Ecological Monitoring of Forestry Management in the Humid Tropics:

Transcription

1 Ecological Monitoring of Forestry Management in the Humid Tropics: A Guide for Forestry Operators and Certifiers with Emphasis on High Conservation Value Forests A reference for the Wildlife Assessment and Monitoring in Sustainable Forest Management (WAMSFM) Module of the Tigers Alive! Project WWF-Malaysia/ Josil Murray

2 Ecological Monitoring of Forestry Management in the Humid Tropics: A Guide for Forestry Operators and Certifiers with Emphasis on High Conservation Value Forests Translated from Monitoreo Ecológico del Manejo Forestal en el Trópico Húmedo: Una Guía Para Operadores Forestales y Certificadores con Ènfasis en Bosques de Alto Valor Para la Conservación of WWF-Central America. Translated by Eugene Lee for WWF-Malaysia April 2007 Published April 2007 by WWF World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund), Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Any reproduction of this publication must mention the title and credit the above-mentioned publisher as the copyright owner. Text 2007 WWF. All rights reserved. 2

3 Acknowledgements This publication is made possible through funding from WWF-Netherlands via Module MY 0225 CI of the Tigers Alive! Project. 3

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5 A Notification This document is a selective translation of Monitoreo Ecológico del Manejo Forestal en el Trópico Húmedo: Una Guía Para Operadores Forestales y Certificadores con Ènfasis en Bosques de Alto Valor Para la Conservación. It is translated and produced as reference for the Wildlife Assessment and Monitoring in Sustainable Forest Management (WAMSFM) Module of the Tigers Alive! Project. Only the sections relevant to the WAMSFM project were translated. This document will be of reference to the WAMSFM project in these main areas: i. Design and implementation of a monitoring programme, with emphasis on selecting indicators for monitoring and selecting a monitoring design ii. How to use data obtained from the monitoring programme in analysis and adaptive management. The production and publication of the original document were the responsibility of WWF-Central America. The original document is available at All efforts to contact the publisher of the original document were unsuccessful. The original document is listed as: Department of Communications WWF Centroamerica World Wide Fund for Nature Telephone: Fax: cflores@wwfca.org Monitoreo Ecológico del Manejo Forestal en el Trópico Húmedo: Una Guía Para Operadores Forestales y Certificadores con Ènfasis en Bosques de Alto Valor Para la Conservación. Printed: April 2004 WWF Centroamerica All Rights Reserved Ecological Monitoring of Forestry Management in the Humid Tropics: A Guide for Forestry Operators and Certifiers with Emphasis on High Conservation Value Forests Translated: March 2007 WWF-Malaysia All Rights Reserved Educational support graphics Messages Emphasizing concepts to take into consideration INDEX Steps Guided procedures References Complementary informative data 5

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7 SECTION 1 (Content not translated) Ecological Monitoring: What is it? Why is it important? How to start a monitoring programme? 1.1 Emphasis on the forest manager What is ecological monitoring and why is it important? Biodiversity and its monitoring as operational concepts of forestry management 1.2 Emphasis on the certifier 1.3 For managers and certifiers: the beginning Ecological monitoring is not an end in itself The necessity of monitoring is not the same in all forests All the components of the biodiversity can be measured, but not all are useful indicators There is no need to monitor something directly if it can be done indirectly Good planning and design are key for practical and relevant monitoring Monitoring results are useless if they do not result in an improvement of the management SECTION 2 Design and implementation of a monitoring programme 2.1 Ecological monitoring as a component of the process of adaptive management of the forest Step 1. Defining the management objectives Objectives of general and specific management The precautionary principle Step 2. Identifying High Conservation Values Step 3. Identifying the impacts on biodiversity and on high conservation values Significant themes Impacts and factors Step 4. Determining the mitigation measures Step 5. Determining the objectives of monitoring Monitoring costs The philosophy and general objective of monitoring Step 6. Selecting indicators for monitoring Step 7. Establishing a sampling design Step 8. Definition of limits (activators) which require a response Step 9. Implementing the monitoring programme Step 10. Adaptation actions based on the monitoring results 7

