Benefits of forest ecosystems in ZamBia and the role of redd+ in a Green economy transformation

98 Pages·2015·7.08 MB·English

Benefits
of forest
ecosystems in
ZamBia and
the role of
redd+ in a
Green economy
transformation
Published by the United Natons Environment Programme (UNEP), 2015
Copyright © UNEP 2015
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This work has been designed and implemented under the directon of Dr Pushpam
Kumar, Chief, Ecosystem Services Economics Unit, UNEP.
1 2 3
Writen by: Jane Turpie , Benjamin Warr and Jane Carter Ingram
Edited by: Sun Cho (UNEP) and Ivo Mulder (UNEP)
Producton editng by: Deborah Kirby (UNEP)
1
Anchor Environmental Consultants, Cape Town, South Africa
2
Beterworld Consultng, Lusaka, Zambia
3
Wildlife Conservaton Society, New York, U.S.A.
Cover photo: Photo taken in the Northern Province of Zambia by Benjamin Warr
acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental
Protecton in Zambia, notably Mr. Ignatus Makumba and Mr Deuteronomy Kasaro, and
Ms. Elsie Atafuah of UNDP in Zambia for their contributons, support and guidance
throughout this study. We would also like to thank Michel Masosera of the Wildlife
Conservaton Society in Rwanda and Dale Lewis of the Wildlife Conservaton Society in
Zambia for their support and guidance in developing the work and providing feedback
on the study.
The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr Pushpam Kumar and Mr. Tim
Christophersen (UNEP) for their oversight and support for this project. We would like to
thank the reviewers who provided detailed feedback on the report: Dr Janaki Alavalapat
(Virginia Technical State University), Dr Eric Mungatana (University of Pretoria) and Dr
Thomas Ochuodho (Virginia Technical State University). We would also like to thank the
many stakeholders in Zambia who provided critcal guidance at the outset of the study at
an incepton meetng in Lusaka in March, 2014, and who ofered critcal feedback on the
results in Kabwe in October, 2014.
This publicaton was produced in partnership with the United Natons Collaboratve
Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestaton and Forest Degradaton in
Developing Countries (UN-REDD Programme), which harnesses the technical capacites
of FAO, UNDP and UNEP to support the REDD+ readiness and implementaton capacites
of developing countries. More informaton available at www.un-redd.org. UNEP promotes
environmentally sound practices
This study was implemented by the Ecosystem Services Economics Unit, Division of
globally and in its own activities. This
Environmental Policy Implementaton (DEPI), United Natons Environment Programme
(UNEP). report is printed on paper from sustainable
forests. The paper is chlorine free and the inks
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Benefits
of forest
ecosystems in
ZamBia and
the role of
redd+ in a
Green economy
transformation
table of contents
foreword 05
executive summary 06
acronyms and abbreviations 11
o1. introduction 12
o2. environment, people and economy 14
o3. Patterns and drivers of forest loss 20
o4. the nature and current value of forest
ecosystem services 2185
o5. overall contribution of forests to the
economy 55
o6. Potential benefts of REDD+ in green
economy transformation in zambia 60
o7. Bibliography 67
appendices 72
Photo credit: © Benjamin Warr
At the regional level, Zambia’s strategic loca-
ton makes it an important country within the
foreword sub-region in relaton to REDD+ and associated
trans-boundary ecosystems. These ecosystems
become even more important as Zambia holds
about 30-40 per cent of the water resources in
Forests play a crucial role in enhancing human Southern Africa and shares trans-boundary wa-
well-being and in sustaining the economy of ter resources with eight other countries. At the
Zambia. They contribute to economic growth, internatonal level, Zambia has great potental to
employment, wealth, export revenues, a stable promote key internatonal development goals,
supply of clean water, recreaton and tourism such as reducing carbon emission, through the
opportunites, as well as essental building ma- implementaton of targets that will be outlined
terials and energy for a wide range of economic in its Natonal REDD+ Strategy.
