FSc Forest certification as a conservation tool in Portugal: impacts and potentialities.

Júlia Albert Varela. 2020.  FSc Forest certification as a conservation tool in Portugal: impacts and potentialities. Master Thesis. University of Padua - Department of land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry.

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Summary
High Conservation Values (HCV) is a concept introduced by the Forest Stewardship Council that focuses on outstanding forest attributes that need extra consideration when developing sustainable forest management in certified forest areas. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of the FSC HCV approach on conservation focusing on selected Portuguese forest management units. To do so, it was described the HCVs presence in Portugal and the role of FSC certification on enhancing protection outside of formally protected areas and the impacts of the approach implementation for certified organizations was analysed. This study used primary data from a mail survey to the FSC certificate managers of areas with HCV and secondary data from FSC audit reports. Due to the lack of standardization, results from secondary data analysis are not considered to be entirely reliable, but a starting point for further research. Data was analysed through descriptive statistics on Microsoft Office Excel. Results concluded that FSC HCV approach contributes to conservation in certified forests in Portugal. Although HCV areas only account for approximately 6% of the certified forest area, measurement of changes caused by the approach implementation for the certified organization demonstrated a positive impact on forest certification. Moreover, the study also highlighted the role of certification in preserving HCVs present outside of traditionally protected areas like Natura 2000 or national protected areas. Also, survey answers pointed out that certificate managers consider the HCV approach to have an overall positive impact, although weaknesses were pointed out: lack of standard reporting and need of better guidelines. In order to improve the future of the HCV approach, improvement suggestions were done on report standardization, increased certified organizations guidance and increase of HCV importance under the FSC forest certification scheme.