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
6 Copyright © 2012 Bioversity International
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)
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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