HCV Guidance

As the literature on HCVF and the HCV process grows, we will be adding links to useful documents.

Please contact us if you have literature you have found useful, or that should be listed in this space.

Introductions, Overviews and Reviews

Guides/Manuals

High Conservation Value Forests: The concept in theory and practice. WWF publication, January 2007, in English. This brochure provides a background introduction to the HCVF concept, and practical examples of its use throughout the world and in a variety of settings. The brochure is also currently available in: Bulgarian, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.
Assessment, Management & Monitoring of High Conservation Values: A practical guide for forest managers, Tim Rayden: 2008, ProForest. This guide is intended for forest and land managers. It should help those interested in the sustainable management of forests and those committed to certification against the Forest Stewardship Council’s Principles and Criteria for Responsible Forest Management. This guide is intended to help with the identification of high conservation values and the definition of appropriate management and monitoring measures. It focuses on the key steps that are necessary for robust, credible and transparent decisions.
Good practice guidelines for High Conservation Value assessments: A practical guide for practitioners and auditors, Christopher Stewart, Perpetua George, Tim Rayden and Ruth Nussbaum: 2008, ProForest. This document sets out good practices for the identification and management of High Conservation Values (HCVs), and HCV forests and areas. It provides detailed guidance on the HCV assessment process, and should be of particular use to HCV practitioners involved in planning and conducting such an assessment, and to certifying bodies auditing HCV identification reports and management plans.
Pedoman Pelaksanaan Penilaian Nilai Konservasi Tinggi: Sebuah petunjuk praktis bagi para praktisi dan penilai lapangan, Christopher Stewart, Perpetua George, Tim Rayden and Ruth Nussbaum: 2008, ProForest. Bahasa Indonesia version of Good practice guidelines for HCV assessments.
HCVF for conservation practitioners, S Jennings: 2004, ProForest This document is aimed at conservation practitioners. It introduces the idea of HCVF, how HCVF fits in with other conservation initiatives and approaches, a decision tool for deciding whether to implement HCVF projects and links to practical tools for implementing HCVF and examples of where it has to be done.
Mapping High Conservation Values at a large scale for effective site-level management (2009), HCV Resource Network: guidance on landscape scale mapping developed through an expert workshop held by the HCV Resource Network in Oxford, December 2008. Draft 1.
A Sourcebook for Landscape Analysis of High Conservation Value Forests (Version 1), J Jarvie, S Jennings: 2003, ProForest, with input from Nigel Dudley and Ketut Deddy. The concept of HCVFs originated as a means to ensure that the most important forest values were correctly managed in the context of Forest Stewardship Council certification, and hence in individual forest management units. The idea has, however, rapidly gained interest and credibility on a wider stage. This sourcebook provides initial guidance to groups who want to conduct and use HCVF analysis at a landscape-scale.

Review Tools

Reviewing High Conservation Value reports, HCV Resource Network guidance for peer reviews of HCV assessment reports - Version 2 - May 2010. Originally developed by the HCV Network's Technical Panel in 2008, this document provides detailed guidance on how to review HCV reports, and has been updated to reflect the Network's Principles of Application for the use of the HCV approach within responsible land management (click here for an editable word version of this document).

FSC Certification

Protection of Biodiversity and High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF). FSC Factsheet, October 2008, in English, also available in Spanish.
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, 1st Edition, March 2009: FSC Technical Series No. 2009 - T002 (available August 2009). Guide produced by ProForest for FSC designed to help managers and owners of small-scale and low intensity forest operations meet FSC certification requirements for biodiversity and HCV conservation through the process of identification, management and monitoring; also available in French, and as a pocket guide version in English, French, Portuguese & Spanish. Also available from the FSC and ProForest; for more information on FSC certification for small, low intensity and community forest operations, visit the FSC smallholders website.
High Conservation Values and Biodiversity: identification, management and monitoring. FSC Briefing Note, developed by ProForest as part of a package of certification support material for Smallholders and Community Forestry operations, October 2008, in English; also available in Dutch, French, Nepali, Portuguese & Spanish. More information, including a number of case studies, available from ProForest; all the material is also available on a section of the FSC website specifically designed for small, low intensity and community operations (www.fsc.org/smallholders)

