The effective protection of conservation values can partly be achieved through protected areas, e.g. national parks protecting biodiversity values, or indigenous reserves maintaining cultural and environmental values. However, protected areas are often insufficient to safeguard conservation values, and in many situations there is little scope to increase the area of total protection. Maximising opportunities to maintain and enhance values within  production landscapes has therefore become very important.

The High Conservation Value (HCV) concept has proved to be an effective approach to this complex problem. It originated in forest certification as HCVF, but is increasingly used by industry, governments and NGOs in forests and other ecosystems as an effective and flexible tool for land-use planning, making responsible purchasing and investment policy decisions, and conservation advocacy.

ProForest currently coordinates the HCV Resource Network  a voluntary association set up to promote cooperation, collaboration and consistency in the use of the HCV concept, to enable local-level approaches to implementation, and to support activities to develop and improve the HCV approach.

ProForest has wide experience of working with the HCV approach in a range of countries and ecosystems. Our services include the following:

• Development of HCV global toolkits
• Facilitation of national interpretation of HCV guidelines
• Policy development to integrate conservation within forest management and agricultural production.
• Guidance and policy advice on developing responsible purchasing and investment strategies which maintain and enhance High Conservation Values
• Carrying out HCV field assessments - identifying values and designing management and monitoring programmes
• Training and capacity building on the concept of HCV and HCVF
• As secretariat of the HCV Resource Network provision of a central point of reference for all HCV enquiries.