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Commonwealth
Forests | | |
 CONSERVATION
Responsible forest management incorporates not only wood production but the conservation of
the site and its biological diversity, nevertheless in most Commonwealth countries certain
protected areas have been set aside with the main aim of protection of ecosystems. They
may perform many functions, including the conservation of biological diversity, the provision of
vital services, such as the protection of watersheds and soils and of human communities from
natural disasters. Many are important to local communities, especially indigenous peoples
who depend for them for a number of resources. They often protect places of cultural
importance or provide tranquillity; some are important for research and education while others
can contribute to local economies through eco-tourism. IUCN - the World Conservation Union -
defines a protected area as: an area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection
and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and
managed through legal or other effective means. A description of the six IUCN protected area
categories is at Annex 3.5.
The main feature of the management of natural forest with protection function in the eleven
Commonwealth ITTO countries is that, apart from Malaysia and the figures on the attribution of
protection areas to one of the IUCN conservation categories, there is a lack of data. Partly
this is because many countries consider that all permanent forest estate, including managed
forest, has protected area status.
In the light of threats posed to forest ecosystems from deforestation, several countries
recognise the need to protect examples of them. For example, two Commonwealth countries,
Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, have combined with Indonesia to establish, with the
assistance of WWF, the Heart of Borneo Initiative (HOB). A network of protected areas covers
an expanse of transboundary highlands which includes unique biological diversity. See
http://www.wwf.or.id Forests continue to surprise the world with hitherto undiscovered species.
A recent report from WWF notes that the forests of Borneo (the Malaysian States Sabah and
Sarawak, and Kalimantan the Indonesian part of Borneo) in which 422 new plant species have
been found in the last 25 years, contain plants which are potentially a “medical treasure trove”.
In 2006, twenty-eight new species of orchid were discovered in the forests of Papua New
Guinea (reported in the London Evening Standard of 15.10.06). An example of the discovery
of
a new tree species was the Wollemi Pine, Wolemia nobilis, which was discovered in 1994
west of Sydney, Australia. There are less than 100 individuals, and the exact location of the
site is still a secret. Previously the genus had been known only from fossil records. Now some
plants have been bred and a few have been distributed to major botanic gardens. See
http://www.wollemipine.com A form of ex situ tree conservation, which may be overlooked
by
foresters, is the botanic garden. Botanical gardens, which in Europe developed from the
monastery herb gardens for raising medicinal plants, have a long history in the
Commonwealth. Several were started by foresters as arboreta and many tree species, both
ornamental and economic, were introduced through them.
According to Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) there are over 1 800 botanic
gardens in the world, and although several of them are devoted to plant forms other than trees,
there are few which do not contain some specimen trees. BGCI has defined botanic gardens
as institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific
research, conservation, display and education. (Botanic Gardens Conservation International
http://www.bgci.org/worldwide/home/
) and based on that definition the following data on botanic
gardens in the Commonwealth has been derived.
Although much of the work of botanic gardens will continue to be scientific research and
conservation, their educational and recreational purposes will become increasingly important
with growing urbanisation.
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