8 SECTION 3 Designing your monitoring programme making difficult decisions. Decision tree for the development of monitoring programmes in well-managed forests of the humid tropics 3.1 Using the decision tree 3.2 The decision tree to support the design of ecological monitoring programmes in order to ensure compliance with the FSC Principles and Criteria Step I: Is an ecological monitoring programme necessary for the forest management unit? Step II: What elements of the forest should be monitored? When to monitor species Criteria related to human and financial resources The Monitoring of individual animal species The Monitoring of groups of animal species Mammals Bird populations Invertebrates The monitoring of plant species Tree species vulnerable to population declines due to harvesting Lianas SECTION 4 Using the monitoring results. Establishing activators and thresholds for monitoring programmes in the humid tropics 4.1 How can the monitoring data be used in certified forests? 4.2 Activators and thresholds 4.3 Establishing values for the activators 4.4 The temporal context of the activators 4.5 Connecting the activators to the management SECTION 5 Protocols for ecological monitoring in managed HCVFs certified by the FSC 5.1 The basic framework (Content not translated) What type of silvicultural approach is this Guide designed for? General approach for the sampling of the Indicators of the structure and composition of the stand Explanation of the protocols 5.2 The initial screening: Structure and composition of the stand Theme 1.1 Horizontal and vertical structure Indicator The basal area of the stand Indicator The abundance of trees, total and by size classes Indicator The opening of the canopy in the understory Indicator The vertical structure of the forest Theme 1.2 Other key elements of the structure and composition of the forest 8

9 Indicator Abundances of species of lianas and trees which play a key role in the survival of animal species Indicator The composition and abundance of palms Theme 1.3 The composition of tree species Indicator Abundances and population structures of tree species dependent on the forest 5.3 Species response Theme 2.1 Mammals and medium and large birds Indicator The abundance of mammals and species of medium- and large-sized birds Theme 2.2 Species directly impacted by the management operations Indicator Population sizes and population structures of harvested tree species susceptible to population decline Indicator The abundance of large liana species Theme 2.3 Indicator groups of disturbance Indicator The composition of the bird community Indicator The composition of the butterfly community Indicator2.3.3 The composition and abundance of the guild of dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) SECTION 6 (Content not translated) Sampling, thresholds, and activators 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The goals and objectives of the monitoring, and ideas on the sampling in order to achieve them Introduction The Goal and objectives Aspects of the sampling design for the monitoring of large forest management units General aspects An example from Mesoamerica 6.3 Thresholds and activators Basic ideas Determining the threshold values Establishing the activator values The heart of the matter: deciding when the activator values have been exceeded in managed areas Establishing thresholds when there is no information prior to the management Designing and evaluating monitoring programmes key aspects of the sampling design 6.4 The expected recovery time for the indicators of the stand structure 6.5 Examples The two case studies Structural indicators Indicators of the response of animal species General conclusions of the case studies 9

10 ANNEX A Principles 6, 8, and 9 of the FSC. Definition of High Conservation Value Forests ANNEX B (Content not translated) Conditions for ecological monitoring in certified natural forests in Central America Association of Producers of San Miguel (APROSAM) (Guatemala) San Andres Integral Forestry Association (AFISAP) (Guatemala) Association of Agroforestry Producers of the Pasadita (Guatemala) Carmelita Integral Cooperative of Commercialization, R.L. (Guatemala) The Technical Farming Cooperative, R.L. (Guatemala) GIBOR S.A. Paxban (Guatemala) The Civil Society of Impelling Suchitecos (Guatemala) Organization, Management, and Conservation Civil Society, Uaxactun Community (OMYC) (Guatemala) Papa and Copen, Colon (Honduras) Natural forests certified without conditions of ecological monitoring ANNEX C Indicator species and monitoring protocols ANNEX D (Content not translated) Assessing the probability that the harvested tree species decline in time D.1 Basic ideas D.2 Ecological processes that can cause populations to decline D.3 Grouping tree species with respect to their susceptibility to population decline D.4 Preventive measures for commercial tree species susceptible to population declines 10

