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WWF Vision for Planted Forests

By Dr. Chris Elliott, Director, Forests for Life, WWF International

For delivery at: UNFF Intersessional Experts Meeting on the Role of Planted Forests in Sustainable Forest Management, 24-30 March 2003, Wellington, New Zealand

Introduction

Just as WWF is not opposed to logging, providing it is done in an environmentally and socially responsible way, so we are not opposed to plantations. One of the three global targets of our "Forests for Life" programme is Forest Landscape Restoration - and this implies the planting of trees. However one of the reasons that we have adopted this target is because we believe that much tree planting in recent decades, especially in the tropics, has had negative environmental and social impacts-many of which could have been avoided. Large sums of money, often taxpayer's money, have been invested in plantation forestry. We believe the future for plantations offers both opportunities and challenges. Relatively modest changes in the ways that forest plantations are established and managed could result in greatly improved outcomes for the environment and for local people. Our Forest Landscape Restoration activities aim to influence tree planting activities so that these improved outcomes can be achieved.

The WWF/IUCN vision for the world's forests is:

The world will have more extensive, more diverse and higher quality forest landscapes. These will meet human needs and aspirations fairly, while conserving biological diversity and fulfilling the ecosystem functions necessary for all life on earth.

Although covering only 30% of the earth's surface, forests are the most important terrestrial reservoir of biodiversity. Millions of rural people depend on forests for food, medicinal plants and fuelwood. Forests also provide a range of environmental goods and services for those who live far away from them. They can stabilise soils, regulate water runoff and quality and produce wood and non-timber products. Most of the forest plantations now being established throughout the world only provide a small subset of these forest products and services.

Despite their value to humanity, forests are under threat. It is estimated that half the world's original forest cover has been lost. After centuries of deforestation, forest areas in most temperate and boreal countries are now stable or even increasing. However, this stability in forest area often masks a decline in forest quality, with natural forests having been replaced by less diverse plantations and intensively managed forests. This can lead to increased vulnerability to storm damage, an increasing problem as climate change manifests itself .

In the last fifty years deforestation and forest degradation has occurred at an unprecedented rate in the tropics. The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) put the annual rate of natural forest loss in the tropics at 14.6 million hectares-an area the size of Nepal . The factors leading to forest loss and degradation are multiple and complex. They include misguided agricultural, forestry and infrastructure development policies of national governments and international agencies, predatory and illegal logging, fires and lack of secure tenure for local communities. Governments often see forests as reservoirs of unoccupied and illegal land, but this attitude underestimates the market and non-market values of forests for both local communities and the global population. It leads to ill-advised policies, which encourage forest clearance. A few benefit from these policies whilst many suffer.

As natural forests come under threat around the world, the area of plantations is expanding. NGO critics, most notably the World Rainforest Movement, have correctly pointed out that many of these plantations have been established at the expense of natural forests and are associated with numerous environmental and social problems. On the other hand, proponents of plantations argue that establishing high-yielding plantations can take pressure off natural forests and generate local employment and government revenue, and there are examples of this as well. This paper argues that the debate about plantations has tended to generate more heat than light and that a more nuanced approach is now needed. This involves examining the role of plantations in the broader landscape, rather than focussing exclusively on the site level. It should also involve eschewing global generalisations based on a few local cases.

WWF has been engaged in the plantation debate for over a decade. In 1993 in collaboration with Shell International Petroleum Company we published a series of guidelines for plantation establishment and management (see Annex 1) and we have been involved in local and international discussions about plantations since then. We continue to think that the right sort of plantation forestry has much to offer to the challenge of conserving the world's forest values but still more changes are needed if the potential of plantations to provide more than industrial raw materials is to be realised.

We have also supported the work of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which has certified extensive areas of plantations as being well managed from the environmental, social and economic perspectives. FSC's Principles and Criteria for Forest Certification (including Principle 10 specially designed for plantations) and an overview of FSC certification data are attached in Annex 2.

Recently we have been working with IUCN, CIFOR and the UK Forestry Commission to further promote our concept of Forest Landscape Restoration (Annex 3-Forest Landscape Restoration Position Paper). Our aim is that plantation forestry should build forest capital for local people and the global environment and that the mistakes of past large scale plantation programmes should not be repeated.

The need for plantations: are we consuming too much wood?

Every year the world consumes approximately 1.6 billion cubic metres of wood. The US is by far the largest consuming country, using almost a third of the total with an average of 1.7 cubic metres per person per year - 15 times that of the average person in China.

To assess the impact of this level of consumption we need to know how much of the world's forest is used to produce this wood. Work undertaken recently by the WWF/World Bank Alliance has produced an answer to this question . This study was unique and for the first time we have an estimate of the area of forest used to produce the world's annual wood harvest.

The study took the 25 countries which produce 90% of the world's timber (see chart below) and for each country it estimated the area of forest used to produce the wood based on average productivity.

The total amounts to approximately 600 million hectares of forest for these 25 leading countries. This area of forest amounts to just a fifth of the world's estate. Even if the rest of the harvest if from low yielding forest it is unlikely that the total annual harvest is drawn from more than 800 million hectares. This study assumed that harvest levels can be maintained and that these 600 million hectares could be harvested "in perpetuity". This clearly may not be the case, especially in areas with a high dependency on old-growth forests. A further qualification is that the extent to which illegal logging, over harvesting and poor practice are damaging forests, reducing the future productive capacity is also yet to be quantified.

This is a unique analysis and despite the qualifications, it gives cause for hope. We are meeting current production needs from a minority of the world's forest estate. This means that the majority of forests can be allocated to other uses such as community forests, protected areas and indigenous reserves.

It also means that there is no need for a massive increase in plantation establishment to meet future timber needs. In this context, the study also examined the role of plantations in forestry. It concluded that there were both good and bad examples of plantation establishment and management. Many have been very poorly established, have replaced natural forest and damaged local communities in the process. Others are managed to the highest standards. If such standards could be applied to new plantations they could contribute significantly to meeting demands for fibre and timber and minimising the industry's negative environmental impact. In addition to establishing industrial plantations, there are other ways of increasing the production of timber needed for industrial purposes. Many argue that an alternative model is to increase incentives and land security to the rural poor to increase productivity and achieve more equitable wealth distribution. ln Asia, the World Bank estimates that more than half of the pulp and fuelwood supply already comes from wood harvests outside forests. Many pulp companies, notably in Brazil, are encouraging tree planting by landowners in the supply areas. The industry and NGOs could collaborate to promote schemes that produced fibre at competitive prices and helped the rural populations in most need.

Towards a typology of plantations

FAO defines a plantation as A forest established by planting and/or seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation. It consists of introduced species or in some cases indigenous species. While providing a baseline for data collection, this definition is too broad for a useful debate on the pros and cons of plantations. There are many different types of plantations established for different purposes. Critics and proponents of plantations have tended to focus on the type of plantation which they support or oppose, and then generalise the debate to all types of plantations. In fact on almost any scale one chooses, there is a broad range of variability across plantations. Some have more in common with natural forests, others with agricultural crops. Other "plantations" such as oil palm plantations do not fit FAO's definition as forest plantations and are considered agricultural crops. Poulsen et. al. have produced a useful typology (figure 1) dividing up plantations first by purpose and then by structure and composition. This typology should be very helpful in clarifying the debate.

