Chapter 6: Practical tools for assessing special values and HCV

Product Description

Managing special values and High Conservation Values (HCV) is not a simply defined task. It may encompass a range of issues affecting or affected by an operation that need to be managed to meet sustainability standards.
Special and high conservation values need to be assessed before a management strategy can be identified. This can involve highly complex expert assessment. In particular assessment of HCV, which has six classes (see below) could involve a number of scientific or social disciplines.

This section will offer some tips and tools for making a simple early assessment of special values. Companies will need to adapt them to their specific situation. In almost all cases, the first step will be to interrogate publically available data. Many institutions and government departments around the world have data sources that can be used for reference.

In some cases, however, it may not be possible to easily adapt these simple tools and suggestions to your circumstances. In such cases it may be necessary to seek expert advice.

This section focuses mainly on the HCV categories. It is important to note, however, that there is a trend towards using the term ‘special values’ rather than HCV where the HCV network definitions do not fit neatly into a standard. For example the developing Water Stewardship Standards use the term ‘special values’. However, the principles and tools presented below are still relevant and can be used.