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Part I
The Opportunity
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Chapter 1
The value of nature for local development
Lead author
Heidi Wittmer (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ)
Contributing authors
Augustin Berghƶfer, Hans Keune, Pim Martens, Johannes Fƶrster, Kaitlin Almack
Reviewers
Philip Arscott, Regina Birner, Karin Buhren, Charlotte Karibuhoye, Sophal Chhun, Lucy Emerton, Birgit Georgi, Karin Holm-MĆ¼ller, Arany Ildiko, Tilman Jaeger, Mikhail Karpachevskiy, Veronika Kiss, Wairimu Mwangi, Jennifer Nixon, Dominique Richard, Marta Ruiz Corzo, Nik Sekhran, Hank Venema, Wouter Van Reeth, Susan Young, Karin Zaunberger
Acknowledgements
Alice Ruhweza, Thomas Kretzschmar, Nigel Dudley, Tasneem Balasinorwala, Kevin Urama, Frank WƤtzold
Language editors
Simon Birch, Judy Longbottom
Content of this chapter
| 1.1 | Local developmentās biggest asset |
| 1.2 | A potential not fully recognized |
| 1.3 | What can local policy makers do? |
| 1.4 | Ecosystem services: an overview |
| Ecosystems services are interrelated |
| Enhancing production often reduces other services |
| When ecosystems reach tipping points, their services can change drastically |
| 1.5 | Who is affected? |
| Local costs and global benefits |
| Conserving biodiversity while eradicating poverty? |
| 1.6 | The natural relation between biodiversity and public health |
| Providing medicine |
| Safeguarding the quality of food, air and water |
| Limiting the spread of infectious diseases |
| Nature experience |
| Invasive species |
| Protection against natural hazards |
| 1.7 | Linking local policy, ecosystem services and climate change |
| How ecosystems mitigate climate change |
| How ecosystems help us to adapt to climate change |
| A window of opportunity |
Key messages
ā¢ Nature provides more than one solution. To provide a good quality of life for citizens local governments have many needs to address. Maintaining and enhancing natural capital can significantly contribute to better the provision of municipal services, improve public health and help lower the cost of energy.
ā¢ More than a nice sunset. Nature is an important asset for local economies and livelihoods. Assessing the services provided by nature so called āecosystem servicesā ā can make this asset visible and help to identify cost-effective solutions.
ā¢ Small changes have a remarkable impact. Poor people, especially in rural areas, rely most directly on natureās services. Addressing the loss of ecosytem services can significantly contribute to reducing poverty.
ā¢ Just because you donāt see it, it doesnāt mean it isnāt there. Ecosystem services with high market value tend to be promoted to the detriment of other services, such as flood regulation or water filtration that are less visible but equally important for local development.
ā¢ Itās a matter of priority. Maintaining healthy ecosystems is more urgent because of global climate change.
More and more, the complementary factor in short supply (limiting factor) is remaining natural capital, not manmade capital as it used to be. For example, populations of fish, not fishingboats, limit fish catch worldwide.
Herman Daly, former chief economist with World Bank in 2005
This book is aimed at policy makers involved in local and regional policy and public management. It showcases how decision makers can promote local development by explicitly considering nature and the services it provides for human well-being. This chapter explains what nature provides us with (1.1), why natureās benefits are not fully recognized (1.2) and what can be done about it at the local level (1.3). It describes how ecosystems provide different types of services and what happens if development efforts only consider a few of them (1.4). Two issues of particular relevance for human well-being are addressed: distributive issues, including how ecosystems play a role in poverty reduction (1.5) and the relationship between biodiversity and public health (1.6). Finally, we also explore how biodiversity and ecosystems are impacted by climate change and how a resilient environment can help mitigate the impacts, or adapt to them (1.7).
1.1 Local developmentās biggest asset
Forested water catchment areas provide water for both drinking and irrigation. Green spaces in cities improve both urban climates and air quality. Mangrove belts secure coastal protection against floods. Unspoilt beaches improve local quality of life and attract tourists. What do these examples have in common? In all of them local policy makers recognize the benefits that natural assets provide for local development (see Box 1.1).
Typically, local policy makers have to provide multiple services simultaneously. These include: public infrastructure; water and waste management; promoting local economic development; education; and health care. Their challenge is to maintain and improve the quality of life for citizens when financial resources and capacities are often severely limited.
The good news is that nature has a tremendous potential to achieve exactly this. Protecting natural resources and biodiversity is sometimes perceived as an impediment to local development when, in fact, it could actually enhance it:
ā¢ A municipality can save money by securing water provision, wastewater treatment, and protection against erosion or floods more effectively and efficiently through natural rather than technical solutions.