Figure 1

Typology	Description
Industrial plantation	Intensively managed forest stands established to provide material for sale locally or outside the immediate region, by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation. Individual stands or compartments are usually with even age class and regular spacing and: Of introduced species (all planted stands) and/or Of one or two indigenous species Usually either large scale or contributing to one of a few large-scale industrial enterprises in the landscape
Home and farm plantations	Managed forest, established for subsistence or local sale by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation, with even age class and regular spacing. Usually small scale and selling. If at all, in a dispersed market
Environmental plantation	Managed forest stand, established primarily to provide environmental stabilization or amenity value, by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation, usually with even age class and regular spacing
Managed secondary forest with planting	Managed forest, where forest composition and productivity is maintained through additional planting or/and seeding
Managed secondary forest without planting	Managed forest , where forest composition and productivity is maintained through natural regeneration processes, which can include the use of seed trees
Restored natural/secondary forest	Restored forest, through either planting or/and seedling, or through natural regeneration processes, where restoration aims to create a species mix and ecology approaching that of the original natural forest

Most of the controversy about plantations is linked to industrial plantations, rather than to home and farm plantations or managed secondary forests. CIFOR/WWF/IUCN and Forest Trends are about to release a publication "Fastwood Forestry-Good or bad land use?" which will clarify our positions on these "fastwood plantations" . The following discussion draws heavily on this publication, and focuses on these plantations because they are the most controversial. Fastwood plantations are at one end of a continuum of intensity. Immediately below them are softwood plantations which produce sawn logs on rotations of 20 to 35 years in countries such as the US, New Zealand, Chile, Spain and South Africa.

There are approximately 10 million ha of fastwood plantations worldwide and the area is increasing at 0.8 to 1.2 million ha. This trend is expected to continue in the medium term because of population growth and increases in per capita consumption of wood and wood-based products. Fastwood plantations differ from other types of plantations in figure 1 primarily in terms of growth rates and uniformity of use. Their purpose is to produce large volumes of small diameter wood at competitive prices as rapidly as possible. Most plantations produce a single product, often pulp for the paper industry.

Although they have often proved to be controversial, having been associated with street protests in India, Portugal and Thailand, fastwood plantations are limited in extent (10 million ha amounts to 5% of total plantations worldwide and 0.03% of global forest cover). They are also concentrated in a few countries: Brazil, Indonesia, China, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Venezuela and Swaziland for tropical and sub tropical species and China, Chile, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, South Africa and Australia for temperate species. The number of species involved is also limited to mainly eucalyptus, tropical acacias and pines.

Controversial issues

Following "Fastwood forestry" we can classify controversial issues surrounding industrial plantations into three categories: environmental, social and economic.

Environmental impacts

There are six major environmental issues at stake. Biodiversity conservation, hydrology, soil conservation, pests, GMOs and carbon sequestration.

The conversion of natural forests to plantations can cause significant loss of biodiversity, particularly in the case of the species-rich tropical lowland forests where over 200 tree species can be found in a single hectare. FAO data suggest that of the 14.6 million ha of natural forests lost each year, 1.5 million are converted to plantations. This may not seem like a large amount but global averages can be misleading. One country, which as seen massive conversion of natural forests to plantations, is Indonesia. By the end of 2001, Indonesia had 1.4 million ha of fastwood plantations about 50% of which had been established on land cleared from natural forests (in addition to about 2.6 million ha of oil palm "plantations" which do not qualify as forests under FAO's definition, also established by forest clearing ). Pulp companies often located their mills near large natural forest areas to mine these areas before the plantations came onstream. Similarly, in Chile up to one third of the native forests in the coastal region have been converted to plantations in the last three decades.

Examples like this have led some NGOs to claim that the forest products industry generally targets native forests when establishing new plantations. They would like to see all plantations established on degraded land. The problem with this is that degraded land usually belongs to someone and even if it is degraded it may still be the only land they have. The truth is that in some countries forested land is more readily available for plantation establishment than degraded land. In some countries plantation establishment has led to considerable losses of natural forests. However even in countries such as Chile and Indonesia, conversion of natural forests to plantations is less of a problem that conversion for agriculture, as the oil palm data shows for Indonesia. In our view conversion of biodiversity-rich natural forests, whether primary or secondary, should be avoided, and the plantation industry should not target these areas for new plantations. The concept of High Conservation Value Forests developed by the Forest Stewardship Council is useful in prioritising forests for protection against conversion .

On the other hand the argument often heard from the industry that plantations take the pressure off natural forests is also suspect. There are some examples of this, including New Zealand but they appear to be the exception rather than the rule. There currently is no clear mechanism whereby planting one area will contribute to protection of another, the New Zealand Forest Accord being the notable exception. Finally it should be noted that establishment is just the first step in the process. Once plantations are established there is a lot which can be done to mitigate impacts on biodiversity by maintaining corridors and blocks of natural forests and minimising chemical use.

The debate about plantations and hydrology often seems to involve an indiscriminate blend of myths and reality. The role of forests in attracting rainfall and preventing flooding has often been exaggerated. Flooding often has more to do with inappropriate land development downstream than deforestation in the watersheds. Planting trees will affect the water cycle but often in complex ways, which need to be examined on a case by case basis. It is clear however, that fastwood plantations place major demands on soil and water resources, simply because of their rapid growth rates. These demands will tend to be significantly greater than those of natural forests but less than those of agricultural crops.

In "Pulping the South" a World Rainforest Movement critique of industrial plantations, Ricardo Carrere and Larry Lohmann argue that the apparent advantage of exotic species in terms of absence of local pests, can become an "Achilles heel" once predators adapt to the new species or are introduced. There are a number of historical examples of this occurring. However recent research by K.S.S. Nair of CIFOR casts doubt over the general proposition that exotic monocultures are at greater risk than monocultures of native species. Results varied significantly depending on species and location. A general rule seems to be that the shorter the distance between the location of the exotic introduction and the native habitat of the species in question, the greater the risk.

GMO trees, which have been genetically modified by the insertion of foreign genetic material, are highly controversial with some calling for a ban on research while others see them as a panacea to deforestation. A study by WWF argues that the main impact of GMO trees might not be genetic pollution or the creation of "super weeds" but the contribution genetic engineering might make to unsustainable land use. Trees engineered for fast growth will make voracious demands on soil water and nutrients and could thus degrade land. WWF has called for a moratorium on the commercial use of GM trees while potential impacts are studied further.

Finally, the potential role of plantations in combating global warming remains controversial. It is now widely accepted that climate change is happening and that greenhouse gases are at their highest level for more than 400,000 years. Consumption of fossil fuels is responsible for 80% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, with land disturbance including forest clearing accounting for the remaining 20%. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that at least 30% of the world's remaining forests will be adversely affected by changing climates. Under the Kyoto Protocol, certain carbon sequestration activities can be used to generate "carbon credits" to meet industrialised countries emissions reductions commitments. There has been considerable concern among some NGOs that carbon sequestration activities will distract attention from the fundamental need to reduce developed countries emissions. There are also concerns about the possible negative and social outcomes of badly designed or implemented sinks projects. WWF believes that within a global strategy to fight against global warming, where emissions reductions are given priority, carbon sinks have a potential role to play if adequate environmental and social safeguards are put in place (see WWF position statement attached as annex 5.

