HCVCommon Guidance
Background to this document
This document is the product of a decision by the Steering Group of the HCV Resource Network to develop common guidance for the interpretation of HCVs globally, for any type of ecosystem, and across all land use sectors and standards. It builds on work carried out in 2011 and 2012 by FSC in partnership with the HCV Network, and on consultation with HCV experts and stakeholders from relevant standards and schemes. The editorial board for this document includes: Ellen Brown, Nigel Dudley, Anders Lindhe, Dwi R. Muhtaman, Christopher Stewart andTimothy Synnott. With additional valuable input from Robin Abell, Marcus Colchester, Michael Senior and Tim Rayden.
This common guidance is part of a broader quality control scheme in development by the HCV Resource Network, whose final elements will include:
•Common global interpretation of HCV definitions (this document)
•Guidance on HCV assessment (this document)
•HCV assessor training and capacity building
•“HCV professional” assessor registration/certification
•Peer review of HCV assessment reports
HCV definitions were first set forth by FSC in 1999 in version 4.0 of its Principles and Criteria[1]. Guidance was further elaborated in 2003 by Proforest in its HCV Forest (HCVF) Toolkit. In 2005, the newly established HCV Resource Network adopted a slightly simplified version of the HCVF[2] Toolkit formulations in its founding Charter[3] and widened their scope to include “HCV Areas” i.e. both forest and non-forest ecosystems. Between 2009 and 2011, the HCV Resource Network and FSC worked together to revise the HCV definitions, involving experts and stakeholders in other sustainability schemes; this process, resulting in the FSC P&C version 5.0, brought a focus on ‘values’ rather than ‘areas’, clarified definitional language and provided better alignment between the FSC’s 2012 P&C and the HCV Network’s Charter. Since the second half of 2012 Proforest has been engaged in a consultative process to develop a practical user manual for the common interpretation and identification of High Conservation Values (HCV), known as the “HCV Common Guidance”.
This document draws principally from a June 2012 paper by Timothy Synnott with contributions from Marcus Colchester (Forest Peoples Alliance) Nigel Dudley (Equilibrium Research), Nilofer Ghaffar (HCV Resource Network), Angeline Gough (FSC), Daniel Hall (ForestEthics), Anders Lindhe (WWF International), Dwi R. Muhtaman (ReMark Asia), John Palmer (Forest Management Trust), Richard Robertson (FSC), Grant Rosoman (Greenpeace New Zealand), Christopher Stewart (Proforest), Christoph Thies (Greenpeace International), Maria Tyschianouk (FSC Russia). The original paper by Synnott focused on the interpretation of HCVs in a forest context and particularly under FSC.
The Common Guidance also builds on earlier practical guides for HCV assessments, maintaining valuable information from the earlier guides. It draws most heavily on: Good practice guidelines for High Conservation Value assessments: A practical guide for practitioners and auditors (2008) and Assessment, management and monitoring of High Conservation Value Forest: A practical guide for forest managers (2008).
Please send comments on this draft to:
Ellen Brown
Table of contents
1Introduction
1.1The High Conservation Value approach
1.2The six High Conservation Values
1.3HCV areas and HCV management areas
1.4Responsible land management
1.5Common guidance
1.5.1Ecosystems
1.5.2Commodities
1.5.3Other uses of the HCV approach
1.5.4Common guidance and national interpretations
2Key steps in the HCV process
2.1Identification
2.2Management
2.3Monitoring
3Key considerations throughout the assessment process
3.1The “significance” of High Conservation Values
3.2Landscape scale
3.3Precautionary approach
3.4Stakeholder consultation
4HCV Identification
4.1Preparation and planning
4.1.1Gathering Preliminary Data
4.1.2Dealing with data gaps
4.2Scoping
4.3Assessment
5Identification of the six HCVs
5.1HCV 1: Biodiversity
5.1.1Key terms and concepts
5.1.2Indicators and data sources
5.1.3Case study
5.2HCV 2: Landscape-level ecosystems and mosaics
5.2.1Key terms and concepts
5.2.2Indicators and data sources
5.2.3Case study
5.3HCV 3:Ecosystems and habitats
5.3.1Key terms and concepts
5.3.2Indicators and data sources
5.3.3Case study
5.4HCV 4- Critical ecosystem services
5.4.1Key terms and concepts
5.4.2Indicators and data sources
5.4.3Case study
5.5HCV 5 Community needs
5.5.1Indicators and data sources
5.5.2Data sources
5.5.3Methods for assessing HCV 5
5.5.4Case study
5.6HCV 6 Cultural Values
5.6.1Key terms and concepts
5.6.2Indicators and data sources
5.6.3Case study
6References
Annex
1.HCV assessment general checklist
2.HCV Resources
1Introduction
This document builds on a series of Good Practice guides for High Conservation Value (HCV) practitioners and auditors. Over the past few years, as global HCV definitions are amended and as the HCV approach has been adopted by ever more and diverse initiatives, it is useful to take stock of current guidance and provide an update. This document does not intend to completely replace the existing guidance, but it aims to widen the scope of use of HCV and to provide some advice/guidance based on practical field experience. In recent years there has been growing concern amongst members of the HCV Resource Network, HCV practitioners and other interested parties, that the HCV approach has not been applied consistently across different land use sectors or geographies. The identification of values within a specific landscape and site should be based on a common interpretation of the HCV definitions, as set out in this document. This document is intended for HCV assessors and land managers, especially those working without the benefit of national interpretations, to provide guidance on interpreting the HCV definitions and their applications, with the goal of providing some degree of standardization in use of the HCV approach. The document can also help developers of HCV national interpretations. See Annex 2 for additional HCV guidance materials which can supplement this document.