ā¢ In most places in the world, nature is the single most important input to local economies and human well-being, providing materials, clean water and good environmental conditions for industry, agriculture and the services sector.
ā¢ Keeping and maintaining well-functioning natural ecosystems is the best strategy for local policy makers to deal with future pressures and threats, for example, those linked to climate change.
Box 1.1 Nature provides local benefits at a lower cost than technical solutions
USA: By purchasing and restoring the Catskill watershed for US$2 billion, The City of New York has secured its source of drinking water. A comparable pre-treatment plant would have cost US$7 billion (Elliman and Berry 2007).
India: Environmental authorities in Jaipur, a city of 3.3 million people, are enlarging urban green spaces as a cost-effective way of reducing surface runoff and replenishing ground water during the monsoon. Water withdrawal from thousands of boreholes has resulted in a serious decline in the water table in the city, and surface runoff caused flooding (Rodell et al. 2009; Singh et al. 2010).
Australia: Local authorities in Canberra have enhanced urban quality of life by planting 400,000 trees. Besides making the city greener, the trees are expected to regulate the microclimate, reduce pollution (and thereby improve urban air quality), reduce energy costs for air conditioning as well as store and sequester carbon. Combined, these benefits are expected to amount to the equivalent of US$20ā67 million for the period 2008ā2012 in terms of the value generated or savings incurred to the city (Brack 2002). On www.tree-benefits.com you can calculate the economic and ecological value of trees.
Vietnam: Since 1994, local communities have planted and protected mangroves in northern coastal regions of Vietnam, where more than 70 per cent of the population is threatened by natural hazards (Dilley et al. 2005). Restoration of natural mangrove forests is more cost-effective than building artificial barriers. An investment of US$1.1 million has saved an estimated US$7.3 million a year in sea dyke maintenance (IFRC 2002). During typhoon Wukong in 2000, the project areas suffered significantly less damage than neighboring provinces (Brown et al. 2006).
Nicaragua: Large-scale deforestation in Nicaragua is being driven by clearance for livestock grazing. However, traditional grazing regimes on deforested land are often unsustainable. In Matiguas, silvo-pastoral systems have been introduced, and degraded pastures planted with improved grasses, fodder shrubs and trees. This improved habitat reduces surface runoff and soil erosion on steep slopes, benefits local wildlife and, crucially, is also able to support a much higher density of cattle per hectare (FAO 2006).
Burkina Faso: For decades management strategies in the Sourou Valley wetland focussed on promoting agriculture. IUCN conducted an economic valuation of the products obtained. The assessment revealed that only 3 per cent of the value relate to agriculture while other products generated by the wetland such as forest products, fodder, and fisheries accounted for more than 80 per cent; several other benefits provided were not included in the study. Local decision makers are now starting to integrate the valuation of ecosystem services in development plans.
Source: Wetland valuation changes policy perspectives, Burkina Faso, TEEBcase; see TEEBweb.org
Box 1.2 The importance of natureās benefits
Forest resources directly contribute to the livelihoods of 90 per cent of the 1.2 billion people around the world living in extreme poverty (World Bank 2004) and 500 million people depend on coral reefs for their livelihood (Wilkinson 2004). About 80 per cent of the population in developing countries relies on traditional medicine that is mainly derived from herbal plants (WHO 2008). Also, 50 per cent of modern pharmaceuticals are derived from or based on natural compounds (MA 2005). A large number of plant and animal species still lie undiscovered and their potential benefits are yet unknown. These plants and animals may contribute to curing diseases in the future, help to find new materials for industry, or provide solutions for other future problems. There are, therefore, many good reasons to consider nature: economic, cultural, ethical and social.
Increasingly, global environments around the world are at risk of degradation:
ā¢ The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found that 15 out of 24 assessed ecosystem services are being degraded or used unsustainably (MA 2005).
ā¢ 52 per cent of global commercial marine fish stocks are fully exploited while an additional 17 per cent are over-exploited (FAO 2005).
ā¢ 20 per cent of coral reefs have been destroyed and an additional 20 per cent are seriously degraded (MA 2005).
Already one billion city dwellers around the world live without clean water or adequate sanitation, despite this being recognized by the international community as a basic right. Over 2 million children die each year as a result. Currently 700 million people globally live with water stress, meaning their access to an adequate water quantity is insufficient. This is expected to increase to about 3 billion people by 2025 (Human Development Report 2006).
We all depend on nature for our well-being. Ecosystems provide us with food, fresh water, fuel, fibre, fresh air and shelter. Biodiversity is defined as the variety of ecosystems and ecological processes, and the diversity of plant and animal species, as well as different varieties and breeds within each species. It is critical for maintaining the resilience of ecosystems, that is, their ability to function and provide critical services under changing conditions.
Our dependency on nature is sometimes ...