Social impacts

There are well known examples of people being turned off their land in order to clear the way for industrial plantations. Elsewhere do plantations generate local employment and other economic benefits? Critics argue that jobs generated are unskilled, dangerous and seasonal. It seems clear that if plantations are established on former agricultural land, it is likely that employment opportunities will diminish. If however plantations are established on abandoned or under-used land, new jobs may be generated.

An example of this is provided by a 45,000 ha eucalyptus plantation established in the People's Republic of Congo in 1978 in poor savannah land near the coast. The project has helped to create direct employment for some 5,000 people and generates significant export earnings as the entire production is exported. However, far greater contributions to local employment would be made if the wood were processed locally into pulp .

There are a number of examples, particularly from Indonesia, where the manipulation of forest cover either by clearance or planting has been used as a way of gaining control over land and overriding customary rights. What looks like "degraded land" to an expatriate consultant may be vital grazing land or non-timber forest product collection areas for impoverished local communities.

The two social issues mentioned above are closely linked to governance. In situations where good governance prevails, well planned and managed plantations can provide benefits for the rural poor. In the absence of good governance plantations can make a bad situation worse.

Economic impacts

Many of the world's fastwood plantations have been established with the support of government incentives. These include afforestation grants, infrastructure subsidies, preferential tax treatment for forestry investment, and tariffs, which discriminate against imports. In some cases in Brazil incentives exceeded 100% of planting costs. Although we can expect plantation subsidies to be gradually phased out if trends towards economic liberalisation continue, most developing countries with plantation interests have used or continue to use some form of subsidy. The extent to which these subsidies have fulfilled their purpose is highly debatable. In 1991 a World Bank study by Hyde concluded that globally the impact of subsidies and regulations used in the promotion of forest management by private owners had been "less than encouraging". Similarly in 1995 a FAO review by Pandey of plantations in Latin America noted that fiscal incentives, although initially successful, were later misused. Planters tried to make money by obtaining subsidies for poor quality or even non-existent plantations in some cases. In WWF's view, the use of taxpayers money to subsidise private sector plantations which are intended to be economically viable is highly questionable. It becomes unjustifiable if these plantations generate significant negative social and environmental externalities. On the other hand, society cannot reasonably demand significant positive social and environmental externatilites from privately financed industrial plantations, without any counterpart.

WWF Vision

Turning away from Fastwood plantations to plantations in general, WWF believes that they have a legitimate role within the global forest estate and within forested landscapes. WWF's vision of the future of the world's forests (as shown in figure 2 below) is that up to 20% of the global forest estate could be managed for intensive production purposes. This percentage could include a reasonable proportion of plantations of various types.

WWF believes that well-managed and appropriately located plantations can play an important role in healthy, diverse and multi-functional forest landscapes. The plantation industry generates valuable foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunities for producer countries. However timber plantations have often imposed significant environmental and social costs, particularly when they are established through the conversion of natural forests. Indiscriminate forest clearing, uncontrolled burning and disregard for the rights and interests of local communities have been associated with plantation establishment. Unless there are significant changes in policies and practices, in many regions the expansion of plantations will continue to threaten high conservation value forests, freshwater ecosystems, forest dependant peoples and habitats of endangered species.

WWF calls upon the private sector, regulators, financiers and other stakeholders to work collectively to develop and promote adoption of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable practices in the forest plantation industry.

WWF believes that key elements of sustainability within the plantation forest industry are:

• Maintenance of high conservation value forests: plantations should not replace high conservation value forests (see Annex 6). This will normally require well-informed negotiations among a wide range of stakeholders to achieve optimal integration of plantations with the mosaic of other land-uses in a landscape.
• Multi-functional forest landscapes: Plantations should enhance environmental values by providing corridors between, and buffer zones around natural forest areas.
• Sound environmental management practices: the industry should adopt management practices that minimise environmental impacts such as air and water pollution, forest fires, soil erosion, pest invasion and biodiversity loss.
• Respect for rights of local communities and indigenous peoples: the industry should recognise legal and customary rights of local and indigenous communities to own, use and manage their lands, territories, and resources. Plantation development should not proceed in areas over which there are unresolved tenure disputes.
• Positive social impacts: The industry should maintain or enhance social and economic well-being of plantation workers and communities, including strengthening and diversification of the local economy to avoid dependence on plantation products.
• Proficient regulatory frameworks: Regulatory frameworks should encourage practices that achieve the desired outcomes. At a minimum, industry participants shall respect all laws of the country in which their plantations and mills are sited. However, responsible behaviour will often require standards of performance that exceed the requirements of local and national laws, especially where regulatory frameworks are underdeveloped or governance is weak. WWF believes that third party certification of good management, to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council or equivalent, should be a prerequisite of plantation management.
• Transparency: the industry should adopt and make public policies, practices and implementation plans pertaining to their social and environmental performance. They should encourage independent, publicly available performance monitoring, involving local stakeholders in both development of standards and performance monitoring.

WWF will work with governments, private companies, financial institutions and civil society organisations to improve plantations by: · Advocating effective targeting of public funds towards the restoration of multi-functional forest landscapes and away from commercial production-based activities · Lobbying against socially or environmentally damaging plantations · Promoting the landscape approach (see annex 3) to balance trade-offs between intensive wood production and other forest goods and services. · Identifying a common vision for the future of plantations via the establishment of an independent, multi-stakeholder plantations commission

Figure 2

WWF would like to see the UNFF promote a thorough debate about plantation forestry. We think that there are a number of principles that should be widely applied if we are to avoid the potential negative impacts of plantations and realise some of the benefits. Many of these are included in the recently published ITTO Guidelines for for the Restoration, Management and Rehabilitation of Degraded and Secondary Tropical Forests. We suggest that the following basic principles should always apply:

• There must be transparency and adequate public participation in before large-scale plantation programmes are initiated.
• The full environmental and economic value of the land destined for plantations must be assessed - some so-called degraded lands are the habitat of rare or endangered species or are sources of products for poor people.
• High Conservation Value Forests (and other valuable habitats) must be identified and excluded from plantation programmes. · Corridors and blocks of natural forest should be retained as habitats for native species.
• Mixtures of species are better for the environment than pure stands, retaining understorey vegetation often protects the soil and maintains its fertility and does not necessarily compete with plantation productivity.
• The landscape context in which plantations are established must be assessed and negotiations carried out between stakeholders on tradeoffs at the landscape level between competing land uses.
• Plantations can enhance environmental values if they are located in the right places and are managed in ecologically sensitive ways.
• Outgrower schemes can provide local economic benefits and still meet industrial raw material needs, although land and tree tenure issues often need to be addressed.
• Maintaining a fairly small-scale mosaic of different age classes of plantations can greatly increase the overall value of a forest estate for wildlife. · The concept of co-benefits should be applied more widely to plantation schemes.
• The use of incentives should be limited to operations with specified social and environmental externalities and linked to commitments to establish value added processing facilities to generate local economic benefits. · Plantations should be increasingly designed and managed to favour resilience to climate change and the associated phenomena of increasing storms and erratic rainfall.

