Description:
Over 30% of global forest area is unmanaged primary forest of which 65% is located in Canada, Russia and Brazil. Intact forest describes extensive unfragmented landscapes of at least 500 km2 clothed in trees, undisturbed by roads or other industrial infrastructure, and has had no commercial harvesting in the past 30-70 years. Most intact forests and all primary forests that have escaped significant human degradation, support the highest levels of biodiversity and many important ecosystem values and services. They contain a disproportionally high share of global forest carbon and are large enough to sustain complete and complex systems of biological diversity including top predators and naturally rare species. There is a growing body of scientific evidence to indicate the positive benefits of old growth, intact forests to the regulation of local and possibly regional climatic conditions, and how human disturbance can degrade a forest’s ability to attenuate temperatures. Only 22% of intact forests are in IUCN PA Categories I-VI (5% of preagricultural natural forest cover), and continuing deforestation and land use change threatens much of the remaining unprotected areas. Almost all global forest ecoregions are vulnerable to climate change impacts and recent summer drought across Europe has exposed the risk of European forests to climate-induced increases in windthrow, fire and insect outbreaks. In this paper the CEM Forest Ecosystems Specialist Group advocates future proofing intact forests and the essential ecosystem services they provide by affording strict protection to all remaining IFLs. Furthermore, that IFLs become learning landscapes for developing ecosystem-based practices of sustainable forest management in commercial forests and plantations. |