Maderacre: Protecting Biodiversity in the Heart of the Amazon

The FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure has helped Maderacre verify its positive impacts on biodiversity and carbon, supporting the protection of the most iconic tropical rainforest in the world.

Madre de Dios, a Peruvian province in the Amazon, is not only one of the most biodiverse areas of the planet – it is also home to fragile species that require extensive forest areas to thrive. This region’s harmonious ecosystems and natural exuberance are historically afflicted by illegal logging and hunting, deforestation for agriculture and livestock, extraction activities and more. The forestry company Maderacre, which owns a concession area of more than 220 thousand hectares in the region, is seeking to change this predicament. This is why they have chosen to get verified through the FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure, for the positive impact of their forest management practices on biodiversity and carbon sequestration.

What is the Ecosystem Services Procedure?

The FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure consists of seven steps. Each step helps FSC forest managers show positive impacts of their forest practices on ecosystem services. Once an independent certification body evaluates the process, each verified impact results in a so-called “ecosystem service claim”. Forest managers and their sponsors can then use this claim for promotion and communication. Maderacre’s verification, approved in January 2020, demonstrates their unwavering commitment to conserving species diversity and carbon stocks in their property.

Positive impacts on biodiversity and carbon

The company has successfully demonstrated positive impacts in four main categories. First, by increasing the property area under full conservation status by 57%, from 7,014 ha in 2014 to 10,995 ha in 2019. Second, by protecting the entire forest management unit (220,844 hectares) against illegal hunting and logging, resulting in less illegal deforestation. Thirdly, by diminishing the area degraded by reduced impact harvesting operations, which helps maintain the regeneration capacity of the forest. And lastly, by maintaining the number of species present in the property. A study conducted in 2017 registered an impressive 135 species in the concession area, including 17 key species tracked for their importance to this ecosystem.

Maderacre also got verified for the positive impacts of their forest management on carbon sequestration, maintaining a stock of at least 350 thousand tCO2in their forest every year since 2017. This remarkable figure, equivalent to the annual emission of around 76,000 cars, shows just how much the company is engaged in the fight against climate change.

Who benefits from these services?

Maderacre is situated within a larger range of important conservation areas. According to Alba Solis, director at FSC Peru, “several engaged communities and local populations around this area depend on this network’s fauna and flora for sustenance. They also depend on its resources such as water, soil quality and co-benefits like pollination.” The company also promotes community programs in the area tied to environmental education, health improvement, capacity-building, workforce insertion and ecotourism.

Maderacre Director, Nelson Kroll, firmly believes in the private sector as a catalyst for environmental change: “Sponsoring our hard work in this forest can bring symbiotic benefits to all participating stakeholders and produce tangible rewards for society and nature.”

Get involved

FSC certifies ecosystem service sites all over the world. It recently celebrated its 38th successfully verified ecosystem service claim.

If you are a potential sponsor or partner interested in this initiative, please visit the ecosystem services webpage to find out how to get involved.

You can also directly contact Maderacre through their website, at www.maderacre.com/contactenos.