ANNEX 1

Shell/WWF Tree Plantation Review Guidelines

"A contribution to the debate on environmentally and socially responsible planning and management practices for tree plantations"

1. Need for Guidelines
   Sustainable forest management and use should be carried out in accordance with national development policies and on the basis of environmentally sound national guidelines.
2. Need for plantations
   Tree plantations are of key importance not only for the production of timber, fuelwood and other products but also for the protection of the soil and climate, functions provided formerly by natural forests.
   The role of planted forests as sustainable and environmentally sound sources of renewable energy and industrial raw material should be recognised, enhanced and promoted.
3.  Social and business responsibility
   Meeting the Environmental Challenge is essential for long-term business success. It has equal importance with other prime business considerations.
   It is essential that the purpose (or purposes) of the plantation are defined clearly from the outset.
   The managers of a plantation enterprise are accountable to the owners for responsible practices; the owners, however, must be accountable to society for human benefits and costs.
   Plantation developers should aim to set up and manage operations which not only meet their commercial objectives successfully, but also form an integral part of the local society, economy and landscape. This requires an approach which treats social and cultural factors as seriously as economic and technical factors, at all stages of the plantation development process.
   It is the responsibility of management to provide all employees with healthy and safe conditions of work.
   Full compliance with legislative requirements must be a minimum expectation of environmental conduct.
4.  Local Involvement
   The views and interests of local people are of fundamental importance and must be taken into account in the planning stages and during the life of the project.
   Indigenous peoples should not be arbitrarily displaced or disadvantaged by plantation development.
   The participation of women in all aspects of the management, conservation and sustainable development of forests, should be promoted
5.  Sustainability Forest lands and resources should be managed sustainably to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual human needs of present and future generations.
   Good land-use, of which a plantation may be a component, is the basis for sustainable development. Sustainable plantation management is possible only within the context of good forestry and land-use practices.
   An understanding of the dynamics of the impacted ecosystem must be developed at the outset (i.e. planning stage) and refined continually thereafter. This involves a process of careful screening for the plantation site, baseline surveys, impact assessments and ongoing monitoring.
6. Site selection and security
   The siting of plantations should conform to national policies for the conservation of biodiversity and should avoid areas which are potentially important for that purpose.
   Land use conflicts should be minimised. For this reason, unused, degraded or marginal land is to be preferred. Areas to be avoided in afforestation projects are: land which is used intensively for some other sustainable use (including basic food production); areas of primary or well developed secondary forest; areas of importance for environmental or cultural reasons.
   If the afforesting agency is to make a genuine commitment to environmental objectives, it is essential that it should have assured control over the land it is planting.
7. Environmental management
   An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be carried out for all plantation projects, and management plans should reflect its recommendations.
   The basis for ongoing judgement of performance in environmental management is a well-designed monitoring system.

ANNEX 2

FSC Principles and Criteria Document 1.2 Revised February 2000

INTRODUCTION

It is widely accepted that forest resources and associated lands should be managed to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. Furthermore, growing public awareness of forest destruction and degradation has led consumers to demand that their purchases of wood and other forest products will not contribute to this destruction but rather help to secure forest resources for the future. In response to these demands, certification and self-certification programs of wood products have proliferated in the marketplace. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international body which accredits certification organizations in order to guarantee the authenticity of their claims. In all cases the process of certification will be initiated voluntarily by forest owners and managers who request the services of a certification organization. The goal of FSC is to promote environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world's forests, by establishing a worldwide standard of recognized and respected Principles of Forest Stewardship.

The FSC's Principles and Criteria (P&C) apply to all tropical, temperate and boreal forests, as addressed in Principle #9 and the accompanying glossary. Many of these P&C apply also to plantations and partially replanted forests. More detailed standards for these and other vegetation types may be prepared at national and local levels. The P&C are to be incorporated into the evaluation systems and standards of all certification organizations seeking accreditation by FSC. While the P&C are mainly designed for forests managed for the production of wood products, they are also relevant, to varying degrees, to forests managed for non-timber products and other services. The P&C are a complete package to be considered as a whole, and their sequence does not represent an ordering of priority. This document shall be used in conjunction with the FSC's Statutes, Procedures for Accreditation and Guidelines for Certifiers. FSC and FSC-accredited certification organizations will not insist on perfection in satisfying the P&C. However, major failures in any individual Principles will normally disqualify a candidate from certification, or will lead to decertification. These decisions will be taken by individual certifiers, and guided by the extent to which each Criterion is satisfied, and by the importance and consequences of failures. Some flexibility will be allowed to cope with local circumstances. The scale and intensity of forest management operations, the uniqueness of the affected resources, and the relative ecological fragility of the forest will be considered in all certification assessments. Differences and difficulties of interpretation of the P&C will be addressed in national and local forest stewardship standards. These standards are to be developed in each country or region involved, and will be evaluated for purposes of certification, by certifiers and other involved and affected parties on a case by case basis. If necessary, FSC dispute resolution mechanisms may also be called upon during the course of assessment. More information and guidance about the certification and accreditation process is included in the FSC Statutes, Accreditation Procedures, and Guidelines for Certifiers. The FSC P&C should be used in conjunction with national and international laws and regulations. FSC intends to complement, not supplant, other initiatives that support responsible forest management worldwide. The FSC will conduct educational activities to increase public awareness of the importance of the following:

• improving forest management;
• incorporating the full costs of management and production into the price of forest products;
• promoting the highest and best use of forest resources;
• reducing damage and waste; and
• avoiding over-consumption and over-harvesting.

FSC will also provide guidance to policy makers on these issues, including improving forest management legislation and policies.

PRINCIPLE #1: COMPLIANCE WITH LAWS AND FSC PRINCIPLES

Forest management shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which they occur, and international treaties and agreements to which the country is a signatory, and comply with all FSC Principles and Criteria. 1.1 Forest management shall respect all national and local laws and administrative requirements. 1.2 All applicable and legally prescribed fees, royalties, taxes and other charges shall be paid. 1.3 In signatory countries, the provisions of all binding international agreements such as CITES, ILO Conventions, ITTA, and Convention on Biological Diversity, shall be respected. 1.4 Conflicts between laws, regulations and the FSC Principles and Criteria shall be evaluated for the purposes of certification, on a case by case basis, by the certifiers and the involved or affected parties. 1.5 Forest management areas should be protected from illegal harvesting, settlement and other unauthorized activities. 1.6 Forest managers shall demonstrate a long-term commitment to adhere to the FSC Principles and Criteria.

PRINCIPLE #2: TENURE AND USE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Long-term tenure and use rights to the land and forest resources shall be clearly defined, documented and legally established. 2.1 Clear evidence of long-term forest use rights to the land (e.g. land title, customary rights, or lease agreements) shall be demonstrated. 2.2 Local communities with legal or customary tenure or use rights shall maintain control, to the extent necessary to protect their rights or resources, over forest operations unless they delegate control with free and informed consent to other agencies. 2.3 Appropriate mechanisms shall be employed to resolve disputes over tenure claims and use rights. The circumstances and status of any outstanding disputes will be explicitly considered in the certification evaluation. Disputes of substantial magnitude involving a significant number of interests will normally disqualify an operation from being certified.

