By Han Kar Kay
Certified forests can maintain similar levels of fauna biodiversity to undisturbed primary forests in the Amazon region, according to a study using acoustic space use (ASU).
In a study evaluating the impact of forest certification on the fauna biodiversity comparing three forest management types -- Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified management sites, non-FSC management sites and reference sites in Peru, the soundscape analyses show greater ASU in FSC sites.
“Most importantly, the composition of the soundscapes had greater overlap between the reference and FSC sites,” said Marconi Campos-Cerquiera, Chief Scientific Officer at Rainforest Connection, during a side meeting on “Valuing Biodiversity in Tropical Certified Forests”.
In Campos-Cerquiera’s presentation, “Harnessing the power of sound to protect, preserve and understand the natural world”, he explained about the power of sound to protect, preserve and understand nature and biodiversity.
“In the tropics where illegal logging and habitat degradation are widespread, FSC likely represents one of the best tools to conserve tropical forests while offering economic opportunities to different landowners, especially communities and smallholders, working responsibly in those regions. But is FSC certification effective?”
“Yes, mostly. There is now robust evidence, that in general, forests under FSC certification or reduced-impact logging (RIL) seem to be better for the environment than conventionally managed ones,” explained Campos-Cerquiera who presented virtually from Puerto Rico.
The side event also saw presentations from Joeri Zwerts, a wildlife biologist currently a postdoc at Utrecht University, Netherlands and Ian Redmond, the Born Free Foundation’s representative in FSC.
Zwerts explained the role of animals in forests such as elephants, and the impact of hunting have on the environment in his presentation titled “Does FSC-certified forestry help to conserve wildlife in tropical forests?”
Redmond, who is also the co-founder/director of Rebalance Earth, Head of Conservation for Ecoflix, and an Ambassador for the United Nation’s Convention on Migratory Species, outlined the ambition to change the global economy by making nature and wildlife to be a profitable part that enables them to be protected.
Focusing on ecosystem restoration, Redmond stressed on the importance of valuing the services of nature. “In the coming years, we will need more data and there will be value to these data.”
“…(based on the data) there will be payment for ecosystem services, for the work that the animals provide. FSC is an effective way for this trend because when there are more forests certified, the better it is as those ecosystems are more effective in doing what we need them to do,” he added.
The session ended with a brief panel discussion featuring the three speakers as well as FSC International staff – Strategic Advisor & Global Advocacy Lead, Anakarina Pérez Oropeza, Senior Research Relations Manager, Dr Marion Karmann, and Monitoring and Evaluation Manager, Franck Trolliet.
The side event was organized as part of FSC General Assembly 2021-2022, to provide an insight into FSC’s Global Strategy 2021-2026 – Demonstrating the Value and Benefits of Forest Stewardship through unleashing the power of data.