School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Theses
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ItemQuantification and payment for ecosystem services from community-managed forests in Nepal( 2018)Humans obtain many benefits from forests that are vital for societal well-being, such as food, timber, fibre, flood protection, clean water and climate regulation. These are known as ecosystem services (ES). The supply of ES varies across space and time and is affected by changes in land use and land cover (LULC), landscape composition and broader social and economic changes. In Nepal, community-based forestry (CBF) emerged in the 1970s against the backdrop of deforestation and widespread concerns over the ‘crisis of Himalayan degradation’ and has become the dominant national strategy for forest management. Over the last 40-years, the Nepalese model of CBF has become globally recognised. Forest area, quality and biodiversity have increased, but the focus of CBF is on the provision of ecosystem goods for local subsistence, and there has been limited analysis of the role of CBF in ES supply to communities. Nor has the potential for local community managers to receive benefits or incentives to continue to conserve watersheds, forests and biodiversity and enhance ES been explored. Most benefits are consumed by wider users who do not contribute to protect and manage the forests. Despite widespread implementation of systems of payment for ecosystem services (PES) benefits to poor people have been limited. This thesis investigated the policy, social and technical arrangements for the assessment of ES and implementation of payment mechanisms to increase environmental, economic and social equity outcomes from CBF in Nepal. The study focused on the Phewa watershed near Pokhara in western Nepal. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to assess and prioritise ES resulting from CBF to inform appropriate payment mechanisms. A mixed-methods approach was employed to analyse and interpret the data. Geospatial tools were used to examine the LULC transition from remotely-sensed time series data and linked to spatial distribution of ES. Community perceptions and expert opinion were sought to investigate priority ES, forest policies and PES design considerations. Findings indicated that CBF provides many ES, delivering local to global benefits as a result of forest restoration. However, Nepal’s forest policy and practices are still dominated by narrow notions of forest management that do not accommodate the holistic concept of ES. In addition, many innovative cases are emerging in CBF that demonstrate the emergence of more diverse management strategies, new forms of tenure rights and autonomy in institutional spaces that can potentially catalyse the wider adoption of the ES framework in CBF regimes. Results indicated that 23 ES were relevant to local communities and other stakeholders in the Phewa watershed. Sediment retention, recreation and ecotourism, freshwater, firewood and timber were priority ES for local benefits, while recreation and ecotourism, biodiversity maintenance, sediment retention and carbon stock are priority ES for wider benefits. Priority ES reveal critical areas of correlation and conflict between different services and stakeholder groups. While trade-offs exist between provisioning services and regulating, habitat and cultural services, synergies are identified between regulating, cultural and habitat services. Significant changes in land cover in the Phewa watershed have had positive impacts on ES. Maps showed the distribution of ES varies significantly across the watershed. Dense forests provide higher sediment retention, carbon stocks, biodiversity maintenance, and raw materials but reduced water yield. Likewise, increased aesthetic value provides opportunities for recreation and ecotourism. However, benefits relevant indicators reveal that the societal benefits of most ES are lower compared to the supply of ES. Among the19 design considerations relevant to stakeholders for PES design, only nine, livelihoods, pro-poor participation, tenure arrangements, payment structures, government policy, local institutions, PES governance, opportunity costs and transaction costs are perceived as important for pro-poor PES design. Although the effectiveness of a PES scheme is often measured economically or biologically, our results indicate the essential design considerations for stakeholders are policy, social, financial and institutional arrangements. Overall, an integrated investment strategy and institutional mechanisms should be developed to incentivise local people and continue positive externalities from CBF. This thesis is one of the first studies to undertake an integrated analysis of policy, social, biophysical and institutional arrangements for assessment and payment of ES. The simple and easily replicable process and outcomes of this study are applicable in other parts of Nepal and elsewhere in developing countries or data-poor regions.