Site Nomination for Peat Site Profiles in Southeast Asia

Definition of Categories:

1. Protected Areas
   
   Peatland areas which are legally formed and protected under the regional, national or local legislation for conservation and socio-cultural purposes. It also includes peatlands of international importance which were declared under International conventions.
   
   For example:
   
   
• Peatlands of International Importance
  RAMSAR sites
  Man and Biosphere Reserves
  World Heritage Sites
  Important Bird Areas
• Regional
  ASEAN Heritage Park
• National
  National Parks
  State Parks
  Wildlife reserves
  Forest Reserves
  Community Conservation Areas (CCA) - Philippines
  Others
  
  
2. Best Management Practice Sites
   
   These refer to existing peatland sites that have been designated for specific purposes (e.g. agriculture, plantation, ecotourism etc.), located on government, private or community land. Nevertheless, management interventions are in place and best management practices (e.g. water management, fire management, rehabilitation, community-based conservation etc.) have been initiated and implemented on the ground to ensure that the peatland is managed sustainably.
   
   These areas can include:
• Community land/forests
• Agricultural land
• Forest Plantations
• Oil Palm Plantations
• APFP/SEApeat - Pilot project sites
• Multiple/socio-economic use areas (e.g. ecotourism)
  
  
3. High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF)
   
   High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF) designation depends solely on the presence of HCVs within the forest. For this exercise, we adapted the concept of HCVF from the FSC principles and criteria to HCVs found in peatland forests in Southeast Asia. Here management intervention is needed to maintain or enhance the identified HCVs in the identified/nominated peatland sites. This category is only applicable if your nominated site does not fit the criteria of the protected area or best management practice sites.
   
   HCVFs are areas that possess one or more of the following attributes:
   
   
   • HCV1 Forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant concentrations of biodiversity values (e.g. endemism, endangered species, refugia).
   • HCV2 Forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant 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.
   • HCV3 Forest areas that are in or contain rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems.
   • HCV4 Forest areas that provide basic services of nature in critical situations (e.g. watershed
     protection, erosion control).
   • HCV5 Forest areas fundamental to meeting basic needs of local communities (e.g. subsistence, health).
   • HCV6 Forest areas critical to local communities’ traditional cultural identity (areas of cultural,
     ecological, economic or religious significance identified in cooperation with such local communities).

(FSC Principles and Criteria, February 2000)

HCVF are simply the forests where these values are found. A HCVF may therefore be a small part of a larger forest, a small patch of a rare ecosystem or the whole of a forest management unit.