The World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya, together with Forest Trends, Washington DC, The World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland, Corporación Grupo Randi Randi, Quito, Ecuador, the African Centre for Technology Studies, Nairobi, Kenya, the Institute for Economic and Social Research, Bangalore, India, and the United Na tions Environment Programme – Division for Environmental Law and Conventions, Nairobi, Kenya, is leading a scoping study for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC-Canada) on the model of payments for environmental services (PES) as applied in developing count ries, to determine how the poor are affected by these schemes and whether the schemes are compatible with poverty reduction objectives. As a key part of the study, a 3-day workshop is being held in each focal region. The Asia Regional Workshop was held in Bangalore, India from 8 -10 May 2006 at the Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources (CEENR) of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC). The event brought together 39 participants from across the re gion, including India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, as well as the project coordination team from the Nairobi headquarters of The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Delegates represente d international and nati onal-level organizations, academic bodies, NGOs, consulting firms and donor agencies. This report covers the proceedings of the works hop. It includes summaries of all presentations made (22) as well as summaries of the panel discussi ons and the open discussions held after the presentations.
Tag: Compensation
Biofuel plantations on forested lands: double jeopardy for biodiversity and climate
The growing demand for biofuels is promoting the expansion of a number of agricultural commodities, including oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). Oil-palm plantations cover over 13 million ha, primarily in Southeast Asia, where they have directly or indirectly replaced tropical rainforest. We explored the impact of the spread of oil-palm plantations on greenhouse gas emission and biodiversity. We assessed changes in carbon stocks with changing land use and compared this with the amount of fossil-fuel carbon emission avoided through its replacement by biofuel carbon. We estimated it would take between 75 and 93 years for the carbon emissions saved through use of biofuel to compensate for the carbon lost through forest conversion, depending on how the forest was cleared. If the original habitat was peatland, carbon balance would take more than 600 years. Conversely, planting oil palms on degraded grassland would lead to a net removal of carbon within 10 years. These estimates have associated uncertainty, but their magnitude and relative proportions seem credible. We carried out a meta-analysis of published faunal studies that compared forest with oil palm. We found that plantations supported species-poor communities containing few forest species. Because no published data on flora were available, we present results from our sampling of plants in oil palm and forest plots in Indonesia. Although the species richness of pteridophytes was higher in plantations, they held few forest species. Trees, lianas, epiphytic orchids, and indigenous palms were wholly absent from oil-palm plantations. The majority of individual plants and animals in oil-palm plantations belonged to a small number of generalist species of low conservation concern. As countries strive to meet obligations to reduce carbon emissions under one international agreement (Kyoto Protocol), they may not only fail to meet their obligations under another (Convention on Biological Diversity) but may actually hasten global climate change. Reducing deforestation is likely to represent a more effective climate-change mitigation strategy than converting forest for biofuel production, and it may help nations meet their international commitments to reduce biodiversity loss.
Assessment of spatio-temporal distribution of human-elephant conflicts: a study in Patharia Hills Reserve Forest, Assam, India
Human–wildlife conflicts (HWCs) are escalating globally because of human population growth and increased per capita demand for and consumption of natural resources. These conflicts may be exacerbated where anthropogenic land uses are encroaching on designated conservation or protected areas. Large mammals, such as the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), are increasingly victimized in HWCs as movement across large-scale areas places them at odds with land areas used by humans. The number of human–elephant conflicts (HECs) reported in India involving the Indian elephant (E. m. indicus) have also increased. Managers require better information on the pattern and distribution of HECs to mitigate them and conserve elephants. To address this, we studied 1306 HECs reported from 2015 to 2019 in Patharia Hills Reserve Forest, southern Assam, India. We visited these 1306 sites based on our inventory of complaints filed and recorded the village where the incident occurred, the types and extent of damage, the approximate cost of damage and information about elephants. Conflicts peaked at crop maturity. Ninety-five percent of damage reported involved rice crops (644 ha) belonging to 1245 farmers, and 59 incidents involved household and property damaged. The estimated cost of HEC during the study period was 85,688 USD. The average affected cropland size of each farmer was 0.52 ha. Of the identified 23 HEC-affected villages, four villages were mildly affected (10 or<10 incidents), 12 villages were moderately affected (11–50 incidents), three villages were highly affected (51–100 incidents), and a remaining four villages were severely affected (>100 incidents). In villages reporting more HECs, long-term management practices, such as community training for on-sight deterrent of elephants, can be adopted to reduce conflicts. In these areas, villagers also reported the damage compensation process implemented by the government was slow. Expediting the compensation process coupled with increased community training and cultivation of deterrent crops may help reduce villagers’ animosity toward elephant conservation.