1 July, 2013 Santiago
Common Guidance for the Interpretation &
Identification of High Conservation Values
HCV Common Guidance
• Update on P9 and Common Guidance
• Key considerations for interpretation
• The HCV definitions and examples
• HCV assessment process
• HCV management and monitoring
What is the High Conservation Value approach?
• A set of criteria (the six ‘HCVs’)
• An assessment process for environmental & social
priorities
• A management decision tool
• A key component of major sustainability standards
HCV Approach
Greater efforts needed to identify,
through more intensive assessments and
stakeholder engagement, through greater
attention to deciding and implementing
appropriate management measures, and
through monitoring both the
implementation and effectiveness of
these measures.
Manage
Monitor
Identify
Origins of HCV approach
• “High Conservation Value” approach conceived by FSC in 1994:
• All forests are valuable
• But some are more valuable than others
• Need safeguards for exceptional cases
• But defining exceptionalis difficult…
1999 Revision: FSC introduces HCVF
• P9: “Management activities in HCV Forests shall
maintain or enhance the attributes that define
such forest”
• HCVF caused some confusion over extent of HCV
area
HCV beyond forestry
• Agricultural commodities
• Investment policies
• Responsible production & sourcing policies
Certification
FSC Draft P&C v.5
• P9: “The Organization shall maintain and/or enhance high
conservation values through applying the precautionary
approach.”
• Drops the HCV Forest
• Lists 6 HCV categories
• Recognises other HCV ecosystems
• Emphasis on stakeholder engagement
• Notes on recognising significance & criticality
• Est. 2006 to support consistent, high-quality
implementation of HCV approach across uses
• A voluntary, Charter-based association
composed of:
• Multi-stakeholder Steering Group
• International Technical Panel
• Secretariat
• Charter Signatories (“Participants”)
The HCV Resource Network
HCV Network Steering Group
Practical interpretation of definitions
• HCV definitions are applicable in principle to any ecosystem
and country
• Need interpretation
• Best practice guidance
• National interpretation
• Each assessment to be done in a systematic and
consistent manner
HCV Common Guidance
• HCV Resource Network Steering Group decision
• Need for global guidance – user friendly
• Based on:
• FSC paper with HCV expert input
• Existing good practice
• Editorial Board
• Review (FSC, other schemes, WWF,
IUCN, etc.)
• Publication on HCV-RN site
• Living document
Common Guidance for Identification
• Across ecosystems and land uses
• More examples
• Case studies
• More guidance on key terms
• No sub-categories
• Undergoing review
KEY CONSIDERATIONS
FOR INTERPRETATION OF
THE HCV DEFINITIONS
AND ASSESSMENT
FINDINGS
The HCV process should be integrated with
responsible land management that respects the
HCV Resource Network charter
• Legality
• Tenure, rights, FPIC
• Impacts of conversion
• Other environmental & social values
HCV Resource Network Charter
Scales of application
• Site scale:
• HCV is primarily a site-level planning and
management approach, applicable for any
ecosystem
• Aims to identify conservation priorities, define
management targets, mitigate risk through
effective stakeholder participation
• Landscape scale:
• “Exceptional” value of HCVs often depends on
wider context (rarity, landscape configuration,
habitat quality etc.)
• Effective management requires taking into
account threats and opportunities in
surrounding landscape
Scale, intensity and risk
• The larger the scale, intensity and risk of project
activities, the more effort should be devoted to
detecting, identifying and understanding the
characteristics, distribution, sensitivity and
vulnerability of the HCVs.
Interpretation of findings
HCV assessment findings must be interpreted
keeping in mind:
• Reference to guidance documents (e.g. HCV-RN
documents, National Interpretation if available)
• Stakeholder concerns
• Precautionary approach
• Understanding of Significance
Precautionary approach
When there are credible and reasonable indications
that an HCV is present, the assessor should assume
that it is present and should take the appropriate
decisions for management strategies, actions and
monitoring.
Recognizing Significance
Significant values are those recognized as being
either unique, or outstanding relative to other
examples in the same region, because of their
sizes, numbers, frequency, quality, density or
socio-economic importance, on the basis of
existing priority frameworks, data or maps, or
through field studies and consultations undertaken
during the HCV assessment.
High Conservation Values
A High Conservation Value (HCV) is a biological, ecological,
social or cultural value which is recognised as having
outstanding significance or critical importance.
The “global” HCVs
Note that for HCV 1, 2, and 3, the values need to be
significant at a national or regional scale (or higher)
– with the understanding that countries are highly
variable and what is significant in one country may
not be significant in another
HCV 1 Biodiversity
Concentrations of biological diversity including
endemic species, and rare, threatened or
endangered species, that are significant at global,
regional or national levels.
HCV1 Examples include
• Protected areas may indicate the presence of high
levels of biodiversity in the landscape.
• The regular presence of multiple EN species.
• The regular presence of several restricted-range /
endemic species from different taxa.
• Mineral licks which are used by large numbers of
individuals
• Colonial nesting sites
HCV 2 Landscapes
Large landscape-level ecosystems and ecosystem mosaics
that are significant at global, regional or national levels,
and that contain viable populations of the great majority of
the naturally occurring species in natural patterns of
distribution and abundance.
HCV 2 Examples can include
• Emphasis on size, quality and function
• Frontier, intact forests. WRI Intact Forest
Landscapes, WCS ‘Last of the Wild’.
