Overview

FSC certification offers market incentives for good forest management which includes the protection and management of biodiversity values. Yet the potential benefits of certification in terms of biodiversity protection are not reaching as far as they could.

The project addresses two main issues. Certification is proving challenging in the tropics where management is technically difficult and the political and institutional support for responsible management has been historically weak. Certification is also more cost-effective for large companies compared to smaller forest enterprises.

This four year project aims to develop tools and incentives to help small forest managers, communities and NTFP collectors in the tropics to identify and protect biodiversity in the forests they manage through certification, whilst continuing to meet their own management objectives.  

Project objectives

1. Identify and protect high conservation values, especially biodiversity values in small and low intensity managed forests in the tropics;
2. Increase access and reduce barriers to certification for small and low intensity managed forests in the tropics, in order to provide a verifiable indicator of biodiversity protection in these forests;
3. Develop innovative funding mechanisms to provide improved incentives for the conservation of biodiversity through certification in small and low intensity managed forests.

Expected outcomes

1. Identified high conservation values and important sites for biodiversity conservation in project areas;
2. Practical tools for the identification, management and monitoring of high conservation values for small and low intensity managed forests are replicable and made available;
3. Improved certification standards related to biodiversity conservation in small and low intensity managed forests for each of project country. Tools for development of equivalent standards internationally made available;
4. Reduced barriers to certification of small and low intensity managed forests;
5. Increased local capacity to identify, manage, monitor and assess for certification HCVF, including biodiversity values in small and low intensity managed forests;
6. Clarity on real costs and biodiversity benefits of compliance with the standards for biodiversity protection in small and low intensity managed forests. Clear proposals for the provision of financial incentives to managers of small and low intensity managed forests.

Available resources

FSC-GUI-60-001 Guidance on the interpretation of FSC Principles and Criteria to take account of Small Scale and Low Intensity 

FSC step-by-step guide - Good practice guide to meeting FSC certification requirements for biodiversity and High Conservation Value Forests in Small and Low Intensity Managed Forests (English / Spanish / French / Portuguese)

FSC user-friendly guide to FSC certifcation for smallholders - Make more out of your forests! (English / Spanish / French / Portuguese)

Fact sheet (2008) "FSC certification: protection of biodiversity and High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF)" (English/ Spanish) 

Coming soon... 

• FSC guide to certification for smallholders
• FSC guide to markets for forest products and services for smallholders
• National SLIMF standards for Mexico, Brazil and Cameroon
• Database for monitoring aspects of HCVF and biodiverisity in FSC certified forests

Background

Large areas of high biodiversity forest worldwide lie outside protected areas and are critically affected by commercial exploitation, whether by large scale commercial companies or by small scale or community based management. 

The World Bank has estimated there to be some 600 million ha of forest with the potential for commercial management. To date, approximately 80 million ha of commercial forest has been certified, representing just 14% of this total. 

This area is increasing steadily as certification attracts the growing support of governments and international businesses.  Forest certification is now accepted as an important tool for maintaining biodiversity in forests managed by larger commercial forest operations.