain such values, e.g., Bank of America
. The companies use regional IFL maps to implement these policies.
Natural landscape
A natural landscape is a landscape that is unaffected by human activity. A natural landscape is intact when all living and nonliving elements are free to move and change. The nonliving elements distinguish a natural landscape from a wilderness. A wilderness includes areas within which natural...
of a forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
ecosystem
Ecosystem
An 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....
and its habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
—plant community components, in a current extant forest zone. It is a natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
with no signs of significant human activity or habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...
, and of sufficient size to contain, support, and maintain the complex of indigenous biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
of viable populations of a wide-range of biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
genera
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
, and their ecological effects
Ecological effects of biodiversity
The diversity of species and genes in ecological communities affects the functioning of these communities. These ecological effects of biodiversity in turn affect both climate change through enhanced greenhouse gases, aerosols and loss of land cover, and biological diversity, causing a rapid loss...
.
History
The Intact Forest Landscape term and concept developed by a group of NGO—non-governmental environmental organizations, including GreenpeaceGreenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
, Biodiversity Conservation Center, International Socio-Ecological Union, and Transparent World. The IFL concept has since been used both in regional and global forest monitoring projects, such as Intact-Forests.org, and in scientific forest ecology
Forest ecology
Forest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management...
research projects.
Definition
The concept of an Intact Forest Landscape (IFL) and its technical definition were developed to help create, implement, and monitor policies concerning the human impact on forest landscapes at the regional or country levels.Technically, an IFL is defined as a territory within today’s global extent of forest cover which contains forest and non-forest ecosystems minimally influenced by human economic activity, with an area of at least 500 km2 (50,000 ha) and a minimal width of 10 km (measured as the diameter of a circle that is entirely inscribed within the boundaries of the territory).
Areas with evidence of certain types of human influence are considered disturbed and consequently not eligible for inclusion in an IFL:
- Settlements (including a buffer zone of one km);
- Infrastructure used for transportation between settlements or for industrial development of natural resources, including roads (except unpaved trails), railways, navigable waterways (including seashore), pipelines, and power transmission lines (including in all cases a buffer zone of one km on either side);
- Agriculture and timber production;
- Industrial activities during the last 30–70 years, such as logging, mining, oil and gas exploration and extraction, peat extraction.
Areas with evidence of low intensity and old disturbances are treated as subject to “background” influence and are eligible for inclusion in an IFL. Sources of background influence include local shifting cultivation activities, diffuse grazing by domesticated animals, low-intensity selective logging and hunting.
This definition builds on and refines the concept of a frontier forest that was developed by the World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
.
Conservation value
See also: High Conservation Value AreasHigh Conservation Value Areas
The concept of High Conservation Value Areas was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council in 1999 as a means of defining regions with a specific environmental, socioeconomic, biodiversity or landscape value for use within forestry management certification systems...
Most of the world’s original forests have either been lost to conversion or altered by logging and forest management. Forests that still combine large size with insignificant human influence are becoming increasingly important as their global extent continues to shrink.
Ecosystems are generally better able to support their natural biological diversity and ecological processes the lower their exposure to humans and the greater their area. They are also better able to absorb and recover from disturbance (resistance and resilience).
Fragmentation and loss of natural habitats are the main factors threatening plant and animal species with extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. Forest biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
largely depends on intact forest landscapes. Large, roaming animals (such as forest elephants, great apes, bears, wolfs, tigers, jaguars, eagles, deer etc.) especially require that intact forest landscapes be preserved. Loss of natural habitat can occur through introduction of forest monoculture
Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
or by even aged timber management, which are also destructive of biodiversity and wildlife abundance. For example, many wildlife species such as the Wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
depend upon variegation of tree ages and sizes for its optimal sub-canopy flight; forests that have been managed for even aged composition fail to achieve abundance values of the Wild turkey and many other organisms.
Large natural forest areas are also important for maintaining ecological processes and supplying ecosystem services like water and air purification, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
and flood control
Flood control
In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...
.
The conservation value of forest landscapes that are free from human disturbance is therefore high, although it varies among regions. At the same time the cost of conserving large unpopulated areas is often low. The same factors that have kept them from being developed, such as remoteness and low economic value, also help to reduce the cost of protecting them.
Several international initiatives to protect forest biodiversity (CBD
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
), to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (IGBP, REDD), and to stimulate use of sustainable forest management practices (FSC
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...
) require that large natural forest areas be preserved. Mapping, conservation and monitoring of Intact Forest Landscapes is a therefore a task of great global significance.
IFL mapping initiatives
The IFL mapping initiatives differ from these by using the IFL definition mentioned above, by using information from satellites in addition to other sources, and by producing results at a much finer scale, approximately 1:1 million.
The first regional IFL map was presented by Greenpeace Russia in 2001, covering Northern European Russia. The report also contains a complete description of the IFL concept and mapping algorithm.
