IFL Data in Nature Conservation Practice

The significance of the IFL analysis method and map lies in its power to enable and catalyze practical conservation planning and action with regard to large undeveloped forest landscapes. The IFL data contributed to transparency in forestry sector and helped promote knowledge about remaining intact forest landscapes globally. The World's IFL map allows direct quantitative assessment and comparison of remaining large natural forest areas globally, for the first time. Our method represents a substantial step forward in terms of resolution, consistency, and accuracy. Our map allows a user to determine whether a specific activity falls within or outside an IFL with a margin of error of less than 1 km. The results of this project could support local grassroots groups dealing with wide-scale forest protection by providing quality and up-to-date information. This project could also encourage public participation in conservation and forest management as well as in data gathering.

Here we will provide a summary of on-going nature conservation campaigns and sustainable land-use management efforts that rely on the global or regional IFL data.

Greenpeace International "Our Disappearing Forests" campaign.

The World's IFL mapping results are used for global call for actions by international ecological organization Greenpeace. The IFL data is used to show that the world's remaining ancient forests are in crisis and that fewer intact forest landscapes than previously thought are left. Conservation of large Intact Forest Landscapes is a robust and cost-effective way to conserve biological diversity. The remoteness and large size of these areas provide the best guarantee of continued intactness. To save them, the active nature conservation campaign was started by Greenpeace globally in year 2006. Greenpeace is pressuring giant consumer companies like Kimberly-Clark, maker of Kleenex brand tissue products, to stop destroying North America's ancient Boreal forest. The organization is also working in the heart of the Amazon, campaigning to prevent it from being cleared to grow agricultural products such as soy, and has set up a Global Forest Rescue Station in the Paradise Forests of Papua New Guinea to protect those forests from illegal logging. Greenpeace demand to establish immediate moratoria on new industrial developments are also needed in the last intact forest landscapes, as identified in the World's IFL map.

Read more:
Greenpeace International Our disappearing forests campaign page
Roadmap to Recovery: The World's Last Intact Forest Landscapes. Greenpeace, 2006. PDF (11.2 Mb)

Greenpeace Russia Forest Campaign.

The main objective for Greenpeace Russia Forest Campaign is to push for reasonable forest management profitable for the country in general and preserving nature and natural values for future generations. The IFL mapping criteria and methods were originally developed tested, and published by Greenpeace Russia (Yaroshenko et al. 2001). The regional IFL maps were important data to establish and define the extent of the IFL logging moratorium agreed between forest industry and Russian environmental groups. Greenpeace Russia with support of several regional Russian NGOs has used IFL maps to propose several new national parks: Kutsa and Hibiny (Murmansk Region), Kalevalsky (Karelia Republic) and Onezhskoye Pomorye (Arkhangelsk Region).

Read more:
Greenpeace Russia forests campaign page
Yaroshenko A., Potapov P., Turubanova S., 2002. The Last Intact Forest Landscapes of Northern European Russia. Greenpeace - Global Forest Watch, Moscow, Russia. PDF (3.5 Mb)

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification Process.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has included a category of High Conservation Value Forest in its Principles and Criteria for Forest Stewardship (FSC 2004) whose definition is similar to that of intact forest landscapes: "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." FSC's Principle 9 requires that "Management activities in high conservation value forests shall maintain or enhance the attributes that define such forests. Decisions regarding high conservation value forests shall always be considered in the context of a precautionary approach." This means that intactness values must be preserved as a condition for getting certified. Some regional FSC standards, particularly the Canadian and Russian national standards, interpret this HCVF category as globally, nationally or regionally significant forest landscapes unfragmented by permanent infrastructure and of a size to maintain viable populations of most species (FSC Canada Working Group 2004, FSC BC Regional Initiative 2005, Karpachevskiy and Chuprov 2007), allowing them to use regional IFL maps for certification of forest management. In the FSC Controlled Wood standard (FSC 2006) IFL are directly mentioned among other categories of High Conservation Value Forests.

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