RSPO Certification

Qualifications and experience for HCV assessors: Draft Guidance for RSPO, Version 1.3. 28/09/2009, Guidance provided by Network, based on ‘Good Practice Guidance for HCV Assessments’, and developed in consultation with the Network Technical Panel. RSPO used this guidance to develop an approval process for HCV assessors - more details are available from the RSPO website.
HCV and the RSPO: Report of an independent investigation into the effectiveness of the application of High Conservation Value zoning in plam oil development in Indonesia, Public Discussion Document, October 2009 by Marcus Colchester, Patrick Anderson, Norman Jiwan, Andiko & Su Mei Toh (Forest Peoples Programme, HuMa, Sawit Watch, Wild Asia); you can also download a summary presentation based on this report made at the HCV workshop at RT7 in November 2009 (also available from the Network Meetings & Briefings page).
Meeting the RSPO certification requirements for the management and monitoring of biodiversity and High Conservation Values: Guidance for smallholder groups and schemes. Tim Rayden , Christopher Stewart, Pep George: 2009 ProForest, publication commissioned and supported by GTZ. A guidance document designed to help small holder groups and schemes meet the HCV and biodiversity requirements of RSPO certification.

Biofuels

Towards a responsible biofuels development process: A discussion paper presented to the Paris workshop on Mapping and Degraded Lands, 8th July 2009; Contributing authors: Nadine McCormick, Andrea Athanas (IUCN), Danielle de Nie, Daan Wensing (IUCN NL), Jill Heyde (Wetlands International), Angelika Voss, Veronika Dornburg, Alex Nevill, Paloma Berenguer (Shell), Christopher Stewart (HCV Resource Network), Tim Rayden (Proforest). Initiated by a number of organizations following an output from a workshop organized by Shell and IUCN as part of their partnership, this paper proposes a 4-step process to guide the responsible development of land for biofuels based on current experience. More information on the Mapping and Degraded Lands workshop, including a link to a presentation based on this paper is also available.
A template for High Conservation Value reports addressing proposed biofuel feedstock plantations, ProForest, Final report February 2009. Guidance and Reporting Template for HCV assessment in Biofuels Developments, based on current good practice guidelines for assessments (see below) and on the guiding principles of the Network as described in the Network’s Charter, and adapted from the guidance developed by the HCV Network Technical Panel (see above).

Plantations

High Conservation Values and Forest Plantatations: Technical Paper, New Generation Plantatations Project (NGPP), June 2009. Paper discussing the role of the HCV concept in plantation forestry; the paper poses a series of questions and examines these in light of experience amongst NGPP partners in implementing HCVF in their operations by reference to case studies from Portugal, Scotland, China, Brazil, Sabah (Malaysia) & Uruguay. More information on the NGPP, including additional technical papers (on stakeholder engagement & ecosystem integrity), is available from WWF.

Country-specific perspectives

Use of the HCV framework in China: A guidance document for forest managers. Prepared by ProForest, February, 2008. Discussion outputs from a training workshop, facilitated by WWF China and run by ProForest, held in Beijing from the 9^th to 11^th January 2008.