A number of regional IFL maps were presented in 2002–2006, using similar methods, by a group of scientists and environmental non-governmental organizations under the framework of Global Forest Watch - an initiative of the World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
.
Still using the same method, a global IFL map was prepared in 2005–2006 under the leadership of Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, with contributions from: Biodiversity Conservation Center, International Socio-Ecological Union, and Transparent World (Russia), Luonto Liitto (Finnish Nature League), Forest Watch Indonesia, and Global Forest Watch, a network initiated by the World Resources Institute
World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute is an environmental think tank founded in 1982 based in Washington, D.C. in the United States.WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts,...
.
The global IFL map relies on publicly available high spatial resolution satellite imagery (provided by GLCF and USGS) and on a simple and consistent set of criteria (see Definition).
Within today’s global extent of forest ecosystems, IFLs are estimated to cover 23% (13.1 million km2). Two [biomes] hold almost all of these IFLs: dense tropical and subtropical forests (45%) and boreal forests (44%), while the proportion of IFLs in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests is very small. IFLs remain in 66 of the 149 countries that that could potentially have them. Three of these countries — Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
— contain 64% of the total IFL area. 19% of the global IFL area is under some form of protection, but only 10% is strictly protected, i.e., belongs to IUCN protected areas categories I–III.
Practical implementation of the IFL concept
The concept of an Intact Forest Landscape is a useful tool for making, implementation, and monitoring of policy in the realms of sustainable forest management, conservation and climate, as shown by the following examples.Forest degradation can be assessed through IFL monitoring.
The distinction between intact and non-intact forest landscapes can be used to account for losses of carbon from forest degradation, as proposed by Mollicone et al. The global IFL map provides a geographically explicit baseline with several advantages:
- it provides a globally consistent and highly detailed snapshot of the ecological integrity of the world’s forest biomes at the beginning of the new millennium (approximately year 2000);
- the method that was used to create the map can easily be adapted into a monitoring method that uses high spatial resolution satellite images;
- its high precision and fine scale make it a meaningful baseline for assessment of small-scale disturbances that can be detected by remotely sensed data.
Nature conservation strategies can be formulated using IFL maps.
Conservation of large IFLs is a robust and cost-effective way to protect biodiversity and maintain ecological integrity and should therefore be an important component of a global conservation strategy. The remoteness and large size of these areas provide the best guarantee for their continued intactness. Withdrawing remaining intact areas from the production base would lead to small or negligible economic loss.
Russian NGOs have, for example, used IFL maps to argue that the most valuable of the remaining intact natural landscapes of Northern European Russia and Far East be preserved, and to propose several new national parks: Kutsa and Hibiny (Murmansk Region), Kalevalsky (Karelia Republic) and Onezhskoye Pomorye (Arkhangelsk Region).
Sustainable forest management can be underpinned by IFL maps.
Several boreal countries are using the IFL concept in the context of forest certification. One of the categories of High Conservation Value Forest used by the Forest Stewardship Council
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...
is analogous to that of IFLs. The formulation used in the Canadian and Russian national FSC
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...
standards - globally, nationally, or regionally significant forest landscapes, un-fragmented by permanent infrastructure and of a size to maintain viable populations of most species - calls for IFL maps for implementation. IFLs are directly mentioned among other categories of High Conservation Value Forest in the FSC
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...
Controlled Wood standard.
Several forest products retailers have committed not to use wood from IFLs unless intactness values are preserved, e.g., IKEA
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
and Lowe’s, or to invest only in companies that maintain such values, e.g., Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
. The companies use regional IFL maps to implement these policies.
See also
- BiodiversityBiodiversityBiodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
- EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
- Ecological effects of biodiversityEcological effects of biodiversityThe diversity of species and genes in ecological communities affects the functioning of these communities. These ecological effects of biodiversity in turn affect both climate change through enhanced greenhouse gases, aerosols and loss of land cover, and biological diversity, causing a rapid loss...
- Forest ecologyForest ecologyForest ecology is the scientific study of the interrelated patterns, processes, flora, fauna and ecosystems in forests. The management of forests is known as forestry, silviculture, and forest management...
- Habitat (ecology) terminology index
- Natural environmentNatural environmentThe natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
- Natural landscapeNatural landscapeA natural landscape is a landscape that is unaffected by human activity. A natural landscape is intact when all living and nonliving elements are free to move and change. The nonliving elements distinguish a natural landscape from a wilderness. A wilderness includes areas within which natural...
- Old growth forestOld growth forestAn old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
- WildernessWildernessWilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
- High Conservation Value AreasHigh Conservation Value AreasThe concept of High Conservation Value Areas was developed by the Forest Stewardship Council in 1999 as a means of defining regions with a specific environmental, socioeconomic, biodiversity or landscape value for use within forestry management certification systems...
- High conservation value forestHigh conservation value forestHigh conservation value forest is a Forest Stewardship Council forest management designation used to describe those forests who meet criteria defined by the FSC Principles and Criteria of Forest Stewardship....
- List of biodiversity databases