The pricing the Biodiversity of the Island
Implementing Agency: The Biodiversity Secretariat of the state Ministry of Environment
Introduction
Rationale:
Although Sri Lanka was identified as one of the global biodiversity hotspots, biodiversity values are not being mainstreamed satisfactorily in national-level economic decision-making. In business as usual scenario (BAU) often Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) values are ignored and under-estimated. This leads to unprecedented biodiversity loss due to the misallocation of biological resources. Therefore, as a paradigm shift towards Sustainable Ecosystem Management (SEM) Scenario, valuing, mapping and prioritising BES were identified as a priority activity. This was highlighted in the COP X discussions staged in Nagoya, Japan in 2010. Despite the scanty, scattered and ad-hoc basic level research as a means of academic intellectual exercise to value the components of Total Economic Value (TEV) of biodiversity, national-level efforts to estimate a country’s BES value base and compiling it to create a meaningful context to facilitate sound decision making is lacking.
To fill the above gap, we launched a community-based participatory valuation exercise to value our biodiversity and ecosystem services, with active intellectual guidance from university academia. In this mission, it is expected that more realistic BES values to be estimated.
The pricing of the Biodiversity of the Island Project was initiated by the Biodiversity Secretariat (BDS) as a pilot project to estimate the country’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services(BES) values and develop a database and maps to facilitate decision-making to mainstream such values into the national economy. BES value base will be instrumental in formulating strategic resources mobilization programme to generate in-country funding for biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization to promote sustainable livelihoods and green jobs in the country.
The project launched as a 3-year project in 2012 and lasted until the end of 2014. Extended for 2 years until the end of 2016
Main Objectives
Main Components
1. Economic Modeling
For developing appropriate BES valuation methodologies for the Sri Lankan context, case studies will be implemented by networking with other organizations. Field inspection Visits to Progress monitoring and documentation, Two Progress evaluation workshops to value the ecosystem service in selected ecosystems.
Five case studies to be granted and administered as follows.
Case study -01: Valuing Organic farming and Bio Intensive cropping in Vaddukoddai. Vaddukoddai Development Foundation
Case study -02: “Growing cardamom under a pine in the Buffer Zone of the Knuckles Forest in Sri Lanka” - Gramaabiwurdi Foundation for Environment conservation
Case study -03: “Farmers Valuation of Agro Biodiversity in Home Gardens- Kurunagala District ’’ Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
Case study -04: “Analyze of Eco System Services, Bio-Diversity and Livelihood of Forest Garden Farmers in Matale & Maho Area.” - Green Technology forum
Case study -05: “Valuing Native cattle in Illukkumbura in Knuckles Region” - Wild Reach organization
Launching National Guidelines for mainstreaming BES into National Economy & Follow up action of 1st National Symposium, National guidelines for payment mechanism /tools for cross-sectoral ecosystem services will be formulated. “Participatory BES valuation toolkit will be developed.
2. Baseline Survey
Before the project formally commenced, biodiversity and ecosystem services were valued at the academic level and as sub-components in the EIA procedure. And some institutions like universities and research and development institutes have capacities on biodiversity valuation. The baseline survey was meant to document the benchmark of the biodiversity value before the project.
3. Project preparation / Conception and Information Assessment
The project needs to be appropriate to the ground realities of the society and culture of Sri Lanka. Following the “Ecosystem approach “according to the adaptive management principles, project conception will be done. With the available information in Sri Lanka, BES valuing needs to be done according to the livelihood context. The capacity of the BDS will be strengthened, and BDS will be equipped with other supporting services.
Map Generation and Database Development
As “Cost-effectiveness “ being is a principle advocated in the ecosystem approach, Priorities need to be set. Therefore Priority setting, database development, and spatial mapping using appropriate GIS software will be done. The information generated from the project will be shared openly in the National Biodiversity Clearing House mechanism web portal.
4. Publication and Dissemination
Video Documentary on “the value of Ecosystem Service in Sri Lanka”, Short video (5- 10 minutes) which explains the value of ecosystems service for mainstreaming into the marketplace. Interactive web page and blog development *, Dissemination of project findings, awareness creation, Knowledge enhancement and networking of stakeholders are planned to be done.
Training Workshop, Awareness creation, Training of valuers,2 workshops conducted in selected national universities publicity, Preparation of policy briefs, Valuation exercises and conducting mini-workshop to test the effectiveness of choice modelling, print leaflets to disseminate project findings. , brochures, policy brief papers, advertisements and newspaper articles,
Outcome
By 2020 Sri Lanka needs to formulate a System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework for integrating Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) values into the existing national income accounting system.
In this project country’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) identified, defined and valued for mainstreaming into the national economy by assigning Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). As PES triggers the “Provider receives, and user-pays Principle” a lot of BES is expected to be exchanged in the market, forming an “Ecosystem Market Place” as the final outcome. The project is expected to develop BES value-base essential prerequisite for the ecosystem marketplace.
The Biodiversity Secretariat hosted the First National Conference on Livelihoods, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy in partnership with IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Sri Lanka Country Office. The theme of the conference was “Ecosystem Services for Linking Biodiversity with Livelihoods”
It brought together experts from government organizations, academia, and the non-governmental sector. This Conference was part of a pioneering project titled “Pricing the Biodiversity of the Island”, which was being implemented by the Biodiversity Secretariat to value biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES) for contributing to National Planning.
The Conference provided a forum to share and discuss international trends, and national and grass-root level initiatives for deriving BES values for better conservation decision-making. It was also the expectation that the Conference would enable the initiation of a network of BES knowledge in Sri Lanka. The Conference covered the broad areas of global and national contexts of BES, best practices for applying BES values, payment mechanisms for BES, sharing of benefits of BES across livelihoods, and ways of mainstreaming BES values into economy-wide policy and planning process in the country. The Programme was prepared in consultation with a network of leading national and international experts.
As another sub-activity five pilot level, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) Valuation case studies were initiated. Case studies were called from Community-based organizations and universities involved in biodiversity management by advertising in national newspapers. The aim was to develop appropriate methodologies for BES valuation in the Sri Lankan context as best practices. Valuing native dwarf cattle, new habitats created for Cardamom under pine, agrobiodiversity in home gardens, forest garden products, and organic farming were selected as case studies.
Period
2012 - 2016
Budget
Rs. 19.5 Million