PRINCIPLE #3: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' RIGHTS

The legal and customary rights of indigenous peoples to own, use and manage their lands, territories, and resources shall be recognized and respected. 3.1 Indigenous peoples shall control forest management on their lands and territories unless they delegate control with free and informed consent to other agencies. 3.2 Forest management shall not threaten or diminish, either directly or indirectly, the resources or tenure rights of indigenous peoples. 3.3 Sites of special cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance to indigenous peoples shall be clearly identified in cooperation with such peoples, and recognized and protected by forest managers. 3.4 Indigenous peoples shall be compensated for the application of their traditional knowledge regarding the use of forest species or management systems in forest operations. This compensation shall be formally agreed upon with their free and informed consent before forest operations commence.

PRINCIPLE #4: COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND WORKER'S RIGHTS

Forest management operations shall maintain or enhance the long-term social and economic well-being of forest workers and local communities. 4.1 The communities within, or adjacent to, the forest management area should be given opportunities for employment, training, and other services. 4.2 Forest management should meet or exceed all applicable laws and/or regulations covering health and safety of employees and their families. 4.3 The rights of workers to organize and voluntarily negotiate with their employers shall be guaranteed as outlined in Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). 4.4 Management planning and operations shall incorporate the results of evaluations of social impact. Consultations shall be maintained with people and groups directly affected by management operations. 4.5 Appropriate mechanisms shall be employed for resolving grievances and for providing fair compensation in the case of loss or damage affecting the legal or customary rights, property, resources, or livelihoods of local peoples. Measures shall be taken to avoid such loss or damage. PRINCIPLE # 5: BENEFITS FROM THE FOREST Forest management operations shall encourage the efficient use of the forest's multiple products and services to ensure economic viability and a wide range of environmental and social benefits. 5.1 Forest management should strive toward economic viability, while taking into account the full environmental, social, and operational costs of production, and ensuring the investments necessary to maintain the ecological productivity of the forest. 5.2 Forest management and marketing operations should encourage the optimal use and local processing of the forest's diversity of products. 5.3 Forest management should minimize waste associated with harvesting and on-site processing operations and avoid damage to other forest resources. 5.4 Forest management should strive to strengthen and diversify the local economy, avoiding dependence on a single forest product. 5.5 Forest management operations shall recognize, maintain, and, where appropriate, enhance the value of forest services and resources such as watersheds and fisheries. 5.6 The rate of harvest of forest products shall not exceed levels which can be permanently sustained.

PRINCIPLE #6: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Forest management shall conserve biological diversity and its associated values, water resources, soils, and unique and fragile ecosystems and landscapes, and, by so doing, maintain the ecological functions and the integrity of the forest. 6.1 Assessment of environmental impacts shall be completed -- appropriate to the scale, intensity of forest management and the uniqueness of the affected resources -- and adequately integrated into management systems. Assessments shall include landscape level considerations as well as the impacts of on-site processing facilities. Environmental impacts shall be assessed prior to commencement of site-disturbing operations. 6.2 Safeguards shall exist which protect rare, threatened and endangered species and their habitats (e.g., nesting and feeding areas). Conservation zones and protection areas shall be established, appropriate to the scale and intensity of forest management and the uniqueness of the affected resources. Inappropriate hunting, fishing, trapping and collecting shall be controlled. 6.3 Ecological functions and values shall be maintained intact, enhanced, or restored, including: a) Forest regeneration and succession. b) Genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity. c) Natural cycles that affect the productivity of the forest ecosystem. 6.4 Representative samples of existing ecosystems within the landscape shall be protected in their natural state and recorded on maps, appropriate to the scale and intensity of operations and the uniqueness of the affected resources. 6.5 Written guidelines shall be prepared and implemented to: control erosion; minimize forest damage during harvesting, road construction, and all other mechanical disturbances; and protect water resources. 6.6 Management systems shall promote the development and adoption of environmentally friendly non-chemical methods of pest management and strive to avoid the use of chemical pesticides. World Health Organization Type 1A and 1B and chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides; pesticides that are persistent, toxic or whose derivatives remain biologically active and accumulate in the food chain beyond their intended use; as well as any pesticides banned by international agreement, shall be prohibited. If chemicals are used, proper equipment and training shall be provided to minimize health and environmental risks. 6.7 Chemicals, containers, liquid and solid non-organic wastes including fuel and oil shall be disposed of in an environmentally appropriate manner at off-site locations. 6.8 Use of biological control agents shall be documented, minimized, monitored and strictly controlled in accordance with national laws and internationally accepted scientific protocols. Use of genetically modified organisms shall be prohibited. 6.9 The use of exotic species shall be carefully controlled and actively monitored to avoid adverse ecological impacts. 6.10 Forest conversion to plantations or non-forest land uses shall not occur, except in circumstances where conversion: a) entails a very limited portion of the forest management unit; and b) does not occur on high conservation value forest areas; and c) will enable clear, substantial, additional, secure, long term conservation benefits across the forest management unit.

PRINCIPLE #7: MANAGEMENT PLAN

A management plan -- appropriate to the scale and intensity of the operations -- shall be written, implemented, and kept up to date. The long-term objectives of management, and the means of achieving them, shall be clearly stated. 7.1 The management plan and supporting documents shall provide: a) Management objectives. b) Description of the forest resources to be managed, environmental limitations, land use and ownership status, socio-economic conditions, and a profile of adjacent lands. c) Description of silvicultural and/or other management system, based on the ecology of the forest in question and information gathered through resource inventories. d) Rationale for rate of annual harvest and species selection. e) Provisions for monitoring of forest growth and dynamics. f) Environmental safeguards based on environmental assessments. g) Plans for the identification and protection of rare, threatened and endangered species. h) Maps describing the forest resource base including protected areas, planned management activities and land ownership. i) Description and justification of harvesting techniques and equipment to be used. 7.2 The management plan shall be periodically revised to incorporate the results of monitoring or new scientific and technical information, as well as to respond to changing environmental, social and economic circumstances. 7.3 Forest workers shall receive adequate training and supervision to ensure proper implementation of the management plan. 7.4 While respecting the confidentiality of information, forest managers shall make publicly available a summary of the primary elements of the management plan, including those listed in Criterion 7.1.

PRINCIPLE #8: MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Monitoring shall be conducted -- appropriate to the scale and intensity of forest management -- to assess the condition of the forest, yields of forest products, chain of custody, management activities and their social and environmental impacts.

8.1 The frequency and intensity of monitoring should be determined by the scale and intensity of forest management operations as well as the relative complexity and fragility of the affected environment. Monitoring procedures should be consistent and replicable over time to allow comparison of results and assessment of change. 8.2 Forest management should include the research and data collection needed to monitor, at a minimum, the following indicators: a) Yield of all forest products harvested. b) Growth rates, regeneration and condition of the forest. c) Composition and observed changes in the flora and fauna. d) Environmental and social impacts of harvesting and other operations. e) Costs, productivity, and efficiency of forest management. 8.3 Documentation shall be provided by the forest manager to enable monitoring and certifying organizations to trace each forest product from its origin, a process known as the "chain of custody." 8.4 The results of monitoring shall be incorporated into the implementation and revision of the management plan. 8.5 While respecting the confidentiality of information, forest managers shall make publicly available a summary of the results of monitoring indicators, including those listed in Criterion 8.2.

