HCV Network clarification regarding Mongabay’s article ‘Palm oil giant Wilmar unfazed as watchdogs cry foul over Papua deforestation’ and to Wilmar’s response to the article
HCV Network clarifications to Wilmar’s ‘Response to Mongabay Article on PT Medco Papua Hijau Selaras’ and Mongabay’s ‘Palm oil giant Wilmar unfazed as watchdogs cry foul over Papua deforestation’
On 8 December 2020, Mongabay published an article by Hans Nicholas Jong titled Palm oil giant Wilmar unfazed as watchdogs cry foul over Papua deforestation. On 9 December 2020, Wilmar published their “Response to Mongabay Article on PT Medco Papua Hijau Selaras”.
Clarifications to Wilmar’s ‘Response to Mongabay Article on PT Medco Papua Hijau Selaras’
Wilmar claims that ‘PT MPHS has an existing HCV and HCS assessment, which was conducted by assessors approved by the HCV Resource Network Assessor Licensing Scheme (ALS) and completed in 2019.’
To date, the HCV Network (HCVN) ALS has not received or evaluated any reports for assessments conducted on land intended for development by PT Medco Papua Hijau Selaras (PT MPHS). A list of all assessment reports submitted for evaluation to the HCVN ALS is publicly available in the ‘Find a Report’ section on our website.
Wilmar does not provide the name(s) of the assessor(s) involved in the HCV or HCV-HCSA assessment referenced in its response, therefore the HCVN ALS cannot verify whether the assessor was licensed by the HCVN ALS at the time of the assessment. The HCVN ALS, only evaluates assessment reports submitted by Licensed Assessors. As per the ALS Specification, Licensed Assessors are required to submit all their assessment reports for evaluation. A list of all Licensed Assessors is available on the ‘Find Assessors’ section on our website. For HCS stand-alone assessment reports, the High Carbon Stock Approach has a separate quality assurance system (see here).
This statement: ‘Assertions were also made in the article that the HCV and HCS methodologies, and HCVRN’s ALS mechanism for quality control, need to be strengthened’ is incorrect. No such assertions are made in the Mongabay article. The article, however, does state that the "HCV/HCS study" for PT MPHS has not been independently peer-reviewed and quotes stakeholder statements such as “There are too many cases where traders accept the findings of HCS report at face value, without requiring them to go through a peer review report." and "no forest clearing should have been allowed before a peer review to check whether the HCV/HSC maps were correct." These statements confirm the importance of independent quality assurance of HCV and HCV-HCSA assessment reports, as provided by the HCVN ALS.
Clarifications to Mongabay’s ‘Palm oil giant Wilmar unfazed as watchdogs cry foul over Papua deforestation’
The article includes this quote from MapHubs Founder and CEO Leo Botrill: ‘Bottrill also warned against companies’ overreliance on HCV/HCS studies to make a decision, given that the assessments are “an overly convoluted and complex process” that can take months to complete while the forest is cut down in the meantime.'
It is important to understand the difference between quality assurance systems such as the HCVN ALS and monitoring platforms such as MapHubs. HCVN ALS Licensed Assessors are responsible for identifying important environmental and social areas that should not be cleared or developed.
The HCVN ALS evaluates the results of the identification process, at times resulting in additional hectarage of HCV and HCS forest areas when Licensed Assessors are required to revise reports. The HCVN ALS provides important baseline information for monitoring systems (such as MapHubs and others) of what areas should be monitored to ensure they are not damaged or destroyed.
While remote data is crucial both in the assessment phase and in subsequent monitoring of areas identified for protection, it is important to keep in mind that some information, such as the needs of local communities and their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), cannot be obtained remotely. Therefore, both systems are complementary and should work together to support shared goals.
General recommendations for companies using the HCVN ALS as a system to ensure quality of HCV and HCV-HCSA Assessments
Ensure assessors are licensed by the HCVN ALS at the time of the assessment and that their reports are submitted to the HCVN ALS for evaluation.
Monitor report evaluation progress on the HCVN website. The summaries of satisfactory HCV and HCV-HCSA assessment reports are publicly available too.
Ensure no clearing is taking place during the HCV or HCV-HCSA assessment.
If your HCV or HCV-HCSA assessment is being conducted within a wider system (for example, a certification scheme), ensure that you are complying with the complementary safeguards (e.g. negotiation of an ICLUP based in part on the HCV-HCSA assessment results in the case of the HCS Approach, and for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) as usually HCV or HCV-HCSA assessments are just one of the requirements to be met.
[i] About the Assessor Licensing Scheme (ALS)
The Assessor Licensing Scheme (ALS) was created by the HCVN in 2014 to provide independent evaluation of HCV and HCV-HCSA assessment reports submitted by Licensed Assessors. The ALS is run by the HCVN Secretariat with oversight from the Management Committee.
HCVRN ALS quality assurance is voluntary and may be used by sustainable commodity certifications schemes, companies, and other stakeholders as a safeguard to ensure their operations do not damage the most important environmental and social features in sites where development is planned.
See the ALS Specification for more information.
Our Partnerships
Alongside many global initiatives, our work with partners promotespractices that help meet the global Sustainable Development Goalsand build a greener, fairer, better world by 2030.
Femexpalma
In April 2022, FEMEXPALMA and the HCV Network signed a 5-year cooperation agreement to promote sustainable production of palm oil in Mexico. FEMEXPALMA is a Mexican independent entity that represents palm production at the national level and promotes the increase of productivity in a sustainable way.