1.1The High Conservation Value approach
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) developed the HCV concept in 1999 to ensure maintenance of significant environmental and social values in the context of responsible forest management. Since then, the HCV concept has been adopted by other natural resource sustainability standards (see Box X) and by many organisations which aim to maintain and/or enhance critical social and environmental values as part of responsible land management[4]. The six HCVs have been applied principally to land-based production practices such as forestry and agriculture. These sectors are the primary focus of this document, but an HCV assessment should consider all ecosystems – terrestrial and aquatic – that occur within a production site, and ideally within the larger area of influence as well.
International sustainability standardsuse the HCV concept as a way of ensuring that environmental and social principles are met. Whilst many ecosystems contain environmental and social values deserving of protection, the HCV framework deems some values to be more important than others. TheseHCVsdemand a greater degree of protection, andtherefore precautions and extra management efforts are necessary to ensure their long term maintenance, particularly if they may be negatively impacted by practices undertaken in logging concessions, agricultural plantations or other production sites. These measures may exceed what is required for ‘normal’ good practice, and must be sufficient to address the threats to HCVs.
The High Conservation Value (HCV) concept was first developed as a component of a certification process, applied at management unit level, rather than as a stand-alone conservation tool. Certification schemes usually incorporate critical safeguards, such as requirements to comply with national law, to protect endangered species, to respect indigenous peoples’ tenure rights, and a mechanism to check that management plans are effectively implemented. Outside of the context of certification, HCV is used to inform land-use planning, conservation advocacy, and designing responsible purchasing and investment policies (e.g. governmental and commercial).
1.2The six High Conservation Values
1.3HCV areas and HCV management areas
To be elaborated…
1.4Responsible land management
The HCV assessment should occur prior to proposed development activities or operations rather than retrospectively. But also, a High Conservation Value assessment and management plan is not a stand-alone guarantee of sustainability. It should be integrated with responsible land use management which respects the principles of application as set out by the HCV Resource Network.
Legality
- There is compliance with all applicable with national and local laws and international treaties and agreements.
Secure tenure, customary rights and consent
- The right to use the land can be demonstrated, and is not legitimately contested by local communities with demonstrable rights.
- Use or management of the land does not diminish the legal or customary rights, of indigenous peoples, local communities or other users, without their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
Conversion
- Areas necessary at the site and landscape scale to maintain or enhance HCVs shall not be converted to other land uses.
- The absence of HCVs, and the application of the HCV approach, alone should not be used to justify the conversion of natural ecosystems.
Forest management was the original context for HCV assessments. This assumes that the areas supporting HCVs will remain forested and will likely even be surrounded by continuous forest cover. However, there is a growing demand for HCV assessments both for managing the impacts of existing agricultural/tree plantations, and for responsibly planning the expansion of plantations (e.g. for RSPO-certified palm oil). In this context, the HCV process is used as a safeguard against the destruction of critical values through conversion of natural vegetation to plantation forestry or agriculture. Regardless of whether the HCV process is employed within a certification system (such as RSPO) or outside it, a more thorough and cautious approach is needed both in identifying and managing HCV areas, and in reviewing the results of HCV assessments.
An HCV assessment should always be completed prior to any irreversible forest clearance or land preparation activities. Compared to natural forest management, conversion generally has a more severe and irreversible impact on biodiversity, ecological functions and social systems. Measures of protection for HCVs must therefore reflect the severity of the impact. For conversion of non-HCV natural ecosystems to be justified, benefits resulting from proposed land use development should outweigh the combined economic, environmental and social impacts and the decision should be documented through a rigorous, fair and transparent multi-stakeholder consultation process.
1.5Common guidance
This document aims to widen the scope of HCV guidance and provide common interpretations and guidance which can be universally applied to different ecosystems, different commodities and land uses, and across different geographies.
1.5.1Ecosystems
This Common Guidance document has adopted the updated HCV definitions (FSC P&C v. 5) which widen the scope of application beyond the forest context to include ecosystems and mosaics more broadly. The HCV definitions are general and can be applied to several ecosystem types, however it is useful to provide some additional guidance for widespread/major ecosystem types which are also affected by the production of food, fuel, fibre and timber.