PRINCIPLE 9: MAINTENANCE OF HIGH CONSERVATION VALUE FORESTS

Management activities in high conservation value forests shall maintain or enhance the attributes which define such forests. Decisions regarding high conservation value forests shall always be considered in the context of a precautionary approach. 9.1 Assessment to determine the presence of the attributes consistent with High Conservation Value Forests will be completed, appropriate to scale and intensity of forest management. 9.2 The consultative portion of the certification process must place emphasis on the identified conservation attributes, and options for the maintenance thereof. 9.3 The management plan shall include and implement specific measures that ensure the maintenance and/or enhancement of the applicable conservation attributes consistent with the precautionary approach. These measures shall be specifically included in the publicly available management plan summary. 9.4 Annual monitoring shall be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the measures employed to maintain or enhance the applicable conservation attributes. PRINCIPLE # 10: PLANTATIONS Plantations shall be planned and managed in accordance with Principles and Criteria 1 - 9, and Principle 10 and its Criteria. While plantations can provide an array of social and economic benefits, and can contribute to satisfying the world's needs for forest products, they should complement the management of, reduce pressures on, and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests. 10.1 The management objectives of the plantation, including natural forest conservation and restoration objectives, shall be explicitly stated in the management plan, and clearly demonstrated in the implementation of the plan. 10.2 The design and layout of plantations should promote the protection, restoration and conservation of natural forests, and not increase pressures on natural forests. Wildlife corridors, streamside zones and a mosaic of stands of different ages and rotation periods, shall be used in the layout of the plantation, consistent with the scale of the operation. The scale and layout of plantation blocks shall be consistent with the patterns of forest stands found within the natural landscape. 10.3 Diversity in the composition of plantations is preferred, so as to enhance economic, ecological and social stability. Such diversity may include the size and spatial distribution of management units within the landscape, number and genetic composition of species, age classes and structures. 10.4 The selection of species for planting shall be based on their overall suitability for the site and their appropriateness to the management objectives. In order to enhance the conservation of biological diversity, native species are preferred over exotic species in the establishment of plantations and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Exotic species, which shall be used only when their performance is greater than that of native species, shall be carefully monitored to detect unusual mortality, disease, or insect outbreaks and adverse ecological impacts. 10.5 A proportion of the overall forest management area, appropriate to the scale of the plantation and to be determined in regional standards, shall be managed so as to restore the site to a natural forest cover. 10.6 Measures shall be taken to maintain or improve soil structure, fertility, and biological activity. The techniques and rate of harvesting, road and trail construction and maintenance, and the choice of species shall not result in long term soil degradation or adverse impacts on water quality, quantity or substantial deviation from stream course drainage patterns. 10.7 Measures shall be taken to prevent and minimize outbreaks of pests, diseases, fire and invasive plant introductions. Integrated pest management shall form an essential part of the management plan, with primary reliance on prevention and biological control methods rather than chemical pesticides and fertilisers. Plantation management should make every effort to move away from chemical pesticides and fertilisers, including their use in nurseries. The use of chemicals is also covered in Criteria 6.6 and 6.7. 10.8 Appropriate to the scale and diversity of the operation, monitoring of plantations shall include regular assessment of potential on-site and off-site ecological and social impacts, (e.g. natural regeneration, effects on water resources and soil fertility, and impacts on local welfare and social well-being), in addition to those elements addressed in principles 8, 6 and 4. No species should be planted on a large scale until local trials and/or experience have shown that they are ecologically well-adapted to the site, are not invasive, and do not have significant negative ecological impacts on other ecosystems. Special attention will be paid to social issues of land acquisition for plantations, especially the protection of local rights of ownership, use or access. 10.9 Plantations established in areas converted from natural forests after November 1994 normally shall not qualify for certification. Certification may be allowed in circumstances where sufficient evidence is submitted to the certification body that the manager/owner is not responsible directly or indirectly of such conversion.

The FSC Founding Members and Board of Directors ratified principles 1-9 in September 1994. The FSC Members and Board of Directors ratified principle 10 in February 1996. The revision of Principle 9 and the addition of Criteria 6.10 and 10.9 were ratified by the FSC Members and Board of Directors in January 1999. The definition of Precautionary Approach was ratified during the 1999 FSC General Assembly in June 1999.

GLOSSARY

Words in this document are used as defined in most standard English language dictionaries. The precise meaning and local interpretation of certain phrases (such as local communities) should be decided in the local context by forest managers and certifiers. In this document, the words below are understood as follows:

Biological diversity: The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. (see Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992)

Biological diversity values: The intrinsic, ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values of biological diversity and its components. (see Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992)

Biological control agents: Living organisms used to eliminate or regulate the population of other living organisms.

Chain of custody: The channel through which products are distributed from their origin in the forest to their end-use.

Chemicals: The range of fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and hormones which are used in forest management.

Criterion (pl. Criteria): A means of judging whether or not a Principle (of forest stewardship) has been fulfilled.

Customary rights: Rights which result from a long series of habitual or customary actions, constantly repeated, which have, by such repetition and by uninterrupted acquiescence, acquired the force of a law within a geographical or sociological unit.

Ecosystem: A community of all plants and animals and their physical environment, functioning together as an interdependent unit.

Endangered species: Any species which is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Exotic species: An introduced species not native or endemic to the area in question.

Forest integrity: The composition, dynamics, functions and structural attributes of a natural forest.

Forest management/manager: The people responsible for the operational management of the forest resource and of the enterprise, as well as the management system and structure, and the planning and field operations.

Genetically modified organisms: Biological organisms which have been induced by various means to consist of genetic structural changes.

Indigenous lands and territories: The total environment of the lands, air, water, sea, sea-ice, flora and fauna, and other resources which indigenous peoples have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used. (Draft Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Part VI)

Indigenous peoples: "The existing descendants of the peoples who inhabited the present territory of a country wholly or partially at the time when persons of a different culture or ethnic origin arrived there from other parts of the world, overcame them and, by conquest, settlement, or other means reduced them to a non-dominant or colonial situation; who today live more in conformity with their particular social, economic and cultural customs and traditions than with the institutions of the country of which they now form a part, under State structure which incorporates mainly the national, social and cultural characteristics of other segments of the population which are predominant." (Working definition adopted by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples).

High Conservation Value Forests: High Conservation Value Forests are those that possess one or more of the following attributes:
a) forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant:
concentrations of biodiversity values (e.g. endemism, endangered species, refugia); and/or
large landscape level forests, contained within, or containing the management unit, where viable populations of most if not all naturally occurring species exist in natural patterns of distribution and abundance
b) forest areas that are in or contain rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems
c) forest areas that provide basic services of nature in critical situations (e.g. watershed protection, erosion control)
d) forest areas fundamental to meeting basic needs of local communities (e.g. subsistence, health) and/or critical to local communities’ traditional cultural identity (areas of cultural, ecological, economic or religious significance identified in cooperation with such local communities).

Landscape: A geographical mosaic composed of interacting ecosystems resulting from the influence of geological, topographical, soil, climatic, biotic and human interactions in a given area.

