SFI Standards Prevent Forest Degradation

SFI Board Policy Cutoff Date

SFI Module with Supplemental Requirements to Support EUDR Compliance

Recently, discussion points around forests have shifted from deforestation to the less well defined, “forest degradation.” Forest degradation is a much more nuanced concept than “forest cover loss” and requires a more detailed review and analysis.

While there are well over 100 published definitions of “forest degradation”5, the concept can be broadly defined when anthropogenic disturbance impacts a forest landscape to the point where it is unable to recover and deliver its expected range of ecosystem services.

Any list of ecosystem services provided by a forest would be lengthy but suffice it to say it would include the filtering and recharge of freshwater, flood control, carbon sequestration, oxygen production and air filtration, wood fiber production, biodiversity maintenance, provision of non-timber forest products, along with the provision of recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual values.

While metrics do not exist to readily measure all of these, there are indicators for many of them, and one must presume that the more of them that are maintained, the higher the likelihood of the others being maintained.

Further, many of these values are variable in space and time, and several are not coincidental in space; a regenerating fire scar or clear cut may have low aesthetic value for a few years but still have reasonably high carbon sequestration rates, especially after silvicultural treatment, and an old-growth stand may have low carbon sequestration, but high spiritual value. Further, the diversity of a young stand may be similar to an old stand, but have very different species composition, meaning that at a broader scale, both are required to maintain biodiversity. In short, many of these ecosystem values need to be considered over large spatial and temporal scales covering the entire life-cycle of the forested landscape.

Catastrophic large-scale disturbance such as fires, insect outbreaks and windthrow are not considered forest degradation, if the forest is restored, even though some may have root causes in anthropogenic climate change or past forest management decisions. Where these disturbances do occur, silvicultural activities such as salvage logging and regeneration activities can have a positive effect on forest health.

Some forest management activities may be considered to have lasting and direct positive anthropogenic effects. These may include positive impacts on biodiversity through restoration, assisted migration, or fire management, among others. Such activities would not be considered degradation, although they may differ from natural processes.

The SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard prevents forest degradation through five core areas which act to limit lasting and significant direct anthropogenic impacts to the structure, composition, or function of the forest.

>Below are those areas and the key requirements of the SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard.

1. PRODUCTIVITY (e.g., growing stock, non-timber forest products)

• Prompt forest regeneration after harvest: Performance Measure (PM) 2.1.
• Maintenance of forest soils and stocks: PM 2.3.

2. BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY (e.g., ecosystem state, forest fragmentation, species, species functional groups)

• Protection and maintenance of native biodiversity: PM 4.1.
• Conservation of species at risk and rare communities: PM 4.2.
• Identification and protection of ecologically important sites: PM 4.3.

3. DISTURBANCES (e.g., alien invasive species, fire, water quantity)

• Protection of water values: PM 3.2.
• Avoidance of negative effects of biological agents: PM 2.4.
• Limitations of forest degradation from wildfire and restore forest post-wildfire: PM 10.1.

4. CARBON STORAGE

• Enhancement of opportunities for carbon capture on forests that are owned or managed: PM 9.2.

5. PROTECTIVE FUNCTIONS (e.g., soil erosion, water quality)

• Maintenance of forest soils and stocks: PM 2.3.
• Protection of water values: PM 3.2.

Furthermore, SFI Performance Measure 1.2 lays out specific constraints on conversion of one forest cover type to another forest cover type, which in turn also prevents forest degradation. In particular, PM 1.2 precludes conversion of one forest cover type to another forest cover type in the absence of objectives for long-term outcomes that support maintaining native forest cover types and ecological function. This includes where conversion puts rare; ecologically important, native forest cover types at risk of becoming rare, or where conversion creates significant adverse impacts on Forests with Exceptional Conservation Value, old growth forests, or forests critical to threatened and endangered species.