The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet - and its people. Forests provide society with a wide range of benefits, from reliable flows of clean water to productive soil and biodiversity conservation.
In 2018, the FSC released their FSC Ecosystems Services Procedure to create incentives for the preservation of valuable ecosystem services in responsibly managed forests. This provides a mechanism to demonstrate and communicate about the positive impact of responsible forest management on ecosystem services. These verified positive impacts aim to facilitate payments for ecosystem services to organisations achieving these positive impacts and to provide access to other benefits, thereby adding business value to land managers.
The first FSC Ecosystem Services claim in Africa has been awarded to CMO Namibia (Pty) Ltd (SGS-FM/COC-011482) in November 2020. This is a significant achievement for both the 250 farmers within the CMO Group Scheme in Namibia and for our forest management certificate holders in the Africa Region.
CMO Namibia has implemented a claim for Biodiversity Conservation, 1 of the 5 claims available via the FSC Ecosystems Procedure. CMO Namibia, together with their members, have implemented a set of requirements which demonstrates their positive management impacts on the restoration of natural forest (savannah woodland) characteristics. Their group members are achieving this via the removal of invasive tree species and responsible thinning of encroacher tree species, creating more natural forest conditions for biodiversity to thrive within.
Manushka Moodley, FSC Southern Africa Coordinator, says this achievement will create an additional level of awareness of the long term restoration commitments and actions taken on FSC certified farms, along with providing an opportunity for investors to demonstrate their environmental commitment in the restoration of degraded forests in Africa. It is only with healthy ecosystems that we can enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and stop the collapse of biodiversity.
The claim has been verified to span approximately 1.1 million hectares of low intensity managed forests (woodland). Dr Michal Brink, CMO Group Manager, says CMO is committed to making a lasting contribution to forest restoration in the Namibian encroached landscape. However, we need support from the international community to assist local farmers with a credible and lasting after-care (operational management control) system to ensure that woodlands are not re-encroached over time. The sale of our verified FSC ecosystems claim will ensure that we can source funding to subsidise the effective after-care on all our FSC certified farms across Namibia on a sustainable basis.
Michael Dege, Namibian Charcoal Association, maintains that the implementation of the FSC Ecosystem Services will be a great benefit to our producers who want to engage in responsible after-care programmes to ensure forest restoration is achieved. This will ensure a balanced biodiversity in our landscapes. Namibia currently has an estimated 45 million hectare of bush encroached farmland which leads to heavy losses in income for the farming community as they can often no longer farm economically on this land. Charcoal production is no longer seen just as extra income for many farmers but has provided them with a livelihood which has allowed them to survive in a country where climate change has a severe impact. Charcoal also assists them in getting their other income streams back on track. Therefore, the aftercare programme is of utmost importance to be conducted in a responsible way to support farmers for generations to come.
The verified FSC Forest Management certification together with the Ecosystem Claim for biodiversity conservation (forest restoration) additionally helps achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, mainly those on climate change, poverty eradication, food security, water and biodiversity conservation. It also contributes to the UN Decade of Restoration, which runs from 2021 through 2030, calling for increased global cooperation to restore degraded and destroyed ecosystems.
Learn more about the FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure by visiting the FSC Webpage. Watch our recently released videos about FSC certification in Namibia.
Want to make a contribution to support Namibian farmers with forest restoration activities in Namibia? Contact FSC Southern Africa via m.moodley@fsc.org or CMO Namibia via michal@cmogroup.net should you be interested in purchasing this FSC verified biodiversity conservation claim.