Assessing the impact of conservation incentive mechanisms ......2014/10/27  · Assessing the impact of conservation incentive mechanisms in smallholder farmer collective action contexts:

Assessing the impact of conservation incentive mechanisms in smallholder farmer collective

action contexts: ABD-relevant ecosystem services indicators

framework

Adam G. Drucker and Bárbara Willaarts

Bioversity International

Contributes to ecosystems and forests

Helps manage pests and diseases

Contributes to nutrition and health

Adapts to climate change

Why Agricultural Biodiversity Matters

Global concern for maintaining diversity

• International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture • “Alarmed by the continuing erosion of these resources” [i.e. PGRFA]

• Global Plan of Action on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture • “Genetic erosion is reported to continue in many regions of the world

and the genetic vulnerability of crops has further increased”.

• Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 • Aichi Target 13: By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and

farmed and domesticated animals and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as well as culturally valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity.

4 Copyright © 2012 Bioversity International

DUV IUV OV BV XV

Direct Use

Values

Indirect Use Values Option Values Bequest Values Existence

Values

Food

Animal feed

Fibres

Fuel

Construction

materials

Traction and

transport

Agroecosystem

resilience;

Maintenance of

evolutionary

processes & future

option values

Maintenance of

indigenous knowledge

and culture

(for an uncertain

future)

Satisfaction

arising from

passing specific

genetic

resources/

diversity on to

future

generations

Satisfaction

arising from

knowing that a

specific genetic

resource /

diversity exists

Private Goods Public Goods

Total Economic Value

5

Economics of Agrobiodiversity Replacement

(Financial/Private Perspective)

Opportunity Cost (OC)

Local Species,

Variety or

Breed

“Improved”

Species,

Variety or

Breed

G

r

o

s

s

M

a

r

g

i

n

$

I* Degree of Production

System Intensification

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Incentive Mechanisms: PACS

and Institutions of Collective Action

• Application of payment for environmental services (PES) concepts to genetic resources conservation and use issues per se

• Impact on institutions of collective action

• 'Good policies are those that support socially valued ends not only by harnessing selfish preferences to public ends but also by evoking, cultivating, and empowering public-spirited motives.‘ (Bowles, 2008)

7

Collective Action and Incentive Mechanisms:

Experimental game payoffs under alternative

land allocations

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PACS General Findings

• PACS schemes appear to have potential as an environmentally effective and

cost-efficient mechanism through which to provide conservation incentives.

• Equity/Pro-poor considerations may also be accounted for.

• Payments/rewards permit farmers to diversify their income sources by:

• providing conservation services per se for wider society; and

• potential participation in monitoring and verification activities.

• Payments/rewards may be made in-kind and at a community level (not only in cash to

individuals).

• Prioritisation protocols, competitive tenders and least-cost approaches

• can be used to minimise overall conservation costs, thereby allowing more to be conserved in situ

• Development of baseline status measures, monitoring systems and conservation goal definition is required for key PAGR.

• Many studies undertaken to develop indicators for biodiversity, but only partly for agricultural biodiversity (Buiteveld et al., 2009).

• Indicators for specific public good ecosystem services

associated with ABD not yet well developed. These relate to such services as: – Maintenance of future option values and evolutionary services

• Related to species/variety cultivated area

– Landscape level agroecosystem resilience (environmental, economic and social dimensions) • Related to spatial distribution and seed system

– Maintenance of traditional knowledge/cultural practices • Related to farmer numbers

ABD Conservation Goals and Indicators

Ongoing initiative in Cotacachi,

Ecuador

ABD in Cotacachi region

• ABD hotspot located in the Northern part of the Sierra (2300-

3000 msl)

• 75-80% population are indigenous and key economic activities:

agriculture >construction>handicrafts

• 80% of farmers cultivate their own land (<0.5 ha)

• Over 61 different types of edible crops identified although high

specialization in maize and bean production (> 16 varieties of

maize and 6 different varieties of beans)

