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The challenge of understanding and optimizing the
use of the various components of agrobiodiversity
has been an implicit concern for SGRP from the
outset. The very fact that the CGIAR works not only
on crop plant diversity but also on fish, livestock
and forest genetic resources has provided the CGIAR
Centres with an awareness of, on the one hand, the
complex interactions between different sectors and,
on the other, common themes and patterns that
facilitate cross-fertilization of ideas and learning
across components.
The body of work on valuation that is being
developed under the aegis of SGRP builds on a
long-term interest of the Programme to integrate
these different components of agrobiodiversity. It
responds positively to calls from the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on
Biological Diversity to develop
mechanisms to give communities incentives to
prioritize the conservation of diversity, and to
remove or mitigate perverse incentives that work
against conservation objectives and thereby threaten
the long-term well-being of communities.
Understanding values
The ‘International
Workshop on Managing Agricultural Biodiversity for
Sustainable Development’
organized by SGRP and
Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) in
2003 requested SGRP to address the valuation of
agricultural biodiversity as a pivotal factor
affecting sustainable conservation and use. By
understanding the values that farmers assign to
biodiversity, we can gain a greater appreciation of
the incentives favouring the maintenance of that
biodiversity, and thereby seek to create an
environment favourable to conservation and
sustainable use.
The request to SGRP identified three particular
initiatives needing support: (i) the preparation of
a status report reviewing valuation methodologies,
(ii) the preparation of a bibliography on crop and
livestock valuation, and (iii) the organization of
an expert workshop on valuation tools. All three
initiatives have been taken forward, building on
work by the International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI)
and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
A holistic approach
The status report was published in 2005 as
‘Valuation and sustainable management of crop and
livestock biodiversity – a review of applied
economics literature’, edited by Adam D. Drucker,
Melinda Smale and Patricia Zambrano. Accompanying
the report is an annotated bibliography on CD-ROM
‘ECOGENLIT – Economics Literature on Crop and
Livestock Genetic Resources’. The status report
examines the hypothesis that research on
agricultural biodiversity would be advanced by
taking a holistic approach to valuing its
components. To access the paper or to access ECOGENLIT
click here.
In support of a holistic approach is the reality
that many small-scale farmers, especially in
subsistence agriculture, integrate their management
of crops and livestock. These represent
interdependent livelihood assets that are used for
production on the same lands and that provide mutual
inputs, such as livestock feeding on crops and crops
benefiting from animal manure. The same policies and
development interventions impact on crops and
livestock, and are often implemented by the same
agents, especially at the local level. In addition,
the forces such as mechanization and intensification
that drive change are the same for both crop and
livestock components.
More data needed
The review of methodologies found that, while there
is scope for progress in evolving research
approaches adapted to the agricultural biodiversity
context, especially in the area of institutional
analysis, in general, data constraints are more
critical. Thus, studies are needed to generate data
to value crop and livestock together, rather than
treating one or the other as external factors, to
quantify benefits as well as costs of conservation,
and to identify optimal conservation strategies and
conducive policies.
The review uncovered some important findings in the
crops arena:
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Because many of the plant genetic resources are
not traded on markets, their importance to those
who depend on them for their livelihoods is
often underestimated by a commercial valuation
alone.
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While the marginal commercial value of an
individual plant genetic resource may not be
enough to fund its conservation, the marginal
value of its exploitation in commercial
agriculture does justify its conservation.
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A number of key factors determine the level of
biodiversity on farms including location,
cultural cohesion, environmental heterogeneity,
and isolation from market infrastructure.
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Programmes to support the maintenance of
diversity can benefit the economically
marginalized, and development will not
necessarily detract from the continued
maintenance of diversity.
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Results are often extremely location specific,
with obvious implications for research costs and
care in interpretation in scale-up.
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An overwhelming conclusion is that we are not
yet in a position to assess interactions between
crop and other biodiversity components, or to
place a value on crop biodiversity’s
contribution to ecosystem services.
In the case of livestock biodiversity, the review
concluded that:
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Conventional evaluation criteria are not
well-tuned to the subsistence livestock context
where non-income functions are important, and
the benefits of cross-breeding and breed
substitution tend to be overestimated.
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Despite the apparent benefits of conservation
and the relatively low cost of in situ
breed conservation when compared with subsidies
in the commercial livestock sector, few
conservation initiatives exist. Yet, incentives
for conservation of indigenous breeds should not
be particularly costly.
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Ex situ
conservation through cryopreservation is
relatively underexplored for livestock, but
experiences with crops would suggest scope for
beneficial application of this approach on
economic grounds.
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Relatively little is known about the impact of
policy factors and the policies that would
promote cost-efficient conservation strategies.
Expert workshop
To take up the third follow-up action identified by
the 2003 agrobiodiversity workshop IFPRI, on behalf
of SGRP, organized an expert workshop, ‘Valuing
Crop, Tree, Livestock and Aquatic Genetic Resources’
in October 2005. The participants, drawn from the
economics world and different biodiversity sectors,
were set the task of designing a project to test the
hypothesis that advances in research and policy
would benefit from an integrated approach. Using the
valuation study and literature review as inputs to
their thinking, the participants identified the key
research questions that would assist a better
understanding of how to value agricultural
biodiversity. Accordingly, priority was assigned to
developing methods and research tools to:
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Prioritize taxa for conservation at pilot sites
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Assess optimal combinations of genetic resource
management approaches
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Evaluate the contribution of genetic resources to
ecosystem services
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Estimate the public goods value of diversity and
design mechanisms that will enable farmers to
appropriate those values, thereby creating
incentives for conservation
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Develop action plans for sustainable management of
diversity at the pilot sites.
Resonance with CBD developments
Following the expert workshop, SGRP supported the
organization of a event on valuation of agricultural
biodiversity at the eleventh meeting of the
Convention on Biological Diversity’s
Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technological and
Technical Advice
(SBSTTA) in 2005. This was attended by
representatives from the International Center for
Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA),
the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),
the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and
Bioversity International.
Following the recommendations of SBSTTA, the meeting
of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention
in early 2006 (COP8) called for action on valuation of
agricultural biodiversity including through
conducting pilot studies to inform public and
private decision-making.
Thus, the direction of the SGRP-led initiative is
very much in line with thinking at the highest
levels in the biodiversity conservation community,
and will find a ready audience and scope for
application in the development of incentive
measures.
Next steps
To take this work forward, SGRP is supporting the
development of a project that places farmers at the
centre of the process, as they alone can explain and
quantify the values they assign to diversity.
Moreover, the conclusions to be drawn by the project
will need to be meaningful in the context of those
farmers’ lives if the sought-after incentive
mechanisms are to help promote the conservation of
diversity. |
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