• Un-dammed river systems, and wetlands with
natural flood regimes.
• Un-fenced rangelands, with nearly full
complements of wild ungulates.
• Areas with low levels of overall disturbance and
high connectivity have a high chance of being
HCV 2
HCV 3 Ecosystems
Rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems,
habitats or refugia
HCV 3 examples include:
• Ecosystems which are naturally rare,
e.g. forest on limestone
• Ecosystems which have lost a large
proportion of their historical range,
e.g. pampas
• Inselbergs, or forest patches in
grasslands
The “local scale” HCVs
In general, HCV 4, 5, and 6 are significant to the communities
that rely on them – so they are not relative to any scale but
absolute in their irreplaceability to a community.
HCV 4 Ecosystem services
Basic ecosystem services in critical situations,
including protection of water catchments and control
of erosion of vulnerable soils and slopes.
Examples of HCV 4 include:
• Vegetated riparian buffer zones or intact
floodplains
• Groundwater recharge zones
Which can:
• Protect vulnerable soils, aquifers and fisheries
• Prevent floods and fires
• Maintain downstream flow regimes
• Maintain water quality characteristics
HCV 5 Community needs
Sites and resources fundamental for satisfying basic
necessities of local communities or indigenous peoples
(e.g. livelihoods, health, nutrition), identified through
engagement with these communities.
Examples of HCV 5 include:
• Hunting and trapping grounds
• Fishing areas
• NTFPs such as nuts, berries, mushrooms
medicinal plants
• Fuel for household cooking, lighting and
heating
• Building materials (poles, thatching, timber)
• Fodder for livestock and seasonal grazing
• Water sources necessary for drinking water
and sanitation
HCV 6 Culture
Sites, resources, habitats and landscapes of global or national
cultural, archaeological or historical significance, and/or of
critical cultural, ecological, economic or religious/sacred
importance for the cultures of local communities or
indigenous peoples, identified through their engagement.
Examples of HCV 6 (local)
• Burial grounds
• Sites used for traditional ceremonies
• Sacred mountains, forests, rivers, caves,
waterfalls, trees, rocks, totem animals
• NTFPs used for traditional ceremonies
• Abandoned/ancestral village ruins
Examples of HCV 6 (global)
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites
• Important archaeological relics
• Prehistoric cave art
HCV Assessment
• An HCV assessment is the process by which HCVs
are evaluated and identified in practice, usually as
part of a certification scheme or a planning
exercise.
• Who should conduct the assessment?
• company management team
• independent team
• experienced in the ecosystems being assessed.
HCV assessment process
IDENTIFY
Planning and preparation
Scoping study and
more planning/prep
Full assessment and reporting
Preparation: data needs & desktop review
What is known, and what is still needed to identify
HCVs?
• Specific guidance on HCVs (e.g. NIs, HCV RN)
• Biodiversity (HCVs 1, 2 ,3)
• Ecosystem maps, forest inventories
• Species data (RTE species: IUCN, CITES, red lists)
• Protected area data
• Landscape context
• Ecosystem services (HCV 4)
• Soil, topography, watersheds, fire hazard
• Social and cultural data (HCV 5 and 6)
• Settlement maps and community data
• Sociocultural data, social impact assessments
Field assessment & data collection
• Forest inventory
• Faunal inventory
• Hydrological studies
• Socio-economic studies
• Participatory mapping
• LIDAR data
Stakeholder consultation
• Identify potential stakeholders, bearing in
mind the nature and vulnerability of the
anticipated HCVs, and the risks and threats
they face.
• Ensure key stakeholders are aware that an
HCV assessment is being made and that
they have an opportunity to participate.
• The effectiveness and success of the
consultation process is determined by
whether it identifies the great majority of
opinions, relevant information and options
Content of the HCV Report
The process should be well documented, with all important
decisions clearly justified.
• Reporting should show:
• What has been identified and where
• Justification for HCV
• Who was consulted
• What actions will be taken to manage and monitor
• Public availability of summary
• Sufficient information given to judge
• Adequacy of identification process
• Suitability of management & monitoring measures
HCV management approach
• Presence of one or more HCV does not preclude development operations
• Carries a responsibility to put in place extrameasures or safeguards
• Additional pro-active management or protection
• Must be sufficient to maintain or enhance the value
• Additional monitoring
• Requires consultation on options for management
• Must appear in Public Summary
Mapping HCVs
• Mapping is usually a fundamental part of HCV
identification & management
• Collection of spatial information is vital
• How far do you travel to get firewood?
• Where are high quality habitats and key
resources?
• What is the distribution of key species?
• Maps should be accompanied with info on data
sources, data quality and limitations.
• HCV distribution and HCV management areas
should be mapped; HCV MA’s should have
associated SOPs.
Guidelines for HCV management
1. Define your objectives
2. Identify baselines and targets
3. Identify threats
4. Identify management options
5. Use precautionary management
6. Monitor success to modify management
Management options
• Spatial planning
• Set aside zones, buffer zones, corridors etc.
• Improving operational plans
• Better management practices, low impact
operations
• Proactive community engagement
• Mitigating external threats
• Partnership with NGOs and local government
• Provision of alternative resources
Fundamental points
• HCVs are exceptional values
• Management must ensure that they are maintained
or enhanced.
• HCV definitions and approach are global and
flexible
• But…should be used within a certification scheme
and consistently interpreted and applied
Thank you for your attention
Questions?