• Previous studies have identified at least 6 varieties of maize and

2 of beans at risk (low cultivation)

• Drivers include: dietary shifts, urban migration, and commercial

varieties & environmental constrains (poor soil fertility and low

access to irrigation)

Steps to implement PACS I. Defining the target of PACS i.e. what do we want to conserve, rules of

participation and eligibility criteria of farmers

Identify those crops and varieties that are going to be targeted

Select farmers to participate in the program

Define the type of payment/compensation (e.g. monetary, in-kind)

II. Design an appropriate monitoring tool to assess status and trends of

ABD-related ES on-farm Development of an indicator framework to identify relevant ADB-ES

Assess actual status to define a baseline condition

III. Map the institutional context to identify threats and opportunities

underlying ABD management on-farm

IV. Assess PACS effectiveness

Targeting and Prioritization:

What to Board on Noah’s Ark?

www.tedxvienna.at

www.regjeringen.no en.wikipedia.org

Mapping and Prioritizing Diversity (Cacao Weitzman Case Study)

(Samuel et al., 2013)

4 Cell Method

(Community-level PGR Risk Assessment)

Source: Sthapit et al., 2012)

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• Literature review undertaken (citing 70 papers) seeking to identify the main groups of indicators that can cover the public good benefits generated by ABD (Nguyen and Drucker, 2013)

• Set of 12 priority indicators identified, related to aforementioned ABD-relevant ecosystem services: – Diversity and spatial distribution

– Area

– Farmer numbers

– Seed system

– Knowledge

– Ex situ measures

Development of a holistic indicator set

Illustration source: CIP- UPWARDS, 2003

Step 1 Design of PACS

Prioritise: Identify threatened crop species and

varieties

Intervention involves the cultivation of 4

threatened native varieties of maize:

o canguil, morocho, chulpi and black maize

94 farmers were selected. Criteria they had to

fullfil to join PACS were:

Willingness to participate

Availability of land to plant any/all of these

four varieties

Farmers were asked to state what type of

support/compensation/reward would be

necessary to make their participation possible.

Financing PACS

Steps 2 and 3 Identifying relevant ABD-related ES

and mapping of institutional context

A set of 26 indicators were selected to monitor the status of ABD-

related ES and track progress on the effectiveness of PACS.

Institutional analysis focus on mapping: Formal institutions: land tenure and existing regulations

Informal institutions: role of women and customary norms

ABD-related Ecosystem Services

Regulating /Supporting

Services

Crop conservation

Gene flow and evolution

Soil, Water and Pest

management

Provisoning

Food/nutritional security

Food and non-food uses

Cultural

Gastronomic diversity

Cultural practices

Step 2 and 3 Identifying relevant ABD-related ES

and mapping of institutional context

Data collection involves:

Personal interviews with farmers

(approx 90 participating PACS farmers + 30 control)

Focus groups with participating communities (4)

Principles

Selected indicators should be:

•Replicable

• Representative

• Meaningful and quantitative

• Cost-effective

• Sustainable (over time)

• Cover different spatial levels (eg local & regional)

• Practical to apply

•Evaluated over time and relative to a baseline

Project status/timeline

Step 1: October 2013 - July 2014

• Prioritisation/Threat Assessment

Step 2: July-November 2014

• (Indicator and Survey Development)

Step 3: October - December 2014

• Data Collection

Step 4: 2015 onwards

• Baseline Data Analysis and Monitoring; Assessment of PACS intervention

Some preliminary findings

Women are playing a key role in maintaining on-farm ABD. Men

often migrating to cities in search of alternative income

Farm size is decreasing as a result of land fragmentation. This

threatens farmer livelihoods and represents a major threat to the

conservation of ABD

Poor soil fertility and lack of access to irrigation are important

constraints to improving farm productivity and thus farmers

livelihoods

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Photo: Drucker 2009

Thank you

For more information about PACS project, factsheets, publications

and video, see www.bioversityinternational.org