11 SECTION 1 (Content not translated) Ecological Monitoring: What is it? Why is it important? How to start a monitoring programme? What will be found in this section? This section provides general information on ecological monitoring for managers and forest certificators interested in using this as a guide to design a monitoring programme with special emphasis on High conservation value forest. 11

12 1.1 Ecological monitoring: What is it? Importance of Ecological Monitoring for Forest Management Ecological monitoring is important for forest management for a variety of reasons. First, ecological monitoring can provide advanced warning of undesirable ecological change and thus permit managers to adopt an adaptive management approach to conserving biological diversity. Given the complexity of tropical forest ecosystems, following an adaptive management approach is essential. Secondly, ecological monitoring is a necessity in order to objectively evaluate whether project or protected area objectives of conserving biological diversity are being achieved. One of the major short-comings of most of the early integrated conservation and development projects has been the absence of a comprehensive ecological monitoring program (Kremen et. al 1994). Thirdly, ecological monitoring is a necessity in order to evaluate the long-term impacts of human activities and disturbance on biological diversity. This is particularly true because there is often a lag between a disturbance event and a subsequent response. Fourthly, ecological monitoring can provide important insights into the functioning of complex ecosystems. Understanding the ecological dynamics of a forest is a perquisite to developing sustainable forest practices. 12

13 SECTION 2 Design and implementation of a monitoring programme What will be found in this section? This section will take you through the ten steps to follow in the design of a monitoring programme appropriate to the intensity and scale of your operation, with special emphasis on the monitoring of High Conservation Values (HCVs). We will begin with the revision of the objectives of forestry management, giving more attention to those objectives related to conservation, especially the ones referring to HCV. We will analyze the importance of the precautionary principle for management in general, as well as the necessity of considering the importance of monitoring costs in the design of the programme. 13

14 Ecological monitoring is presented as an element within the overall process of planning of the management operations, which also include the Environmental Impact Assessment, and which complements a series of sensible measures for the protection and conservation of the forest. Starting from this base, we will analyze the remaining steps in the process of designing the programme. 2.1 ECOLOGICAL MONITORING AS A COMPONENT OF THE PROCESS OF ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE FOREST It must remain clear for now that it is not possible to think of ecological monitoring as something independent of the forest management process. Ecological monitoring, on the contrary, constitutes one of the steps necessary to ensure the fulfillment of the previously established management objectives, and compliance with the legal requirements and with the requirements of FSC certification. The Adaptive Forestry Management process (see figure 2.1.) requires that the forest manager performs the following activities: 1. Define the management objectives. 2. Identify High Conservation Values (if it is appropriate and if one is interested in FSC certification.) 3. Conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to identify positive and negative impacts of the principal management activities on important ecological variables (including HCV), in accordance with the national regulations of the country where the Forest Management Unit (FMU) is located, and with the requirements of the certifiers. 4. Establish mitigation measures to reduce the negative impacts of the operation. 5. Define the specific objectives of the monitoring programme (what is to be monitored?) 6. Select indicators for their assessment in the monitoring programme. 7. Establish a robust sampling design for the monitoring programme. 8. Establish limits or values for the measured indicators which activate a response (usually a change in the management operations). 9. Monitor the operations in accordance with the established scheme. 10. Adapt the management activities and the planning documents (return to number 4.) 14

15 Figure 2.1. The complete Adaptive Forestry Management process. A detailed discussion of each of the previously mentioned steps is presented in the following subsections with the intention that you can implement them in your own FMU (a schematic with the steps to follow is also shown in Figure 2.2.) Figure 2.2. Steps for the design of a monitoring programme. It illustrates the complete process of Adaptive Forestry Management. Figure 2.2. Steps for the design of a monitoring programme. It illustrates the complete process of Adaptive Forestry Management. 15