sectors. However, Zambia has one of the highest
per capita deforestaton rates in Africa. The Gov- This work, undertaken by UNEP’s Ecosystem
ernment’s eforts to reduce emissions from de- Services Economics Unit in associaton with the
forestaton and forest degradaton and increase Zambian Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources
the role of conservaton, sustainable manage- and Environmental Protecton, is part of a range
ment of forests and enhancement of forest car- of actvites ofered by the UN-REDD Programme
bon stocks (REDD+) have the potental to halt the to support the Government of Zambia by ena-
rate of deforestaton in the country. bling it to build the economic case for the imple-
mentaton of key policies and measures for the
This can happen if the country manages to suc- sustainable management and conservaton of
cessfully implement its natonal strategy to re- the country’s forest ecosystems as part of REDD+
duce emissions from deforestaton and forest implementaton. Such measures could include
degradaton, and, thereby, leverage fnancing strengthening forest management and enforce-
and investments opportunites for REDD+ im- ment of laws on illegal tmber harvestng, sup-
plementaton including through results-based portng community land tenure and strengthen-
payments. Actons to reduce deforestaton could ing community-based forest stewardship. Other
be an important catalysing factor for the coun- means include improving the efciency and sus-
try to transiton to a Green Economy, especial- tainability of agricultural practces, increasing ac-
ly if REDD+ implementaton is embedded in the cess to incentves and income generatng actv-
country’s ambitous development and economic ites that depend upon forest conservaton and
objectves. Thus, the potental is great for the managing the demand for charcoal producton.
forestry sector to play a very important role in
the country achieving its Vision 2030 goals. It is envisioned that these fndings will further
strengthen the resolve of the Government of
This report provides an economic ratonale for Zambia to address the drivers of deforestaton
prioritzing REDD+ implementaton by showing and forest degradaton, and to implement the
the signifcant economic benefts of doing so. Natonal REDD+ Strategy as part of the coun-
Forest ecosystem services that were quantfed try’s broader goals to achieve an Inclusive Green
in this study and which are currently not account- Economy.
ed for in the Gross Domestc Product (GDP) such
as sediment retenton and erosion control, ecot-
ourism, pollinaton services and carbon storage,
have an economic value equivalent to at least 2.5
per cent of the GDP of Zambia. This represents Her Excellency Mrs. Christabel Ngimbu
an undervaluaton of 40 to 68 per cent of the to- Minister, Ministry of Lands, Natural
tal value added of provisioning services such as Resources and Environmental Protecton
industrial roundwood, charcoal, frewood, wood
processing, pulp and paper and non-wood forest
products. With the inclusion of these additonal
services, the contributon of forests to the Zam-
bian economy rises from 3.8 per cent to 6.3 per Achim Steiner
cent. The formal and informal contributon of United Natons Under-Secretary-General and
the forestry sector also supports over 1 million Executve Director, United Natons Environment
jobs related to fuelwood, non-wood forest prod- Programme
ucts and ecotourism, which means that forests
support over 60 per cent of rural Zambian house-
holds.
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executive summary
introduction
The aim of this study was to undertake a rapid assessment
of the value and role of forests in the Zambian economy
based on available informaton in order to inform policy de-
cisions on forest management and the implementaton of
REDD+ actvites in Zambia. The study is part of the coun-
try’s Natonal UN-REDD Programme. REDD+1 is a fnancial
mechanism designed to reward developing countries for
their verifed reductons or removals of forest carbon emis-
sions compared to a forest reference (emission) level that
complies with the relevant safeguards.
Forests are an important component of Zambia’s natural
capital and provide benefts that are critcal for rural pop-
ulatons, urban areas, the natonal economy and the global
community. Out of Zambia’s total land area of 75.3 million
ha, estmates of remaining forest range from 39 million ha
(CSO 2013) to 50 million ha (Kalinda et al. 2008) or 53 million
ha (ZFD 2000). Estmates of deforestaton rates range from
113,000 ha in 2012 by Global Forest Watch2 to 167,000 ha
per year in FAO’s Global Forest Resource Assessment (FAO
2010) and 250,000 ha per year (ILUA study) to even over
850,000 ha per year (FAO 2001, in Jumbe et al. 2008; GRZ
2006a). Zambia has the second highest per capita deforest-
aton rate in Africa and the ffh highest in the world (Aon-
gola et al. 2009). The main direct drivers of deforestaton
are charcoal producton, agricultural and human-setlement
expansion and illegal exploitaton of tmber.
The study assessed the values of forests in the form of wood
producton (for tmber, fuel wood and charcoal) and non-
wood forest products, such as wild foods and medicines.
In additon, regulatng and cultural services were included,
such as the economic value of nature-related tourism, reg-
ulaton of the climate through carbon sequestraton, the
retenton of sediment for erosion control, the regulaton of
water fow and water quality, and support for agricultural
producton through pest control and pollinaton. The study
assesses the critcal role that forest ecosystems play in sus-
taining and supportng the stocks and fow of ecosystem
services to various economic sectors and human well-be-
ing in Zambia, as well as addressing potental opportunites
that forests ofer with respect to transitoning to a green
economy, partcularly the role of REDD+ in achieving this
transformaton. It is envisioned that this study will help to
elevate the importance of sustainable forest management
and conservaton in natonal policy, for example through the
natonal REDD+ strategy.