Grasslands
The extension of the HCV concept into grasslands is driven by concern about the rate at which grasslands are being converted into plantations, particularly for soy, oil palm and pulp. The existence of certification schemes for these industries and the integrated nature of the market means that some companies involved in debates about crop and biofuels plantations are already familiar with the HCV concept through forest operations. The existence of European Union legislation aimed at promoting sustainability in biofuels production, and explicitly at protecting grassland values (see Bowyer et al, 2010), is providing further impetus.
Freshwater
All agricultural and plantation developments are intrinsically reliant on water resources, but also have major impacts on freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems are already more integrated into HCV concept than grasslands, through the consideration of some water-related ecosystem services in HCVs4 & 5, and the accepted reliance of these services on forest ecosystems, e.g. watershed protection. But these ecosystem services are just a fraction of freshwater conservation values and so HCV assessment teams often lack freshwater experts. There is a need for the full suite of freshwater conservation values (see Box X) to be integrated as a central part the HCV concept. Another stimulus for these changes is the variation in freshwater protection legislation, and the enforcement of this legislation, across countries. Expanding the freshwater scope of the HCV concept can help to standardise application across different commodities and countries.
Because the HCV definitions are general and universal, there is a large amount of overlap in how assessors can identify HCVs in different ecosystem types. For this reason, it would be too repetitive to produce separate guidance for these different ecosystems at this point, or even to devote different chapters to them in this document. Instead, for each HCV section below, special mention will be made as relevant for identifying HCVs in grasslands, freshwater systems or other ecosystems.
1.5.2Commodities
Certification schemes
HCV began in forestry and it continues to be important for sustainable production of timber, pulp and paper and paperboard. In addition to forestry, HCV is now incorporated into sustainability schemes and standards for plantation crops such as oil palm, biofuels, soy and sugar. Some commodities have multi-stakeholder processes/groups which coordinate/facilitate the sustainable production and supply chain issues for these crops. Some of the key Roundtables, as they are called, have endorsed this document and they support/agree with the Network’s efforts to standardize the HCV approach and to further build capacity of assessors.
It is important to realize that the HCV concept does not cover all social and environmental issues of concern in forestry, agriculture and other projects. In addition to HCV, other principles in sustainability schemes recognize local people’s customary claims to land and resources even when these are not formally recognized by national governments.
For example:
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
- Principle 3 Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
- Principle 4 Community Relations
- Principle 6 Environmental values and impacts
Roundtable for Responsible Palm Oil (RSPO)
- Principle 2 Just land acquisition
- Principle 5 Environmental responsibility and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity
- Principle 6 Responsible consideration of employees and of individuals and communities affected by growers and mills
- Principle 7 Responsible development of new plantings (respecting local people’s land and conserving primary forest and peat lands)
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
- Performance Standard 2: Labour and working conditions
- Performance Standard 5 Land acquisition and involuntary resettlement
- Performance Standard 6: Biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources
- Performance Standard 8 Cultural heritage
In line with national law, most impact assessments tend to carry out identification and valuation for private property such as farms, fruit trees, gardens, houses, etc. However, these sorts of valuation and compensation schemes are unlikely to recognize important communal resources such as hunting territories, natural areas where NTFPs are gathered, fishing grounds, etc. This is where the HCV concept can greatly contribute to the identification and maintenance of valuable ecosystem resources.
Policy
In addition to the commodity Roundtables mentioned above, some companies and financial institutions (lenders) have developed policies which consider HCVs. In other words, the presence of HCVs would affect the development options and management needs for companies who are producing, sourcing or trading forest and agricultural commodities. Increasingly, private sector companies are also including HCV assessments in their due diligence activities and in their social and environmental management systems.
1.5.3Other uses of the HCV approach
Land use planning, systematic conservation planning
1.5.4Common guidance and national interpretations
Though National Interpretations are important, many countries have not yet elaborated an NI for various reasons (e.g. application of the HCV approach may be relatively new). For these cases, this document can provide guidance on how to consider the subjective terms like significant, critical and concentration and can recommend how to work through the identification process including useful data sources and potential indicators or proxies for HCV.
Whenever a National Interpretation is available for a country, it should be used by the assessor. However, it is important to complement the HCV NI with current HCVRN-endorsed guidance and stakeholder consultation. There is no rule for how often HCV NIs should be updated, but good practice would be to review and update NIs after changes to HCV definitions, with the publication of updated guidance and after lessons learned from the HCV process can be capitalised on and fed back to improve the quality of the NI.
National interpretation of the six generic values is an important part of the application of the HCV process, because this provides more specific information and guidance relevant to land managers in each country.National interpretation is important for two reasons: Firstly because the generic values include terms like significant, critical and concentration which need to be qualified according to the local context. Secondly because appropriate management of a high conservation value depends on the level of threat to the value, which can vary dramatically between countries. For example: the way the term large landscape level forest (HCV2) is understood and applied will be different in Canada (where the country retains large tracts of undisturbed forest) from the way it will be treated in Ghana, where there are only a few remaining forest blocks, none of which are un-disturbed.
The process of national interpretation is also a useful way to build consensus in the way each value is understood and applied. Ultimately this enables more consistency in the use of the concept within the country. For guidance on national interpretation processes see