With global markets becoming stricter, for Mexican producers to be able to export to key markets such as the European Union, they must meet strict requirements such as certification by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). To be certified by RSPO, the HCV Approach must be applied prior to the establishment of any new oil palm plantations. With this cooperation agreement, the HCV Network will support FEMEXPALMA’s members and allies to design better strategies to identify, manage and monitor High Conservation Values and support smallholders to achieve RSPO certification and implement good agricultural practices.
High Carbon Stock Approach
The High Carbon Stock Approach (HCSA) is an integrated conservation land use planning tool to distinguish forest areas in the humid tropics for conservation, while ensuring local peoples’ rights and livelihoods are respected.
In September 2020, HCV Network and the HCSA Steering Group signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their collaboration to conserve forests and uphold community rights in tropical forests. The HCS and HCV Approaches are cornerstones of corporate no deforestation and conservation commitments, and increasingly for actors working at different scales. The collaboration aims to further support effective implementation of these commitments through increased uptake of the HCV and HCS tools.
Through this MoU, HCSA and HCVRN are pursuing two main strategic goals:
- Strive to promote the application of the two approaches in tropical moist forest landscapes and explore further opportunities for collaboration.
- Ensure that, where the two approaches are applied together, this happens in a coordinated, robust, credible, and efficient manner, so that HCS forests and HCVs are conserved, and local peoples’ rights are respected.
World Benchmarking Alliance
From May 2022, the HCV Network is an ally at the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA). WBA is building a diverse and inclusive movement of global actors committed to using benchmarks to incentivise, measure, and monitor corporate performance on the SDGs, and will assess and rank the performance of 2,000 of the world’s most influential companies against seven systems of transformation by 2023.
The scope of WBA’s circular transformation was expanded to cover nature and biodiversity as recognition of the need for greater understanding, transparency and accountability of business impact on our environment. The WBA Nature Benchmark was launched in April 2022, which will be used to rank keystone companies on their efforts to protect our environment and its biodiversity. As HCV Areas are recognised as key areas important for biodiversity, companies that publicly disclose their actions to identify and protect HCVs will contribute to the assessment of their performance against the benchmark.
Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures - TNFD
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a global, market-led initiative, established with the mission to develop and deliver a risk management and disclosure framework for organizations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks, with the aim of supporting a shift in global financial flows away from nature-negative outcomes and toward nature-positive outcomes.
In April 2022, the HCV Network joined the TNFD Forum. The TNFD Forum, composed of over 400 members, is a world-wide and multi-disciplinary consultative network of institutional supporters who share the vision and mission of the task force.
By participating in the Forum, the HCV Network contributes to the work and mission of the taskforce and help co-create the TNFD Framework which aims to provide recommendations and advice on nature-related risks and opportunities relevant to a wide range of market participants, including investors, analysts, corporate executives and boards, regulators, stock exchanges and accounting firms.
Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is the world’s leading certification scheme for farmed seafood – known as aquaculture – and the ASC label only appears on food from farms that have been independently assessed and certified as being environmentally and socially responsible. In 2021, the HCV Network and ASC formalised their collaboration through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU represents the first step in a fruitful relationship aimed at conserving HCVs in aquaculture. Although, existing guidance on the use of the HCV Approach currently focuses mainly on forestry and agriculture, the HCV Approach is however generic, and in principle also applicable to aquatic production systems. Through this MoU, this is recognised by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in their ASC farm standard, in which the protection of HCV areas is mentioned in the context of expansion
Accountability Framework Initiative
The Accountability Framework initiative (AFi) is a collaborative effort to build and scale up ethical supply chains for agricultural and forestry products. Led by a diverse global coalition of environmental and human rights organizations, the AFi works to create a “new normal” where commodity production and trade are fully protective of natural ecosystems and human rights. To pursue this goal, the coalition supports companies and other stakeholders in setting strong supply chain goals, taking effective action, and tracking progress to create clear accountability and incentivize rapid improvement. In July 2022, the HCV Network joined AFi as a Supporting Partner. AFi Supporting Partners extend the reach and positive impact of the AFi by promoting use of the Accountability Framework by companies, industry groups, financial institutions, governments, and other sustainability initiatives, both globally and in commodity-producing countries.
Biodiversity Credit Alliance
The Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA) is a global multi-disciplinary advisory group formed in late 2022. Its mission is to bring clarity and guidance on the formulation of a credible and scalable biodiversity credit market under global biodiversity credit principles. Under these principles, the BCA seeks to mobilize financial flows towards biodiversity custodians while recognising local knowledge and contexts.
The HCVN joined the BCA Forum in August 2023 to learn more from the many organizations already coming together to find effective pathways to opening up credit-based approaches, and how to contribute our knowledge and experience of years of working in a practical way, often with global sustainability standards and their certified producers, to protect what matters most to nature and people.
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Nature Positive Forum
Get Involved
Our Mission as a network is to provide practical tools to conserve nature and benefit people, linking local actions with global sustainability targets.
We welcome the participation of organisations that share our vision and mission to protect and enhance High ConservationValues and the vital services they provide for people and nature. By collaborating with the Network, your organisation can contribute to safeguarding HCVs while gaining valuable insights and connections that support your sustainability goals.
We are seeking collaborative partners to help expand and enhance our work, as well as talented professionals who can join the growing Secretariat team, and for professionals who can contribute to the credible identification of High Conservation Values globally.
Join us in securing the world’s HCVs and shaping a sustainable future.