1 REDD+ stands for reducing emissions from deforestation
and forest degradation in developing countries and the role
of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and
enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
2 www.globalforestwatch.org
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approach also be valued in terms of its market value, which we
estmate to be in the region of US$6 per tonne. De-
This desktop study builds on the existng body of work that pending on locaton, carbon stocks in Zambian forests
has been undertaken in Zambia to estmate the value of are potentally worth about US$150 per ha (hectare) on
ecosystem services, which have mainly been confned to average (once of), but range up to US$745 per ha for
the extracton of tmber and fuel wood, non-wood forest intact forests. Annual values of sequestraton in degrad-
products, carbon and, in a broader context, ecotourism. The ed areas are about US$16–US$30 per ha per year.
study has reviewed and synthesized available informaton
gathered through extensive literature reviews of peer-re- • Based on a model of soil erosion and transport (using
viewed publicatons and grey literature and the collecton InVEST) developed through this analysis, it was estmat-
of data and reports in-country and has used these data to ed that current rates of sediment output are in the or-
update some earlier estmates as well as to produce pre- der of 250 million tonnes (average 2.23 tonnes per ha),
liminary desktop estmates of services that have not been forests retain a further 274 million tonnes, generatng a
valued previously. In some cases this required dealing with cost saving in the order of US$247 million per annum.
contradictory and wide ranging estmates, and poor quality
or missing data. • While Zambia’s forests are unlikely to have positve
benefts on dry season fows through infltraton or
Recognizing that the supply of ecosystem services and their contribute signifcantly to food atenuaton, the loss
demand varies spatally according to a range of biophysical of forest cover over large areas could result in reduced
and socioeconomic factors, our study used a spatal ap- precipitaton in the region, impactng on fows, water
proach as far as possible in order to generate more realistc yields and hydropower generaton, and driving up the
estmates of the likely variaton in the value of ecosystem costs of electricity. This should be addressed in future
services and the potental trade-ofs involved in forest use studies.
and conservaton. This required the collaton of natonal
and global spatal data and preparaton or modifcaton of • Based on the costs of alternatve means of pollinaton,
certain spatal data layers using geographic informaton sys- the value of forest pollinaton services was estmated to
tems (GIS). be in the order of US$74 million per annum.
Based on available empirical and spatal data, in conjuncton • Nature-based tourism is the dominant form of holiday
with assumptons made on the basis of expert understand- tourism to Zambia, and forests are an integral part of
ing of ecosystem services, preliminary estmates of the val- the nature-based tourism experience. Estmates of
ue of a range of forest ecosystem services were made in two forest-based tourism range from US$110 million to
main ways: US$179 million per annum for direct value added by
forest-based tourism.
• Extrapolaton of data based on spatal parameters at
the resoluton allowed by the data (e.g. by vegetaton • In summary, the analysis showed that the direct and in-
type, biomass, populaton density or district), or direct values of forests considered as part of this study
(excluding the market value of carbon) are estmat-
• Use of an existng spatal modelling platorm, “InVEST”, ed to make a direct contributon equivalent to about
developed by the Natural Capital Project at Stanford 4.7% of gross domestc product (GDP) or US$957.5
University, USA, which, despite the relatvely high level million (using 2010 fgures). This is substantally high-
of spatal resoluton involved, is not necessarily more er than the updated natonal accounts, released in July
accurate in the absence of locally relevant data. 2014, suggest.
results • Forestry and tourism-related actvites, however, also
have multplier efects on other sectors in the sense
• The value of wood producton (industrial roundwood that other sectors beneft economically from income
and fuel wood) was estmated in this study to be in the generated in the forestry and tourism sectors. The most
order of US$396 million per annum. There is a spatal recent social accountng matrix for Zambia (Thurlow et
mismatch between supply and harvestng, so that cer- al. 2004) contains very litle detail on the forestry sec-
tain areas are estmated to be severely overutlized. tor, but suggests a multplier of 1.49. Tourism multpli-
ers were taken from WTTC (2012). When the multplier
• Estmates of the value of non-wood forest products efects of forestry and tourism-related actvites on
vary considerably but, based on the assumptons ap- other sectors are taken into account, the overall or
plied in this study, we estmated an overall income from economy-wide contributon of forests to GDP is es-
non-wood forest products of US$135.8 million per an- tmated to be at least 6.3% or US$1,277 million. The
num. table below provides a summary of the economic value
and employment that forest ecosystem services in Zam-
• The value of carbon can be estmated in terms of its bia generate on an annual basis.