Local laws: Includes all legal norms given by organisms of government whose jurisdiction is less than the national level, such as departmental, municipal and customary norms.

Long term: The time-scale of the forest owner or manager as manifested by the objectives of the management plan, the rate of harvesting, and the commitment to maintain permanent forest cover. The length of time involved will vary according to the context and ecological conditions, and will be a function of how long it takes a given ecosystem to recover its natural structure and composition following harvesting or disturbance, or to produce mature or primary conditions.

Native species: A species that occurs naturally in the region; endemic to the area.

Natural cycles: Nutrient and mineral cycling as a result of interactions between soils, water, plants, and animals in forest environments that affect the ecological productivity of a given site.

Natural Forest: Forest areas where many of the principal characteristics and key elements of native ecosystems such as complexity, structure and diversity are present, as defined by FSC approved national and regional standards of forest management.

Non-timber forest products: All forest products except timber, including other materials obtained from trees such as resins and leaves, as well as any other plant and animal products.

Other forest types: Forest areas that do not fit the criteria for plantation or natural forests and which are defined more specifically by FSC-approved national and regional standards of forest stewardship.

Plantation: Forest areas lacking most of the principal characteristics and key elements of native ecosystems as defined by FSC-approved national and regional standards of forest stewardship, which result from the human activities of either planting, sowing or intensive silvicultural treatments.

Precautionary approach: Tool for the implementation of the precautionary principle.

Principle: An essential rule or element; in FSC's case, of forest stewardship.

Silviculture: The art of producing and tending a forest by manipulating its establishment, composition and growth to best fulfil the objectives of the owner. This may, or may not, include timber production.

Succession: Progressive changes in species composition and forest community structure caused by natural processes (nonhuman) over time.

Tenure: Socially defined agreements held by individuals or groups, recognized by legal statutes or customary practice, regarding the "bundle of rights and duties" of ownership, holding, access and/or usage of a particular land unit or the associated resources there within (such as individual trees, plant species, water, minerals, etc).

Threatened species: Any species which is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

Use rights: Rights for the use of forest resources that can be defined by local custom, mutual agreements, or prescribed by other entities holding access rights. These rights may restrict the use of particular resources to specific levels of consumption or particular harvesting techniques.

ANNEX 3

Forest Landscape Restoration

Despite its value to humanity, over 50 per cent of the world's original forest cover has disappeared. From 1990 to 2000 the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that forests were lost at a net rate of 9.4 million ha/year, with actual deforestation reaching 16 million ha/year. In addition, the quality of much of the remaining forest is declining rapidly.

WWF believes that, with millions of people depending on forest goods and services -food, fuelwood, medicinal plants, fodder and drinking water - these losses pose serious developmental as well as environmental problems. WWF, working with IUCN through the "Forests Reborn" project, has identified the need not only to protect and manage but also to restore forests. As a result WWF has adopted a target on "Forest Landscape Restoration" (FLR). Contrary to some traditional approaches to forest regeneration, FLR aims to do more than simply to increase forest cover.

Forest Landscape Restoration is defined as: "a planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded forest landscapes". It focuses on re-establishing functions and key ecosystem processes across a whole landscape rather than at just planting or restoring individual sites. As such, Forest Landscape Restoration looks at a mosaic of land uses including agricultural lands and forest types ranging from plantations to natural forests. It might for example be used to help buffer a small and isolated protected area by re-establishing trees on surrounding land that, whilst having a range of social or commercial functions, could also help support native biodiversity. The key principles of Forest Landscape Restoration are that it: · Is implemented at a landscape scale rather than a site · Has both a socio-economic and ecological dimension · Implies addressing the root causes of degradation and poor forest quality (such as perverse incentives and inequitable land tenure) · Opts for a package of solutions, which may include practical techniques - such as agroforestry, enrichment planting and natural regenerations at a landscape scale - but also embraces policy analysis, training and research · Involves a range of stakeholders in planning and decision-making to achieve a solution that is acceptable and therefore sustainable · Involves identifying and negotiating trade-offs

WWF has therefore adopted a target to "undertake at least 20 forest landscape restoration initiatives in the world's threatened, degraded or deforested regions, to enhance ecological integrity and human well-being by 2005". WWF believes that given the scale of Forest Landscape Restoration and the fact that we are trying to re-orientate thinking, planning and financing of afforestation and reforestation activities towards FLR, we need to focus on sharing lessons learned and on mobilising new partners.

WWF will work with governments, international organisations and communities to pursue its work on Forest Landscape Restoration, by:

• Working with IUCN and other international organisations to promote FLR
• Developing case studies that exemplify the goals and methodology of FLR, building on existing projects that may currently satisfy some but not all the principles of FLR
• Documenting, exchanging and disseminating lessons learnt and experiences on FLR
• Addressing Forest Landscape Restoration issues that relate to human well-being
• Building local capacity to undertake Forest Landscape Restoration
• Initiating and facilitating FLR projects within WWF's Ecoregion Action Programmes and with other Target Driven Programmes (e.g. freshwater and climate change)
• Developing suitable monitoring tools and techniques to measure progress on FLR
• Working with governments to eliminate economic, financial and/or policy incentives that contribute to forest loss or degradation

ANNEX 4

Oil palm

According to the WWF Living Planet Index, the tropical forest species index declined by 25% in the last thirty years. Worldwide, 300 million hectares of tropical forest were converted to non-forest land-uses during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Most of the world's oil palm plantations are within these converted hectares.

Oil palm plantations have often imposed environmental and social costs due to indiscriminate forest clearing, uncontrolled burning with related haze, and disregard for the rights and interests of local communities. Without significant changes in policy and practice, the expansion of oil palm plantations poses a major threat to high conservation value forests, freshwater ecosystems, livelihoods of forest dependant peoples and habitats of endangered species such as elephants, rhinos, tigers and orang-utans.

WWF recognizes that palm oil is a basic foodstuff with high consumer demand. The industry generates valuable foreign exchange earnings and employment opportunities for tropical producer countries. WWF is, however, deeply concerned at the prospect of the industry continuing to expand and operate in an unsustainable manner. WWF calls upon the industry, regulators, financiers, buyers and other stakeholders to work collectively to develop and promote adoption of environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable practices in the oil palm industry.

WWF believes that key elements of sustainability within the oil palm industry are:

• Maintenance of high conservation value forests: Oil palm plantations should not replace high conservation value forests (see separate position paper). This will normally require well-informed negotiations among a wide range of stakeholders to achieve optimal integration of oil palm plantations with the mosaic of other land-uses in a given landscape or ecoregion.
• Sound environmental management practices: Industry participants should adopt management practices to minimize environmental impacts such as air and water pollution, forest fires, soil erosion, pest invasion, human/wildlife conflict and biodiversity loss.
• Respect for rights of local communities and indigenous peoples: Industry participants should recognise the legal and customary rights of local communities and indigenous peoples to own, use and manage their lands, territories, and resources. Plantation development should not proceed in areas over which there are unresolved tenure disputes.
• Positive social impacts: The industry should maintain or enhance the long-term social and economic well-being of plantation workers and local communities. In many cases this will include the strengthening and diversification of the local economy to avoid dependence on a single plantation product.
• Proficient regulatory frameworks: Regulatory frameworks should encourage practices that will achieve the desired environmental, social and economic outcomes described above. At a minimum, industry participants shall respect all applicable laws of the country in which their plantations and mills are sited. However, responsible behaviour will often require standards of performance that exceed the requirements of local and national laws, especially where regulatory frameworks are underdeveloped or governance is weak.
• Transparency: Industry participants should adopt and make public their policies, practices and implementation plans pertaining to their social and environmental performance. They should encourage independent monitoring of their performance and make their findings public They should involve local stakeholders both in the development of standards and performance monitoring.

