A National Interpretation of the High Conservation Value Forest ...

Within Wildlife Management Areas timber
harvesting and other economic activities may be
allowed as per respective WMA rules and
landowner agreements. Specific management
plans required.
DEC, PNGFA, WMA Committee, community needs
determines type of activity.
HCV1.2 Critically endangered species
Description
Forests that contain concentrations of threatened or endangered species are clearly more important
for maintaining biodiversity values than those that contain none or a few, simply because these
species are more vulnerable to continued habitat loss, hunting, disease etc. FSC Criterion 6.2 already
deals in a general way with individual rare, threatened or endangered species present. HCV element
1.2 adds further protection for forests that contain outstanding concentrations of rare and
endangered species.
Definition
A forested site is considered as HCVF if:
1) There is reliable field data on the presence of at least one IUCN Red List endangered, and
critically endangered species
OR
2) The forest contains at least one of the following abundances of a CITES Appendix I listed
species:
• at least three breeding pairs of animals (regardless of density) or
• at least five trees/hectare, or
• five small plants or shrubs/hectare
OR
3) The forests are important for the long-term survival of a species if they are susceptible to
adverse impact due to logging
Rationale
The island of New Guinea and satellite islands are well-known centers for high levels of endemism.
Many species are confined to limited distribution ranges. Because of this, and due to human-made
habitat alterations, many of these species are considered Endangered (En) or Critically Endangered
(Cr) or are so rare that they are considered Data Deficient (DD) according to the IUCN Red List
(www.redlist.org). All these are recognized as of HCV and the forests they inhabit as HCVFs.
The quality of information available precludes any threshold for numbers present of critical species
(PNG endemics, endangered, critically endangered or data-deficient) or assemblages. Therefore, the
presence of one individual of an En, Cr or DD species in a location shall render the forest as HCVF.
The geological processes underpinning the evolution of these threatened PNG endemics affected all
taxa. The presence of one endangered endemic is therefore harbinger of the existence of a center of
endemism and other equally endangered species. These centers of endemism cover extensive areas
of mainland PNG and virtually all satellite islands. There is no prioritization mapping process carried
out by DEC, other than the Conservation Needs Assessment (CNA, 1993), based on the
biological/threat status of species. The CNA results reflect areas of high endemism and high
biodiversity, which correlate with the location of endangered and critically endangered species.
However, because very little is known of the fauna and flora of PNG, the CNA draws on expert
opinion and limited data and is considered outdated. .
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