Impacts & Comparative studies

Effects of Forest Certification on Biodiversity, Marijke van Kuijk, Francis E Putz & Roderick Zagt, Tropenbos International, 2009. Literature review of 67 studies to test the hypothesis that forest biodiversity in certfied FMUs is higher / more intact than in conventionally managed areas. The study's main conclusion is that management practices associated with forest certification do appear to benefit biodiversity although this must be qualified by a number of additional observations regarding the complexity of the question and the lack of sytematic data (eg: a lack of scientific research into the effects of HCV management). The report makes a number of recommendations to better assess the impacts of certified forest management on biodiversity (a summary of the full report is also available).
Assessing the progress made: an evaluation of forest management certification in the tropics, Marielos Peña-Claros, Stijn Blommerde & Frans Bongers, Tropical Resource Management Papers, Wageningen University and Research Centre (Wageningen UR), 2009. Study concluding that forest management certification improves the working standards of FMUs in the tropics, with indications that over time improvements are to be expected in social, environmental & economic aspects of management.
FSC reflected in scientific and professional literature: Literature study on the outcomes and impacts of FSC certification, FSC Policy Series No. 2009 - P001 eds: Marion Karmann & Alan Smith, Ph.D., Produced by FSC International Center, 1st edition, April 2009, © Forest Stewardship Council A.C. Literature review on impacts of FSC certification, including social and environmental gains resulting from the implementation of Principle 9 (HCVF); click here for selected extracts summarising the review.
Rainforest Alliance Global Indicators: First Results from the Forestry Program (June 2007 – August 2008). Final Report: Deanna Newsom, Evaluation and Research Program, 4 February 2009. Report analysing indicator data collected by Smartwood auditors from 209 FSC certified forestry operations, including data on the area of forest designated as HCVF.
The Global Impacts of SmartWood Certification. FINAL REPORT By Deanna Newsom and Daphne Hewitt TREES Program, Rainforest Alliance, 9 June 2005. Report examining the changes that 129 SmartWood-certified operations in 21 countries were required to make during their certification assessments, showing that the most prevalent environmental impacts of SmartWood certification were improved riparian and aquatic management (required of 63% of operations), improved treatment of sensitive sites and high conservation value forests (62%) and improved treatment of threatened and endangered species (62%).
Understanding High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) implementation in intensively managed plantations. Report prepared for WWF US by Marcelo Levy, Responsible Forestry Solutions, July 2008. Preliminary research to identify and analyse some of the issues arising as a result of the implementation of the HCV concept in plantations.
Comparison of High Conservation Value Forest Assessment, Management and Monitoring for Sustainable Forest Licenses in Ontario, Prepared by: Tom Clark, CMC Ecological Consulting, & Anne Hayes, BioForest Technologies, For: WWF-Canada, July, 2007. This paper compares available HCVF reports from 10 forests in northeast Ontario; the HCVs and their management prescriptions are compiled in an EXCEL spreadsheet, and the document provides a description of the spreadsheet and a framework developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the HCVFs with reference to existing regulations and the scientific literature for effectiveness monitoring.
Evaluating Conservation Gains in North America through HCVF Assessments. Report Prepared for World Wildlife Fund Canada by Marcelo Levy & Nick Moss Gillespie, Responsible Forestry Solutions, March 2007. Results of a study undertaken by Responsible Forestry Solutions (RFS) on behalf of WWF-Canada to assess the on-the-ground conservation gains resulting from the implementation of HCVF assessments through forest management certification activities.
The Application of the High Conservation Value Forest Concept in Central America: A Brief Overview. Prepared by Kate Herrmann and Adela Maciejewski Scheer (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) , January-April, 2007. This brief review summarizes the application of the HCVF concept in the 48 FSC-certified FMUs in Central America (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panamá)
Assessment of approaches to identify areas with special importance for biodiversity conservation in comparison to the HCV concept, Katrina Bayer, School of Forest Science and Resource Management: Technische Universität München, 2010. Masters thesis assessing a range of local and regional conservation approaches used to identify areas important for biodiversity conservation (Key Biodiversity Areas, Ecoregion-Based Conservation, Focal Species Approach and Rapid Ecological Assessment) as compared to the High Conservation Value (HCV) concept. In line with contemporary literature and expert opinion, the thesis concludes that the HCV concept is a flexible, versatile approach, receiving the second strongest strength-weakness profile and requiring the least amount of resources.
Great Apes & logging, Arnold van Kreveld and Ingrid Roerhorst (Ulucus Consultants) for WWF Netherlands: September 2009. Report looking at effectiveness of FSC as an instrument for the protection of chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orang-utans which concludes that in contrast to other forms of logging, FSC certified logging offers increased assurance that the appropriate habitat for great apes will be maintained; click here to download WWF's recommendations based on the report.

Identifying HCVs

Summary of Rapid Assessment Techniques: a brief overview and links to available techniques and tools.

Managing HCVs

Best Practice Guidelines for Reducing the Impact of Commercial Logging on Great Apes in Western Equatorial Africa . Prepared by David Morgan and Crickette Sanz (Gland, Switzerland: IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group), 2007. This IUCN document provides guidance on best practice management of forests harbouring great apes in Africa, and is also available in French.
Practitioners guide to managing High Conservation Value Forest in Indonesia: a case study from East Kalimantan. Meijaard, E., Stanley, S.A., Pollard E. H. B., A. Gouyon, and G. Paoli (2006). The Nature Conservancy, Samarinda, Indonesia. A very useful resource both for the specific case of Kalimantan and also for HCV identification, management and monitoring techniques in other tropical forests.
Managing Biodiversity in the Landscape: Guideline for Planners, Decision Makers & Practitioners. Publication from Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (NRE), Government of Malaysia (2009): "This Guideline for managing ‘biodiversity’ in the landscape aims to assist planners, decision-makers and practitioners in their day-to-day functions at all planning levels from federal to regional, state and local levels. It should be useful to any agency influencing the landscape of today and tomorrow, including entities engaged in: development planning and assessment; environmental planning and management; development of infrastructure; urban and green zone planning; as well as companies and smallholder organisations representing extensive land use systems such as oil palm an rubber Finally, the Guide should be helpful to NGOs, consultants, educational centres and members of civil society with an interest in biodiversity, environment and sustainable development". It forms part of a Best Practice Series being prepared by NRE, and it is recommended that readers consult "A Common Vision on Biodiversity– Reference Document for Planners, Decision-Makers and Practitioners (NRE, 2008)" in conjunction with the guidance.