WWF will work with governments, private companies, financial institutions and civil society organizations to:

• Develop and promote adoption of policies and practices consistent with this position
• Eliminate incentives for oil palm plantations to replace high conservation value forests

ANNEX 5

Climate change and forest carbon sequestration

Climate change is happening. Greenhouse gas levels are rising and are now at their highest atmospheric concentrations for more than 400,000 years. This increase is attributed to human activities. Consumption of fossil energy is driving this trend, accounting for about 80% of human-caused CO2 emissions. Land disturbance - burning, loss, and degradation of forests, rangeland and soils - accounts approximately for the remaining 20%. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that at least one-third of the world's remaining forests may be adversely affected by changing climate, especially in the boreal zone where the warming will be greatest. The Hadley Centre for Climate Change at the UK Meteorological Office has predicted that, by 2050, forests globally will become a significant net source of CO2 emissions. This will lead to even greater emissions of carbon dioxide, contributing to a climate change cycle already well-underway. Climate change impacts on biodiversity are already evidenced by shifting migration ranges of insects and animals, modified flowering and fruiting cycles, and species extinctions. Additional impacts include drought or flood-induced die back, conversion to grassland, steppe, or desert, increased vulnerability to pests, fire and invasive species. The prospect of broad-scale forest loss due to changing climate places a premium on slowing the rate of climate change, while working in tandem to protect forests by reducing fragmentation and increasing resilience to climatic stress.

Decisions at Kyoto Protocol negotiations in 2001 allow the use of certain carbon sequestration activities, and carbon 'credits' gained through these activities, to meet industrialized countries' Kyoto emissions reductions commitments both at home and overseas. Forest carbon sequestration (sinks) is (are) characterized as an increase in carbon stocks on the land base through such activities as afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, forest restoration, etc. Parties further agreed to the principle that any sequestration project should contribute to the "conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of natural resources". While WWF has opposed the use of sinks due to its conviction that permanent fossil fuel emissions reductions must be the prime focus of efforts to address climate change, coupled with concerns about potential negative outcomes of badly designed or implemented sinks projects, these Kyoto decisions have moved the process forward in ways that influence WWF's work and engagement on forests and climate in general, and forest carbon sequestration/sinks in particular. WWF accepts the outcomes of the Bonn and Marrakech agreements on forest carbon sequestration because it is critical to get the overarching Kyoto framework for emissions reductions into force.

WWF believes that as such, carbon sinks have a potential role to play in the fight against global warming provided measures to enhance sinks are taken with appropriate care. Restoring forest ecosystems and changing farming practices could also help protect biodiversity and promote a range of other environmental and social values, including clean water and land tenure reform. At the same time, measures to enhance carbon sinks can pose potential risks to biodiversity and local livelihoods if implemented incorrectly, and could compromise efforts to reduce GHG emissions. It is imperative that adequate environmental and social safeguards be put in place to address these risks. Fossil fuel combustion remains the major cause of global warming and any global warming program must focus primarily on clean energy solutions to the problem of rising industrial and transportation-sector emissions.

WWF will work with governments, industry, NGOs and local communities to play an increased and proactive role by initiating a series of pilot forest sinks projects to explore how risks can be mitigated and benefits enhanced. These projects, through activities such as habitat restoration and reduction of forest fragmentation, can enhance our knowledge and help increase the resilience of forests to climate change. WWF will also identify and publicize projects that pose a threat to biodiversity, local communities or climate change, and will explore constructive ways to work with partners to identify and mitigate potentially negative projects. To develop this approach, WWF is working with governments, particularly those in lesser-developed countries most susceptible to climate change impacts, to explore sequestration options that pose the least risk, and could potentially benefit biodiversity and sustainable development efforts. WWF's current approach to sinks, particularly in lesser-developed countries, focuses on forest landscape restoration that advances biodiversity and livelihood objectives, not solely carbon gains.

ANNEX 6

High Conservation Value Forests

High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) are defined by the Forest Stewardship Council as forests of outstanding and critical importance due to their high environmental, socio-economic, biodiversity or landscape values. WWF is developing and extending the HCVF concept in its wider protect-manage-restore programme. HCVFs comprise the crucial forest areas and values that need to be maintained or enhanced in a landscape. HCVFs are found across broad forest biomes (tropical to boreal), within a wide range of forest conditions (largely intact to largely fragmented), and in ecoregions with complete or under-represented protected area networks. HCVFs could be old-growth forests in Siberia, habitats of threatened orang utans in Southeast Asia or the sacred burial grounds of a North American first nations people. Although originally designed as a tool to help certification, the HCVF concept is being extended to more general conservation planning including the design of representative networks of protected areas and buffer zones.

The identification of HCVFs requires a multi-scale approach. First a rapid assessment and mapping of potential HCVF areas is made at a global or continental scale, based on indicators of biologically or environmentally important forest values that can be mapped at this broad scale. Next, these areas are further refined within ecoregions and a more detailed investigation within a given landscape delineates actual HCVFs, including local stakeholder consultation to identify forests that meet community needs and maintain cultural identity, and scientific research to identify biologically important forest stands and those critical for maintaining ecosystem functions and populations of endangered species.

WWF believes the first priority is to ensure that HCVFs are adequately represented in protected area systems. In practice, many HCVFs will continue to be managed outside protected areas and here approaches will vary - e.g. enhanced management or long-term "no-cut" reserves - but should always aim to maintain HCVF values. In regions where the forest is largely degraded, HCVF management should be consistent with a forest landscape restoration strategy (see separate position paper) that addresses ecological, social and economic objectives. Two principles are paramount: (1) HCVFs are managed to maintain the attributes that are of high conservation value, and (2) management employs the precautionary principle, which requires that where the effects of extraction and other management are unknown, values are insured through a cautious approach.

WWF calls on producers, retailers and investors in the forestry, agricultural, mining and petroleum sectors and governments to ensure that their business activities do not promote the clearing or degradation of HCVFs.

WWF will work with partners to identify and protect HCVFs by:

• Developing tools for identification of HCVFs that are applicable around the world, particularly through pilot projects and dissemination of the lessons learned
• Developing tools and activities for the adequate protection of HCVFs that are applicable around the world
• Working with the Forest Stewardship Council in developing detailed guidance on the application of FSC's Principle 9 that covers HCVF
• Co-ordinating with other organisations, so that a HCVF approach can integrate conservation agendas
• Working to ensure, where appropriate, that development of the HCVF concept is coordinated between interested organisations
• Further developing the concept of HCVFs as a useful guide for fulfilling ecologically friendly procurement policies for forest products
• Promoting and helping to apply the HCVF concept with forest managers and forest management certifiers in selected ecoregions.

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