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| 2. DEMONSTRATING THE VALUE OF NATURE |
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Natural resources that are used clearly have value, but so do many resources that are not directly used. Measuring that value is vital to convince people to take better care of natural assets. It can also lay the basis for agreements between stakeholders on how to share the costs and benefits of sustainable use, improve the governance of natural resources, and design incentive schemes and new business opportunities.
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What is Nature worth? That deceptively simple question vexed none other than the father of economics, Adam Smith, who wondered in The Wealth of Nations why humans paid fortunes for a useless luxury like diamonds, but nothing for an essential like water. IUCN contributes to making the hidden wealth of biodiversity explicit, and changing the exchange rate.
We promote rigorous economic valuation of ecosystem goods and services to clarify the role that ecosystems play in the livelihoods of the poor and the economies of nations. In 2006, we put a price on environmental damages, estimated the return on investment of restoration efforts, and calculated the benefits of healthy ecosystems. We also worked with the private sector to value their impacts on biodiversity, and to help them become a more informed ‘shareholder’ in nature at the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Appropriately, our most visible effort focused on the dry areas covering 40% of the Earth’s land surface, where two billion people live, and where freshwater resources have become scarcer and thus also more precious – like diamonds.
SHOWING THE VALUE OF DRYLANDS
A government official may see a barren savannah, but the people living there know it plays a vital role in their lives. Valuing the hidden worth of drylands helps decision makers appreciate the importance of natural assets and make better decisions for development.
IUCN helped governments integrate the valuation of dryland ecosystem services into their development plans. In dry countries of Africa and Asia, where official statistics had estimated drylands contributed 3.3% of GDP, new studies found the actual share was, conservatively, closer to 12%. In the Kalahari Desert, home to the marginalized ethnic minority San people, we found that gathering of veld products is emphatically undervalued in terms of the firewood, veld foods and medicinal plants used locally and worldwide. Devil’s Claw, for example, the most important commercially exploited medicinal plant in Botswana, had a value of around USD 40,000 in 2005. Hoodia, a succulent plant that suppresses appetites, could help diversify rural livelihoods. Morula trees and candle bush contain waxes and lipids the cosmetic industry need. Our recommendations influenced arid nations to value drylands for commercial markets. “If Botswana took advantage of the untapped economic value of the Kalahari Desert, a new sustainable sector could be created,” said IUCN President Valli Moosa, adding that this living economy “could become as valuable as diamonds.”
REVEALING THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF PASTORALISM
New information demonstrates that extensive pastoralism is a more efficient use of drylands than commercial ranching – and also more sustainable. It encourages countries to take a fresh look at pastoralism as a way of life and as a valuable economic sector.
IUCN has shown how national plans have neglected the goods, services and other values of pastoralism. Yet in countries like Senegal, Niger and Sudan, 80% of the agricultural GDP is derived from the milk, meat, wool, hide, blood and dung of herded livestock. Last year IUCN highlighted how pastoralism is two to ten times more productive than commercial ranching under the same conditions. Why? In a word: efficiency.
We found herders make the best use of natural resources, especially where water shortages mean that the best strategy is to follow the rains. Rather than causing desertification, grazing can increase biodiversity; dung fertilizes soils. In fact, pasturelands retain carbon in their soils whereas ploughing grasslands can release more carbon than felling a forest. Scaling up, we helped the UN Convention to Combat Desertification integrate our findings, and prompted Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Peru, Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Iran to do economic valuations of pastoralism as well.
CREATING ECONOMIC GROWTH WITH ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING
Studies that integrate economics and the environment can reveal hidden prospects for growth. Mozambique’s case shows that some of Africa’s poorest nations could potentially double their income and protein intake from fisheries through more efficient management.
Fisheries, especially prawns, contribute USD 80 million to Mozambique’s export earnings, 2.2% of its GDP, and 100,000 fishing jobs that bring in food and cash to poor coastal communities. But the country only harvests half of its potential sustainable catch of 300,000 tons per year. Training in sustainable fisheries management is weak or nonexistent. And fishing remains a haphazard, risky and poorly understood commercial industry. To help enhance returns in the industry, IUCN developed environmental accounts for sustainable fisheries management in and around Maputo. Our work also identified policy options for improvements in fisheries taxation and employment.
GENERATING MORE INCOME FOR PROTECTED AREAS AND PEOPLE
The influx of tourists who want to see unique natural beauty earns precious foreign exchange for governments and local communities alike. We showed how governments often under-price their natural assets, and how they can generate more funds to manage their parks.
Over three decades, Djoudj National Bird Park in Senegal has attracted thousands of visitors who pay to see rich birdlife. Last year IUCN asked how much they would be willing to pay. The answer is that tourists are willing to pay three to six times the current price of admission. In 2002, with such higher prices, total revenue would have been between Euro 120,000 and 220,000, as opposed to just Euro 30,000 at the actual price. Failure to take account of the full value of parks results in chronic under-funding of protected areas and under-investment in public amenities. In Botswana, we valued the Okavango delta, home to 80 fish species, 115 mammal species and 500 bird species.
This biodiversity generates a gross income of USD 200 million for tourism, or 5% of GDP and 40% of employment in northern Botswana. Competition comes from agriculture, pastoralism, dryland or ‘molapo’ farming worth USD 500,000 net income; wetland resources contributed a net private value of USD 2.8 million in use and sales of natural resources. Our results will help determine the Okavango’s most economically viable management options.
SHOWING RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN THE ENVIRONMENT
Valuation can reveal that investing in conservation measures makes good economic sense, and that the return on investment is higher than converting natural landscapes for other uses.
Our joint study calculated the economic value of Hakaluki Haor – a major wetland and Ecologically Critical Area of Bangladesh. We found the wetland yields significant economic benefits, especially for the poor. Direct value came mostly from fisheries and paddy cultivation. Indirect values included watershed and flood control, biodiversity and aesthetics. Together we conservatively estimated the key goods and services generated at BDT 585.75 million per year (almost CHF 11 million) or an average of BDT 48,000 (CHF 880) per hectare. Our study also showed the high returns to investing in conservation measures, and highlighted the significant economic contribution doing so made to the livelihoods of the poor. Bangladesh’s local and national government welcomed the results and will apply them in haors nationwide.
IMPROVING MARKET ACCESS FOR WOMEN THROUGH CERTIFICATION
Certification can demonstrate to consumers that producers are socially and environmentally responsible, and they are then willing to pay more.
Southern African women who trade in natural products face challenges in getting to market. Our Natural Futures Project provides technical and financialb support to help small enterprises win certification. Consider Namibia’s Eudafano Women’s Cooperative, an association of 4,000 rural women. We developed their Internal Control System for the harvesting, supply and processing of local natural products. We helped train and employ part-time inspectors who spent two months mapping resources and farms. We showed local producers how to maintain organic programmes. The Internal Control System led to a rigorous and comprehensive certification assessment of homes, farms and the cooperative’s factory by the regionally accredited agency, EcoCert. Once the formal certificate is granted, the women’s cooperative will see 30% greater returns on product sales. |
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