What price for Nature’s ‘greenbacks’ – the forests?
Conservationists are debating whether working out a rupee value for forests would convince money-crunching bureaucrats that preserving them makes more economic sense than stripping woodland for income-producing purposes.
“Many people consider forest as a waste of land where utilising that terrain for other purposes can bring income, also contributing to the national economy. But forests provide other services such as delivering the fresh water we drink and the clean air we breathe whereas if we lose these services it will cost a lot of money to implement costly alternatives,” the Conservator-General of Forests, Anura Sathurusinghe said.
“It is often a big challenge to communicate this value to politicians and officials who mainly understand the value of everything in monetary terms and demand forest land for other development work,” Mr. Sathurusinghe said at a press conference organised by REDD+ Sri Lanka regarding the forthcoming International Research Symposium on Valuation of Forest Ecosystems and Their Services to be held in Colombo on October 18.
REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is an effort to identify value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries.
“Tagging a value” for services provide by an ecosystem such as a forest is a modern concept. Ecosystem services are broadly divided into four categories: provisioning, such as the production of food and water; regulating, such as the control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and crop pollination; cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits. The concept aims at putting a price tag for these services which helps to convey their values in monetary terms. Hence the price that has to be paid by destroying that particular forest is highlighted.
“We know about ‘provisioning’ values of forests such as the value of timber, but other services are often taken for granted,” said forests expert Professor Nimal Gunathilake. He explained the aims of the research forum were to share the existing knowledge on forest ecosystem services valuation, identifying new methodologies and identifying the drawbacks.
(Conservator General of Forests Anura Sathurusinghe)
Ecosystem valuation can be difficult and controversial, and economists have often been criticised for trying to place a “price tag” on nature. At the forum, a question was raised whether communicating the value of individual forests to the general public is prudent as people could start exploiting natural resources such as in the case of illegally stripping forests of “walla patta” trees and smuggling the resin-rich wood overseas.
Mr.Sathurusinghe revealed that a recent review of forests showed degradation was a bigger concern than deforestation. Deforestation means conversion of forest to another land use type while degradation is deterioration of the standing vegetation in density, structure and species composition due to human activities and natural causes.
The four main causes of deforestation are encroachment, infrastructure development projects and private agriculture ventures while drivers for forest degradation include illicit felling of trees, cattle grazing, forest fires, gem-mining, quarrying, forest undergrowth cultivations such as cardamom and non-timber forest product gathering such as weniwel or walla patta. A REDD+ Sri Lanka report states Anuradhapura is the district with the highest levels of deforestation and forest degradation.
Deforestation is taking place at a relatively higher rate in the dry zone due to the many development projects now occurring there. Experts cautioned that dry zone forests are as important as wet zone forests.
Source : October 2016 http://www.sundaytimes.lk/161002/news/what-price-for-natures-greenbacks-the-forests-211050.html
Sri Lanka to protect forests with US$45mn World Bank project
Sri Lanka’s forest and wildlife protection agencies will start project to help communities living near protected habitats to improve livelihoods and make use of natural resources without degrading or over exploiting, the World Bank said.
The World Bank is giving a 45 million dollar credit for a project that wll involve 15,000 residents, 30 percent of them women, living near protected habitats improve their livelihoods and develop income streams such as eco-tourism.
“Sri Lanka is blessed with a rich endowment of eco-systems,” Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives said in a statement.
“Striking a fair balance between economy and ecology is crucial, not only for the preservation of the ecosystem but also for helping people emerge from poverty.”
“Managing this natural heritage is the responsibility of all Sri Lankans. Benefits of well managed eco-systems include, improved national economy as well as addressing challenges such as human wild life conflicts and climate change effects.”
Sri Lanka’s government wants to expand forest cover.
The project will also will develop human-elephant co-existence mechanisms and protect watersheds to boost agricultural productivity.
“The project will improve responsible planning and management of protected areas and other biologically and ecologically important locations throughout Sri Lanka,” said Darshani De Silva, Senior Environment Specialist and Project Task Team Leader.
“It will help to create sustained linkages with communities living adjacent to protected areas to ensure participation in protection of critical ecosystems and benefit sharing..”
It will improve the quality of visitor services, and raise revenue potential of forest and wildlife resources.
The capacity of Forest Department and Department of Wildlife Conservation will also be boosted to better carry out their work.
Source : 2016/09/05 Economic Next http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lanka_to_protect_forests_with_US$45mn_World_Bank_project-3-6036-13.html