FSC Plays Key Role in Protecting Great Apes |
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Responsibly managed forests — such as those managed according to FSC standards — play an important role in the conservation of the world's remaining great apes, according to a new World Wildlife Fund report. "In the past 50 years, the number of great apes living in the wild has been cut in half," said Matt Lewis, WWF's senior program officer for African Species Conservation. "However, market-oriented solutions like responsibly managed forestry can help save them, along with stricter poaching controls and increased protected areas." The authors of the report found that in contrast to other types of logging, FSC forest management is a good guarantee of the preservation of adequate living conditions for great apes. FSC certification — in tropical forests and elsewhere — requires independent audits and allows for selective logging while requiring maintenance or enhancements of high conservation value forest areas. FSC principles also require preservation of habitat conditions for rare and threatened species, such as fruit trees for great apes. All four great ape species — bonobo, chimpanzee, gorilla and orangutan — are considered endangered or critically endangered and are at risk of extinction. Although national parks and nature reserves are the ideal habitats for great apes, the report concludes that FSC-certified forests on the periphery of protected areas are important buffers zones. FSC-managed forests can create corridors to connect often isolated great ape populations — critical to their long-term survival. The WWF report also offers specific recommendations for governments of both timber-producing and timber-consuming countries, forest companies, retailers and consumers, and FSC itself. The recommendations for FSC are to ensure high-quality standards and that certified operations thoroughly fulfill FSC requirements.
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