16 STEP 1. DEFINING THE MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES Objectives of general and specific management Management objectives are vitally important guides in the design of the monitoring programme given that the monitoring results help to determine if the objectives are being reached or not. Those objectives should include conservation elements, particularly when High Conservation Values have been identified in the managed forest. To define the management objectives is the first step in the process of designing and implementing a monitoring programme. As mentioned before, this Guide focuses on the objectives of production and conservation and we deliberately decided not to venture into the economic and social areas so as to try and be as clear as possible. Nevertheless, the inclusion of socioeconomic objectives in the management plan is equally critical for the success of the forestry operations. The general objective of production for management could simply be the sustainable production of timber with high and medium value. In the same manner, a general objective for conservation (based on Principles 6 and 9 of the FSC) could be the maintenance, improvement, and restoration of the biodiversity of the forest. These two objectives, in reality, can be combined into something greater that can be expressed as: the sustainable production of forest goods and services and the maintenance of the ecological integrity as a basic condition for sustainable production. It is important to remember that the emphasis and the investment in conservation can be distinct in different management operations. Some managers may attach a high priority to the conservation objectives; even exceeding the minimums established by the FSC, while in other situations, they might only need to achieve the minimum standards. On the other hand, we should also remember that Principle 9 requires that, in managed High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs), the emphasis be given to conservation objectives (just as with social, cultural, and economic objectives). Any operation located within an HCVF and with an interest in achieving FSC certification, should pay special attention to Principle 9. The specific conservation objectives depend on the particular characteristics of each FMU. For example, it could be that a species of monkey threatened by extinction may be present in your FMU, although it doesn t host the entire population of this species; therefore, you are not the only one responsible for the survival or extinction of the species, but you could experience difficulties achieving certification if your management regime contributes to the decline of this species, or if you haven t thought of how to stabilize or improve this situation. In this respect, a specific management objective could be to conserve the structural characteristics of the forest necessary for the threatened monkey species Ateles incognitum, to thus support the regional conservation efforts of the species. The conservation of such a structure would indicate that your approach complies with the intentions of Principle 9, relative to this species. 16

17 The precautionary principle The precautionary principle is a fundamental element in the management of High Conservation Value Forests, according to Principle 9 of the FSC. What does this precautionary principle consist of and how does it affect management objectives? The ecological consequences of any management activity can never be predicted with 100% certainty. This uncertainty creates a level of risk; any management action could provoke unforeseen negative ecological consequences. In general, a high level of risk is less acceptable when the ecological interests are high (such as in an HCVF) than when the negative ecological consequences are not that significant. The minimization of risks in situations in which the potential ecological implications could be severe is the basis of the precautionary principle. In practice, the precautionary principle means that due to the uncertainty related to the impacts of the management operations on the High Conservation Values which are managed, you must undertake all manner of practical measures possible to reduce those potential impacts within the context of the maintenance of an economically profitable operation. This is an important point. Low-profit tropical forestry operations are unsustainable and the economic profitability should be recognized as a critical component of the precautionary principle for the maintenance of HCVs in tropical lowland forests. It should be noted, however, that it cannot empirically be decided that the precautionary principle not be implemented because it could result in more costs. Operations in HCVFs which are interested in obtaining FSC certification should show the relation between costs and benefits if they decide not to implement the precautionary principle. On the other hand, if you are serious about good forestry management, you will always think preventively and should not worry about why this principle complicates your life. STEP 2. IDENTIFYING HIGH CONSERVATION VALUES This subsection defines the six types of High Conservation Values that can be encountered. For the purposes of this Guide, we are only interested in HCVs 1, 2, and 3, whenever we have restricted our monitoring methods to ecological elements. The manager interested in FSC certification should determine if the forests under management include any of the values considered within these three definitions or not, so that management and monitoring activities can be adjusted to these. Detailed procedures for the identification of HCVs can be found in the October 2002 Proforest guide Identifying High Conservation Values at the National Level: a Practical Guide (Jennings et al., 2002; info@proforest.net). 17

