Why economic valuation of Hima can be useful Richard Thomas ELD Scientific Coordinator at United Nations University-Institute for Water, Health & Environment

Challenge How to: 1. Encourage investments in Hima-type systems for rangelands 2. Value rangelands properly 3. Devise schemes to reward improvement & maintenance of Ecosystem Services There over 40 million Km2 of rangelands about 30% of the global land area housing 0.3 billion people.

Categorisation of ecosystems services: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework The economic value of an ecosystem is the sum of economic values derived from individual services flows Provisioning services, e.g. food, timber and freshwater supply Regulating services, e.g. pollution reduction, water flow regulation Cultural services, e.g. aesthetic and spiritual values Supporting services, e.g. soil formation and nutrient cycling*

Total Economic Value of Land And Land-based Services Use Value Non-use Value Direct Use Value Indirect Use Value Option Value Existence Value Bequest Value Stewardship Value Food, fibres and timber production (provisioning); Carbon storage (regulating); Tourism, recreational hunting (cultural) Pollination (provisioning); Watershed protection, flood attenuation, pollution assimilation (regulating and cultural); Nutrient cycling, micro-climate (supporting) Premium from use of biodiversity resources by pharmaceutical industry in the future (provisioning); Area that becomes of recreational value (cultural); Area used for waste recycling (regulating) Biodiversity hotspot, symbolic species, eg blue whale, tiger, panda, mountain gorillas (cultural) Land passed onto our children (cultural) Land maintained in good working conditions for both humans and their surrounding ecosystems Total Economic Value with types of ecosystem services and examples (adapted from: Nkonya, et al., 2011, page 70, and Soussan and Noel, 2010)

State of knowledge: Ecosystems Number of resources all ecosystems in a given geographical area arid and semi-arid farmland coastal desert dunes non-arid farmland floodplains forests and woodlands (non tropical) freshwater and water bodies grasslands and pastures hills mountains and highlands and uplands plains rangelands tropical forests urban valleys wetlands For each ecosystem, there is at least one study that can act as a starting point

Benefits of investing in Ecosystem restoration Source: de Groot et al 2013 When compared with other ecosystems both the IRR and benefit:cost ratios are higher with grasslands. So even if rangelands are at the bottom end of these bars it still seems economically worthwhile to restore degraded rangelands. IRR range from 35 to 58% and B:C from 5 to 35. The top end represents 100% highest restoration costs and 30% of the benefits while top end represents 75% restoration costs and 75% of the benefits. Mean TEV of grasslands = $2871/ha

Rangelands contribute to global issues Climate change Desertification – loss of productivity Wind erosion and sand storms Biodiversity Water regulation & storage

Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Scale Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Monitoring Global Increased carbon sequestration Enhanced plant and animal biodiversity Dust storm reductions Mitigation of climate change Enhanced resource base for future generation Improved air quality and health, decreased maintenance costs in infrastructure, industry, and damages in agricultural production systems International community/countries, private companies Conservation groups, tourism industry, private companies Urban populations, tourism industry, government Soil sampling, eddy flux towers, static chambers, vegetation cover by remote sensing Survey of key eco-indicators Remote sensing National Increased aquifer recharge Flood reduction Increased water availability Decreased damage of infrastructure (roads, reservoirs) , crops, and houses Water users State (public infrastructure), utility companies, downstream population Groundwater levels, groundwater use Stage heights at hydraulic structures, reservoir siltation, infrastructure damages Local Increased water productivity Decrease of soil reduction Increase dplant biomass Conserve livestock productivity Local herders Biomass survey, soil sampling, stocking rate monitoring

Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Scale Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Monitoring Global Increased carbon sequestration Enhanced plant and animal biodiversity Dust storm reductions Mitigation of climate change Enhanced resource base for future generation Improved air quality and health, decreased maintenance costs in infrastructure, industry, and damages in agricultural production systems International community/countries private companies Conservation groups, tourism industry, private companies Urban populations, tourism industry, government Soil sampling, eddy flux towers, static chambers, vegetation cover by remote sensing Survey of key eco-indicators Remote sensing National Increased aquifer recharge Flood reduction Increased water availability Decreased damage of infrastructure (roads, reservoirs) , crops, and houses Water users State (public infrastructure), utility companies, downstream population Groundwater levels, groundwater use Stage heights at hydraulic structures, reservoir siltation, infrastructure damages Local Increased water productivity Decrease of soil reduction Increased plant biomass Conserve livestock productivity Local herders Biomass survey, soil sampling, stocking rate monitoring

Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Scale Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Monitoring Increased carbon sequestration Enhanced plant and animal biodiversity Mitigation of climate change Enhanced resource base for future generation International community/countries, private companies Conservation groups, tourism industry, private companies Soil sampling, eddy flux towers, static chambers, vegetation cover by remote sensing Survey of key eco-indicators Global Dust storm reductions Improved air quality and health, decreased maintenance costs in infrastructure, industry, and damages in agricultural production systems Urban populations, tourism industry, government Remote sensing National Increased aquifer recharge Flood reduction Increased water availability Decreased damage of infrastructure (roads, reservoirs) , crops, and houses Water users State (public infrastructure), utility companies, downstream population Groundwater levels, groundwater use Stage heights at hydraulic structures, reservoir siltation, infrastructure damages Local Increased water productivity Decrease of soil reduction Increased plant biomass Conserve livestock productivity Local herders Biomass survey, soil sampling, stocking rate monitoring

Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Scale Environmental services supplied Benefits Beneficiaries/ demanders Monitoring Global Increased carbon sequestration Enhanced plant and animal biodiversity Dust storm reductions Mitigation of climate change Enhanced resource base for future generation Improved air quality and health, decreased maintenance costs in infrastructure, industry, and damages in agricultural production systems International community/countries, private companies Conservation groups, tourism industry, private companies Urban populations, tourism industry, government Soil sampling, eddy flux towers, static chambers, vegetation cover by remote sensing Survey of key eco-indicators Remote sensing National Increased aquifer recharge Flood reduction Increased water availability Decreased damage of infrastructure (roads, reservoirs) , crops, and houses Water users State (public infrastructure), utility companies, downstream population Groundwater levels, groundwater use Stage heights at hydraulic structures, reservoir siltation, infrastructure damages Local Increased water productivity Decrease of soil degradation Increased plant biomass Conserve livestock productivity Increased/maintained biodiversity Local herders Biomass survey, soil sampling, stocking rate monitoring Grazing land management has 2nd highest potential for mitigating C emissions from agriculture. Up to 1400 Mt Co2 equivalent per year. If only 10% of African rangelands could be rejuvenated it would still mitigate 17-42 TC C per year or 4-9% of African emissions.

Technical options for preventing degradation & restoring rangelands Controlled grazing via improved integrated range-livestock systems Water & erosion control Soil fertility improvement Plant introductions and seeding (Cactus, Atriplex, Buffel grass, Salsola, Halaxyon) Reforestation

This project addressed regulating and managing grazing in the DBR through the preparation of an integrated rangeland and livestock management plan based on traditional knowledge.

Hunshandake Sandland Project, China Replacing ruminants with chickens the Inner Mongolia Government agreed to provide an amount of 100 million CHY (16 million US) to study the scientific and social key problems in an eco-husbandry region Meanwhile, CAS has approved a project amounted 9 million CHY (1.4 million US) to explore the technological issues in limiting the construction of the largest Eco-husbandry Industry Special Region

Challenges Land tenure & access Schemes that fit the local financial (opportunity costs), production & risk management strategies Institutional issues for collective rangeland management Reduced search & negotiation, monitoring & enforcement costs

Conclusions A TEV approach can raise awareness & investment in Hima Success stories in participatory management Rangelands can contribute to solutions of local to global problems Himas can act as innovation platforms for ecological sustainability, social fairness and economic growth .