Ecosystem services and agricultural land-use practices: a case study of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Abstract

Land degradation due to inappropriate agricultural activities, as well as the environmental and social effects associated with these practices, is accelerating in many developing regions of the world. This trend underlines the importance of measuring environmental costs and benefits to improve policy making with respect to land use and agriculture. Using nonmarket valuation techniques, this article estimates the value of environmental services associated with four agricultural land-use systems in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and compares their relative profitability from private and social perspectives. The financial analysis reveals that annual cash crops are the most profitable shortterm land use and agroforestry is the least profitable, with horticulture and farm forestry providing benefits intermediate between these two systems. However, the relatively larger returns from annual cash cropping lead to higher environmental costs such as soil erosion, forfeited carbon sequestration, and biodiversity loss. When the environmental costs are taken into account, annual cash crops appear to be the most costly land-use system, with agroforestry and farm forestry becoming more profitable. The findings demonstrate the tradeoffs and synergies between relatively more environmentally sustainable and harmful land-use practices. Financial incentives to encourage more prudent agricultural activities are needed to transform tradeoffs into synergies. This article examines different financial incentive mechanisms-including payments for environmental services-and makes several policy recommendations.

Estimation of Economic Value of Agroforestry Systems at the Local Scale in Eastern Sudan

“…While their essential roles are increasingly recognized by the respondents in the project sites, their benefits and functions are differently valued by policy makers. This is in line with [3] who stated that policy makers often do not perceive and value these services due to the lack of information about the market prices that reflect the monetary value they provide.…”

“…The most important challenge facing developing countries today is how to promote agricultural practices that provide necessary goods and services while conserving natural capital [2]. To design appropriate policies and strategies that encourage sustainable land uses, it is important to recognize the economic value of environmental services and disservices generated by alternative agricultural practices [3]. Policy makers often do not perceive and value these services due to the lack of information about the market prices that reflect the monetary value they provide [3].…”

“…To design appropriate policies and strategies that encourage sustainable land uses, it is important to recognize the economic value of environmental services and disservices generated by alternative agricultural practices [3]. Policy makers often do not perceive and value these services due to the lack of information about the market prices that reflect the monetary value they provide [3]. Failure to recognize the use and nonuse value of environmental services provided by different land-use systems, such as soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity protection, often encourages the implementation of policies that lack incentives for sustainable agricultural practices [3]- [5].…”

Creating win-wins from trade-offs? Ecosystem services for human well-being: A meta-analysis of ecosystem service trade-offs and synergies in the real world

“…In many cases there are opportunities to combine crops[fish] with more ecological management approaches that create opportunities for synergies between provisioning and other services. However, a private interest in the crops[fish], with higher immediate and direct financial returns, means trade-offs often result (Rasul, 2009;Steffan-Dewenter et al, 2007). This can lead to a cycle of ecological degradation, such as in Lake Victoria where poor management has led to losses of both RCS and provisioning services (Swallow et al, 2009), or Indonesia where forest conversion and subsequent loss of pollination services has reduced coffee yields (Priess et al, 2007).…”

Analyzing preference heterogeneity for soil amenity improvements using discrete choice experiment

“…Land policies and conservation initiatives often include efficiently managing trade-offs and preserving the long-term economic utility of land (Laurans et al 2013;Rasul 2009). In many instances, soil management of complex watersheds requires understanding the macro-ecology, balancing the needs of various stakeholders, and understanding the socioeconomic constraints of the proximate communities.…”