Ecosystems and biodiversity conservation

We assume a commitment to conservation and protection of ecosystems and biodiversity, maintaining native forest hectares, protecting watersheds, water courses, flora and fauna, and restoring. We understand the latter as the activity that initiates or accelerates an ecosystem’s recovery, improving the state of conservation, recovering degraded sites and increasing the flow of ecosystem goods and services.

Public biodiversity and no deforestation commitment

At CMPC we believe and maintain a strong commitment to biodiversity, which is why in all our operations and value chain we are committed to:

  1. Promote biodiversity conservation.
  2. Avoid productive operational activities within areas containing globally important biodiversity, such as IUCN Category I-IV protected areas and UNESCO World Heritage natural sites, as well as other nationally protected areas.
  3. Not deforest or degrade the forest and native vegetation, promoting their conservation.
  4.  Apply the principle of mitigation hierarchy when operating in the vicinity of critical biodiversity areas, preventing, minimizing, restoring and offsetting any negative impact through:
    • Compliance with local legislation and voluntary agreements derived from adhesion to certification schemes or other specific good practices commitments.
    • Creation of special areas for the protection of species of flora or fauna that are in some category of conservation (Areas of High Conservation Value).
    • Development of management and monitoring plans for the conservation and protection of forest heritage, taking care of the biodiversity of the territory, the well-being and balance of ecosystems.
    • Conservation and maintenance of the conditions of the habitats of native species, especially those with conservation problems.
    • Restoration to increase the conservation area, recover degraded ecosystems and sites, and offset the impacts of forestry.
    • Prioritization of the firefighting strategy.
    • Prohibition of any illegal activity within the heritage, especially within the Areas of High Conservation Value.
    • Creation of capacities within the company for the care of High Conservation Value Areas and dissemination of information to all stakeholders, especially to local communities.
  5. Work jointly with different stakeholders, external and internal, to fulfill our commitment
Our corporate goal for sustainable development in terms of conservation is adding, by 2030, 100,000 conservation, protection and/or restoration hectares to the more than 320,000 hectares that the company maintains in Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
Goal 15.1:By 2020, ensure conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and arid areas, in line with the obligations contracted by virtue of international agreements.
2018

Baseline

 2019        2020 Goal by 2030
Performance (ha) 321,529.0 325,995.0 385,725.6 421,529.0 (100%)
Annual variation (ha) 4,466.0 64,196.6 100,000
% of progress towards the goal 4.5% 64.2% 100%

Conservation, protection and restoration surface, by country, in ha

2017 2018 2019 2020
Total surface   321,529 325,995 385,726
Argentina 5.87% 5.79% 4.94%
Brazil 42.50% 42.82% 51.19%
Chile 51.63% 51.39% 43.87%

At the same time, through sustainable forest management certification, in Brazil and Chile we have made a voluntary commitment to restoration by the year 2026:

Progress of compliance with restoration commitment in ha

Commitment by

2026

 Restored

2010-2018

 Restored

2019

 Progress Restored

2020

 Progress
Total 73,.824 33,638 12,864 63% 14,024 81.99%
Brazil 65,086 31,648 12,466 68% 13,594 88.66%
Chile 8,738 1,890 398 26% 431.5 31.12%

We also manage High Conservation Value Areas, HCVAs, corresponding to areas that have relevant, unique, significant or critical characteristics or attributes for their natural environment (HCVRN, 2005). Their identification and adequate protection correspond to a commitment associated with sustainable forest management certifications.

HCVA: quantity and surface in ha

2018 2019 2020
No. ha No. ha No. ha
Total 418 26,462 432 28,318 446 28,291
Biological 26 85,36% 26 86,45% 26 86,53%
Services 364 13,84% 378 12,9% 392 12,71%
Sociocultural 28 0,80% 28 0,6% 28 0,76%

Guideline for HCVA conservation:

1.        Priority in fire fighting
2.        Prohibition of use of fire inside and in the surrounding sectors
3.        Prohibition of fishing, hunting, logging or any illegal activity inside
4.        Coordination with scientists and experts for monitoring of critical conservation attributes
5.        Cleaning of endemic species environment
6.        Communication and dissemination in local communities regarding HCVAs
7.        Internal personnel training on the care of HVAs
8.        HCVA dissemination through information brochures and posters
9.        Onsite entrance fencing and signaling

Rural Fires

99% of wildfires are caused by human activity, whether through carelessness, negligence, agricultural burning practices or intentionally. Therefore, the most important thing in firefighting is occurrence prevention and the protection of people’s lives. Our prevention strategy prioritizes interface fires, focusing prevention efforts on the residential community, preventive forestry and the use of state-of-the-art technology.

The conditions most likely to cause a fire are temperatures above 30°C, relative humidity below 30% and wind speed over 30 km/hour –a combination of conditions called ’30-30-30′.

Number of spots and surface affected by fires, in ha

2016-2017 Season 2017-2018 Season 2018-2019 Season 2019-2020 Season
spots ha spots ha spots ha spots ha
Total 744 19,722.7 988 2,554.6 1.092 3,328.7 1,605 4,261
Argentina 4% 0.01% 4.6% 1% 1.8% 0.08% 4.80% 0.05%
Brazil 16% 1.3% 23% 52% 13.9% 3.3% 20.93% 2.77%
Chile 80% 98.5% 72% 47% 84% 96.5% 74.27% 97.18%