The HCV Network is developing guidance on using the HCV approach at landscape and jurisdictional scales.

During this process, in December 12-13 2018, the HCV Network hosted a workshop in Bogor, Indonesia to share experiences and discuss challenges with using the HCV approach at landscape and jurisdictional scales. As part of the outreach, we consulted with practitioners from around the world to understand the different contexts where the approach is used.

There were 30 participants from NGOs, development agencies, producer companies and HCV practitioners – including WWF, GIZ, Wilmar, Aid Environment, Tropenbos Indonesia, APRIL and UNDP. Participants shared first-hand experience of using the HCV approach at landscape and jurisdictional scales and contributed to discussion on the draft guidance.

Some potential benefits of landscape-level application of the HCV approach are to:

  • Support and simplify site-level HCV assessments, through e.g. collation of geospatial, ecological and social information
  • Assess the likelihood that ecological and social values are present in the landscape, and indicate which values are most at risk, thereby prioritising values and areas for further fieldwork – and ultimately conservation
  • Facilitate multi-stakeholder processes
  • Facilitate cross-commodity certification initiatives

The HCV landscape guidance is aimed at a wide audience of potential users, and we hope that practitioners will engage with us and field test the guidance and methodology in a variety of contexts. The guidance document will be available for public consultation in February. If you have any questions please contact Ellen Watson ellen@hcvnetwork.org.