Monitoring HCVs

Monitoreo ecológico del manejo forestal en el trópico húmedo: Una guía para operadores forestales y certificadores con énfasis en Bosques de Alto Valor para la Conservación. WWF Centroamerica publication, April 2004, in Spanish. The document is large (7.2 MB) but can also be downloaded section by section from CATIE.
Ecological monitoring of forest management in the humid tropics: a guide for forest managers and certifiers with special reference to High Conservation Value Forests. Selective translation of "Monitoreo Ecológico del Manejo Forestal en el Trópico Húmedo: Una Guía Para Operadores Forestales y Certificadores con Ènfasis en Bosques de Alto Valor Para la Conservación", produced as reference for the Wildlife Assessment and Monitoring in Sustainable Forest Management (WAMSFM) Module of the Tigers Alive! Project by WWF Malaysia, April 2007.
Simple Monitoring Methods. FSC Briefing Note, developed by ProForest as part of a package of certification support material for Smallholders and Community Forestry operations, October 2008, in English; also available in Chinese, Dutch, French, Nepali, Portuguese & Spanish. More information, including a number of case studies, available from ProForest; all the material is also available on a section of the FSC website specifically designed for small, low intensity and community operations (www.fsc.org/smallholders)
Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) for FSC Certification in the Selva Maya: Environmental monitoring can be an important element of responsible forest management. But it can also require considerable technical expertise and become a significant cost. For community forest managers in the tropics it is important to know whether scarce technical and financial resources should be allocated to monitoring, or whether they could be better deployed to other more critical tasks. OneWorldStandards and Estudios Forestales Synnott were contracted by ICCO, the Netherlands-based interchurch organisation for development cooperation, to develop an Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) tool to provide a robust, cost-effective method to help managers decide when monitoring is needed. In the first phase of the project a regionally applicable tool has been developed for the Selva Maya (Maya Forest) of south-east Mexico, northern Guatemala and Belize. The system uses Microsoft Excel and is designed for use by local community forest technicians. Additional information, together with the draft project report and Excel spreadsheet tools for download is available at: http://www.oneworldstandards.com/ERA.html

Extension of HCV concepts to other ecosystems

There are few guidelines for applying HCV concepts to non-forest ecosystems, although this is likely to become a priority in the future.

High Conservation Values in Grasslands:

The following links are the English summary of the Identification of Valuable Grasslands Areas (VGAs) by Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, and the source documents in Spanish, in 7 parts:

High Conservation Values in Coastal and Marine areas:

Marine and Coastal High Conservation Value Areas in Southern Chile (8MB): The Chiloense Ecoregion and the Channels and Fjords of Southern Chile Ecoregion are considered to be conservation priority areas. In order to protect biodiversity, ecosystem services, and biological, chemical and physical processes that ensure the sustainability of productive activities in the region, WWF and its partners started a systematic planning process in 2008, and this document is the result of an international workshop set up to identify marine High Conservation Value Areas in 2009 - click here for a recent update on the determination of marine HCV Areas in S Chile; see also summary presentation made last year (WFC 2009). For more information contact : mauricio.galvez"at"wwf.cl (WWF-Chile).

Guidelines and Policies referencing HCVs

Forests Sourcebook, World Bank, April 2008: a practical guide on "how to manage and use the world’s shrinking forests while reducing the poverty of the hundreds of millions of people who depend on them"; see note 3.1: Mainstreaming Conservation Considerations into Productive Landscapes: Applying High-Conservation-Value Tools (pp 104-112)
ITTO/IUCN Guidelines for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in tropical timber production forests, 2009 ITTO/IUCN guidelines available to download in English, French & Spanish (also available from the ITTO website)
Report on the Brazilian National Review of ITTO Guidelines for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Tropical Production Forests (2007)
Guidelines for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Tropical Timber Production Forests, IUCN/ITTO (Revised June 2006), with recommendations on the identification and management of HCVFs as part of Principle 8 (Maintaining Functioning Forest Ecosysytems) and Principle 10 (Role of Plantations in Biodiversity Conservation).
Guidelines for the Implementation of Social and Cultural Values in Sustainable Forest Management (MCPFE - Vienna Resolution 3): final version of the guidelines for the implementation of Vienna Resolution 3 - adopted during the fourth Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests (MCPFE) held in Vienna in 2003 - to be published by IUFRO (prior to the Warsaw MCPFE Conference in November 2007). The document references the potential role of operational planning by the private sector by using the HCV concept to identify areas of critical social and cultural significance.