18 Ideally, a national-level process could be undertaken to determine the appropriate HCVs for a particular country. However, this still has not been achieved in any Latin American country (even though the process has been initiated in a specific Forest Management Unit in the RAAN, Nicaragua). We could offer a detailed methodology to identify HCVs in this Guide, but we confine ourselves to offering only some general features. Foresters and ecologists with experience and knowledge, as well as a solid understanding of the concept of High Conservation Value, can define the HCVs for a specific FMU. The first step consists of gathering information with respect to which values are present within the forest. Ideally, a team composed of foresters and biologists should be capable of deciding if those values are significant or critical. Independently of the values that the HCVF could have, you could attempt to identify some criteria that would permit you to rapidly exclude all those forests which definitely do not contain any HCVs, and conversely, identify those which potentially contain specific HCVs. Such a preliminary appraisal would allow for subsequent efforts to be directed toward those HCVs which could be present, reducing, in this form, the necessity to conduct a complete assessment for all HCVs. Also, it may be necessary to define thresholds in order to decide when a characteristic of a forest its area, an unusual ecosystem type such as a patch of flooded forest, or the number of endemic bird species found is sufficiently important as to require its designation as a High Conservation Value. The set of Tools of Proforest offers a guide for the definition of HCV in each of the following three types of High Conservation Value Forests designated as such from ecological attributes. We have synthesized the lengthy discussion, formulating various key questions with the purpose of helping to determine if your forest could have the High Conservation Values suggested for each definition. HCV1: The forest areas contain significant concentrations of values of biodiversity at global, national, or regional level. Is the operation located within protected areas? Are there threatened and endangered species (at global, regional, or national level) within the FMU? Are there endemic species within the FMU? Does the FMU provide critical seasonal habitat or temporary concentrations? HCV2: The forest areas contain large forest landscapes at global, regional, or national levels, or at the management unit level, where viable populations of the majority or all - of the species which occur naturally with natural patterns of distribution and abundance, exist. Is there significant intact natural forest? Is the size of the intact forest large enough to maintain the principal faunal populations? 18

19 Are the structural characteristics and the characteristics of the composition of forest species adequate to maintain natural populations? Is the degree of fragmentation such that the forest cannot maintain the natural patterns? Are the threats so large or frequent that the functionality of the forest is unlikely? Considering everything expressed previously, can one reasonably expect that viable populations with natural patterns of abundance and distribution exist for naturally occurring species? HCV3: Forest areas located in, or containing, rare, threatened, or endangered ecosystems. Is the FMU located within such an officially designated ecosystem? What is the extent of the ecosystem within the region or the country? What is the degree of protection of the ecosystem as regards the threats and rate of loss? What are the conditions of the ecosystem in terms of composition and structure? The experience in Guatemala and Nicaragua, combined with the analysis of the Proforest guide, suggests that the principal criterion in determining if a particular forest contains High Conservation Values or not, can be summarized in the following five categories which we will discuss in more detail: Governmental designation of the area (HCVs 1-3) Forest area (HCV 2) Threats to the forest (HCVs 1-3) Presence and abundance of particular species of plants and/or animals (HCVs 1 and 2) Characteristics of the forest (structure, composition, distribution) (HCV 3) As a forest manager, you should know the official designation of the area within which you are working, or should be capable of determining it in a relatively easy way. This Guide can provide you little help regarding your specific situation, but we stress again: this is something that you should know. The area of the forest and its localization in relation to other types of forests, management units, or protected areas, is also something relatively easy to determine via a simple check of projects of regional mapping of ecosystems, forest inventories, or satellite images. This Guide does not address how to determine the importance of your FMU in terms of its area within the landscape or the regional context. In the following subsection, we offer a simple model for the identification of the threats to the forest and their impacts (as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment process). You are probably already aware of many of the threats which afflict the forest you manage and, depending on your professional formation, also of some of the potential impacts of management activities. Our focus serves simply to provide some structure so 19

