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Introduction
Biodiversity conservation: Its significance and the issues
Biodiversity conservation is part of the larger objective of promoting sustainable development. Biodiversity loss not only affects current economic growth, but also the capacity of the economy to sustain future economic growth. Biodiversity loss has both human and non-human impacts as well as intergenerational and intragenerational impacts. For instance, while the benefits of biodiversity conservation will accrue to the present generation, the costs of biodiversity loss will be borne by future generations. Similarly, while the benefits of biodiversity conservation may accrue to the local and global community at large, the costs are most often borne by the local community who depend on forests for their livelihood (e.g. Wells, 1992). Poor people and less developed countries are affected the most by biodiversity decline. Biological diversity provides the goods and services that make life on Earth possible and satisfy the needs of human societies. The variability it represents constitutes a global life insurance policy (UNEP, 2001). Biodiversity also plays a crucial role in maintaining the resilience of ecosystems to environmental shocks (Perrings et al, 1992; Tilmand and Downing, 1994, see Gowdy, 1997; Perrings, 2000). Hence, the need for conserving biodiversity is obvious. In view of its importance, biodiversity conservation is receiving considerable attention both in research and policy circles in recent years, especially after the Rio Summit of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in 1992.
Biological diversity, or biodiversity for short, is an umbrella term used to describe the number, variety and variability of living organisms in an assemblage. Biodiversity may be described in terms of genes, species and ecosystems. Genetic diversity is the sum of genetic information contained in the genes of individuals of plants, animals and micro-organisms. Species diversity refers to the variety and variability of species in a given region or area. Ecosystem diversity can be defined as the variety of habitats, biotic communities and ecological processes in the biosphere as well as the diversity within the ecosystem (Pearce and Moran, 1994).
The developing countries are rich in biodiversity such as forests, wetlands, aquatic environments, etc. However, the biodiversity of the developing countries are under threat due to demographic and economic pressures, faulty incentive mechanisms and policies, and so on. Although much of the world’s biodiversity is concentrated in developing countries, research on biodiversity is centred in developed countries.
While moral and ethical grounds can be advanced to justify biodiversity conservation, it is primarily economic forces that are driving down much of the world’s biological diversity and resources (Pearce and Moran, 1994). A proper assessment of the benefits of biodiversity conservation ought to take into account the opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation in terms of the benefits forgone as well as the external costs of conservation, for example the wildlife damage costs and defensive expenditures to protect against wildlife attacks incurred by local communities living within or near forests. Even if the global community were to perceive biodiversity conservation favourably and support conservation activities, ultimately it is the perceptions and attitudes of the local communities who reside within or near forests/protected areas and depend on forests for their livelihood that will make a difference to biodiversity conservation. Understanding the local values of biodiversity conservation and the incentives and disincentives for biodiversity conservation, especially those operating at the local level, is, therefore, critical to devising appropriate strategies for biodiversity conservation. Policies for conserving biodiversity depend upon the perceived costs and benefits of biodiversity conservation. This necessitates a comparative assessment of the benefits of biodiversity conservation vis-à-vis the benefits forgone or realizable from the alternative land use options of forests such as utilizing them for and sustaining agriculture, animal husbandry, tourism and recreation, and other activities. Figure 1.1 presents a flow chart illustrating the alternate land use options of forests, namely, the preservation, conservation and development options. The preservation option precludes any human use of forests. This implies that forests are preserved in their original or natural state without any human interference. The conservation option, on the other hand, permits human uses of forests in a sustainable way, such as the sustainable extraction of timber and non-timber forest products. The development option implies the destruction of forests and conversion to non-forest uses, such as permanent or settled agriculture, establishing human settlements, industries, mining, hydro-electric and other development projects. The choice confronting most countries and societies is the conservation vs. development option. However, an assessment of the benefits of biodiversity conservation as opposed to alternate land use options poses problems and challenges, since many environmental goods and services are not traded or are difficult to measure. A number of valuation techniques such as the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), the Travel Cost Method (TCM), hedonic pricing, etc., have been developed to value biodiversity. (For a detailed list of methods of valuing biodiversity and protected areas, see Dixon and Sherman, 1990; Pearce and Moran, 1994.) Similarly, recent policy initiatives to declare protected areas or sanctuaries to protect habitats, biodiversity and wildlife have focused attention on their social costs since most often they tend to exclude local or indigenous communities from their planning and implementation, without giving them a stake in conservation or providing sustainable livelihood options. These adverse social impacts can affect the quality of success of these policy initiatives. These initiatives also tend to ignore or under-rate the importance of traditions and customs as well as of local communities and institutions in conserving natural resources. The proposed research will probe into some of these issues as well as undertake a willingness to pay (WTP) or willingness to accept (WTA) study for environmental goods and services with respect to tropical forests.
Figure 1.1 Alternate land use options of forests
Tropical forests
This study focuses on tropical forests, which are without doubt the most important ecosystem type from the viewpoint of global biodiversity. The sheer diversity of functions which they serve, the uniqueness of primary forests in evolutionary and ecological terms, and the accelerating threat to their existence justify this focus on tropical forests (Pearce, 1991). Tropical forests cover 14 per cent of the Earth’s land surface (8,000,000km2) and are exceptional in the wealth of their biodiversity. Half of all vertebrates, 60 per cent of known plant species and possibly 90 per cent of the world’s total species are found in tropical forests (ODA, 1991). There are more species in total and per unit area in the tropics than in temperate and polar regions (UNEP, 2001). Besides biodiversity, cultural, spiritual, aesthetic and recreational benefits, tropical forests also provide vital environmental services such as helping to protect watersheds in terms of water retention, flood protection, helping to prevent soil erosion, nutrient and carbon cycling, influencing local and global climate functions, and so on. (Pearce, 1991; Perrings, 2000). Tropical forests provide a wide range ...
