Managing High Conservation Value areas

These issues will need to be discussed at length by the experts involved in the assessment. A discussion workshop may be an effective way to achieve this. Always document the outcomes of discussions, as these will be important to justify future decisions.

Identifying the threats to the HCVs:

In order to maintain the HCVs identified in Step 1, the factors which threaten their exitence must be identified. There are methodologies for threat analysis that can be used to identify the main threats to the value under the current situation. If it is important that a repeatable process is followed, it is advisable to investigate this approach. The Nature Conservancy’s 5S framework includes some ideas on investigating threats. See http://www.nature.org/aboutus/howwework/cbd/   

It is necessary to understand the relative significance of different threats, and the mitigation options that are available. Therefore, the analysis should attempt to discuss each threat in turn and rank it in order of impact or importance for each HCV. Simply tabulating threats and discussing their relative importance will help. Ranks give clear priorities for management action.

Mapping the area that supports the HCVs

A High Conservation Value area is the area of habitat that needs to be managed in order to maintain or enhance one or more High Conservation Values. Therefore, in order to protect identified HCVs it is usually necessary to delineate an area of habitat where a value exists or is present, and to establish how this area should be managed. This should be done with the assistance of knowledgeable local experts. It is easier for some ‘values’ than others, as some are static or localised, while others are widespread, and may move in space and time.

A simple case for example is where the HCV in question within the overall assessment area is a rare vegetation type found only on islands of ultramafic rock (HCV3), then the HCV area will clearly be defined by the soil type. Elsewhere, the HCV in question could be the provision of famine foods to rural communites in lean years, (HCV5) from otherwise little-used forests; the land use manager will need to decide how much habitat is required to meet these occasional, but critical needs, and whether the value can be maintained it a given level of disturbance. In some cases it may be appropriate to consider the entire land area as maintaining an HCV - for instance, where the assessment area provides vital habitat for wide-ranging and critically endangered species of birds or mammals.

Managing the threats to High Conservation Values

Identifying the area is only a step to developing an appropriate management plan, because each conservation value will require the maintenance of certain ecological conditions. The conditions that need to be maintained depend on the value. For example, whether the value is a forest type that contains a suite of endemic plant species, or a population of an endangered mammal species, or a dependency on the habitat for the provision of meat from hunting, the ecological conditions that are required for the value to be maintained have to be defined. 

There are therefore a number of questions that need to be answered:

·   What ecological or social conditions are needed to maintain the value?

·   How are these conditions affected by disturbance, for instance logging ?

·   Is complete protection of the habitat from disturbance the only way to maintain the value?

·   If not, what changes/adaptations to land management will be necessary to maintain these conditions?

·   If the value is lost from the habitat for any reason, will it persist in the wider landscape (at a wider geographical scale) and can it be re-established once disturbance has ceased?

These questions are crucial to identifying appropriate mitigation measures and defining appropriate management. Defining and delineating HCVF is therefore not always about delineating areas for protection, but about deciding how best to manage an area to ensure certain conditions are maintained. For example, consider a population of Sumatran tiger. These animals range widely, and will be present at low densities throughout a Forest Management Unit. They also thrive in disturbed forest areas where ungulate prey species are abundant. Some may be found on other non-forest lands. Maintenance of the value in this case depends more on controlling hunting and poaching across the area than the establishment of ‘non-intervention’ conservation areas.

IUCN has also published guidance on best practice management for reducing the impact of logging on great ape populations. These are available to download (in French and English) either from the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group website or directly from the "Managing HCVs" section in Background Documents from the Network's Resource Centre.