Maintenance of biodiversity is of primary importance in flora and fauna conservation. Conservation of biodiversity is dependent on the maintenance of habitat, enhancing opportunities for recolonisation of cut-over areas, and by linking exclusion areas to allow genetic interchange. This may be achieved in the following ways:
Setting aside reserves within production areas large enough to maintain viable populations of plants and animals.
Retaining areas of unlogged forest to maintain habitat diversity. These areas should connect patches of forest as corridors that will not be logged.
Retaining habitat trees in production areas where appropriate for wildlife.
Protecting rare and endangered species and communities in production areas by modifying harvesting regimes or maintaining sections of unlogged forest.
Protecting representative areas of all forest types in conservation or reserve forests.
Maintaining databases on the distribution of plants and animal species within forest areas is also useful for benchmarking purposes.