20 that you recognise the principal impacts and are certain that these do not fall through the cracks. The final two criteria important for the determination of HCVs are another story. The determination of the presence, abundance, and distribution of particular species of plants and animals, and certain characteristics of the forest, can be a complicated task which could lead to additional costs incurred if not carefully thought out beforehand. STEP 3. IDENTIFYING THE IMPACTS ON BIODIVERSITY AND ON HIGH CONSERVATION VALUES The Environmental Impact Assessment is a useful tool to determine the conservation needs in the FMU, in accordance with those human impacts on the biodiversity, constituting an ideal foundation for the development of a focus or conservation strategy which could include an ecological monitoring programme. One of the most difficult steps is determining how to focus the EIA. There is an almost unlimited range of impacts that a forestry management operation can cause. The impacts could be positive or negative, long or short term, and hardly or extremely significant. Also, many of the impacts are assumed (rarely are there data or experimental conditions to determine conclusively that a predicted result will occur), and there are often many contradictory points of view regarding the advantages and inconveniences of a forestry operation in a particular area. Additionally, we have all seen extensive documents with hundreds of pages dedicated to all the possible environmental impacts that could result from human activities. These comprehensive documents are costly, take time, and often one has problems understanding the main theme or implementing the most relevant mitigation measures. There are numerous EIA methodologies and approaches; here we simply want to introduce a useful process to initiate the analysis of impacts and provide inputs to the theme of High Conservation Values and monitoring. We try to present a process that is efficient and which could be implemented in countries and forest regions with limited resources and which face huge threats. We emphasize impacts which are under the control of forest managers and which can be reduced or eliminated by them. The impacts which receive more attention are those related to harvesting and silviculture. The subject of EIAs can be more deeply embraced in publications such as Gretzinger s (1996). 20

21 Significant themes The first step in the EIA process is to define the Significant Themes related to the results of the focus of the design of the management. These are determined starting with an extensive and balanced consultation with persons familiar with: The forest under study, The forestry management regime, The company, community, or individual implementing the management, and/or The relevant national legislation or the development policies. A balanced team of professionals with practical experience, combined with a well-driven process of open consultation which interviews people from different sectors (members of the community, government officials, local employees of NGOs, academic researchers, private sector), could ensure that a series of topics is identified. The emphasis should be devoted to the concerns and points of view of the individuals who have the experience and knowledge of the situation and to those more directly impacted by the operation. Considering only the points of view of the individuals driving the process is not enough. It is important to note that the EIA process is not entirely an objective analysis. In the end, a combination of the subjective opinion of the professionals driving the analysis and the opinions of the individuals consulted is used to determine the principal themes which should be studied. Frequently, a long list of themes is compiled. The task of the foresters, biologists, or multidisciplinary teams of evaluators, is to identify and prioritize the main themes, based on the number of times that these were mentioned and the points of view of the professionals, given its importance. The methodology previously mentioned developed by CATIE (Gretzinger, 1996) explores in more detail how this refinement process can be conducted. The Significant Themes supply the context within which we can focus the analysis of the impacts of different actions under key environmental factors. These themes can also result in the determination of High Values for the Conservation of the forest. Impacts and factors As part of the Environmental Impact Analysis, you should separate the broad categories of the management activities into more detailed individual components for example, silvicultural treatments, harvested trees, construction of roads, extraction of logs -, and identify the specific impacts beginning with the specific factors of each activity. This step is crucial, not only for defining the impacts, but also for developing the protection and mitigation measures, and for refining the monitoring programme, directing it toward the most relevant elements. The next step then, is to identify the principal management activities and the environmental factors or variables which could be impacted under each Significant Theme. The values could be assigned to the impacts as a function of the factor. These values can be quantitative (as the CATIE methodology suggests) or simply: High, 21