damage costs, and this social cost of carbon was es-
tmated to be US$29 per tonne, which if aggregated • The contributon of forest ecosystem services to the
would be in the order of US$15 million per annum. Zambian economy that are currently not accounted
In evaluatng potental for REDD+ projects, carbon can for in GDP – such as ecotourism, erosion control and
7
sediment retenton, pollinaton and carbon storage – is implications and recommendations
estmated to be 2.5% of GDP or US$ 515.4 million an-
nually. It can therefore be stated that depending on Given the importance of forests to the economy, employ-
the estmate of the contributon of forests to GDP in ment, and livelihoods, it is important that cost-efectve
Zambia, which range from 3.7% (Puustjärvi et al. 2005) ways for conserving and sustainably managing forests are
3
to 6.2% (FAO, 2014) , there is an undervaluaton of at implemented to support “green economy” growth, defned
least 40 – 68%. by UNEP as ‘an economy that results in improved human
well-being and social equity, while signifcantly reducing en-
• Forests are estmated to provide at least 1.4 million vironmental risks’ (UNEP 2011a). This study suggests that
jobs, supportng 60% of rural Zambian households who sustainably managed forests yield benefts worth at least
are heavily dependent upon the use of natural resourc- US$25 per ha per year on average, though varying up to
es to supplement or sustain their livelihoods. Forest over US$700 per ha per year.
resources contribute to approximately 20% of house-
hold incomes including the market value of subsistence For each province and district of Zambia the ratonale for
producton. The true value of forests, including fows and means by which REDD+ actvites can and will be un-
of goods and services for which no reliable data were dertaken may be diferent. Ways to reduce deforestaton
available, is likely to be considerably higher. and forest degradaton include strengthening and enhanc-
Overview of the economic value of forest ecosystem services and the estmated employment forest ecosystems generate
Type of service/value Gross output/saving Direct value added Total value added Employment
(US$ million per year) (‘000s people)
Industrial roundwood 35.8 21.5 32.0 10.1
Fuel wood (frewood and charcoal) 598.9 374.3 557.7 >500.0
Non-wood forest products 135.9 115.5 172.1 888.8
Subtotal provisioning services 770.6 511.3 761.8 1 398.9
Percentage of GDP 2010 2.5% 3.8%
Ecotourism* 197.0 110.2 179.4 16.1
Erosion control and sediment
247 247 247 -
retenton**
Pollinaton services** 74 74 74 -
Carbon storage (damages avoided)** 15 15 15 -
Subtotal regulatng, supportng and
533 446.2 515.4 16.1
cultural services
Percentage of GDP 2010 2.2% 2.5%
Total 1 303.6 957.5 1 277.2 1 415.0
Percentage of GDP 2010 4.7% 6.3%
* The low-end estmates are used
** These values are shown without decimals given the higher level of uncertainty
ing management and governance of forests at the local lev-
el, introducing measures to reduce the urban demand for
charcoal, supportng the development of livelihood and in-
come generatng actvites that support or rely upon forest
3
Te fgures for the contribution of the forestry sector to the conservaton and maintenance, and increasing the sustain-
Zambian economy difer because there is no harmonization of the ability and efciency of agricultural practces. The potental
type of activities that are included. Tey can therefore be regarded and relatve success of each of these strategies depends
as partial estimates and include – depending on the study – very much on the ecological, social, economic and politcal
industrial roundwood, wood processing, pulp and paper, charcoal, context in which they are implemented. Where appropri-
frewood and non-wood forest products. Te undervaluation is an ate, these approaches should be pursued in concert and can
under estimate because not all regulating, supporting and cultural form the pillars of a natonal REDD+ strategy in Zambia.
services could be quantifed as part of this study.
8
The costs and benefts of implementng REDD+ in Zambia
will depend heavily on where implementaton takes place
and the strategies employed for reducing deforestaton.
For forest-based initatves, given the spatal variaton in
supply and demand for ecosystem services, projects are
likely to have diferent objectves in diferent areas. It is rec-
ommended that considerable focus be placed to address
of-site interventons that afect the drivers of deforestaton
and to improve forest governance and regulatory approach-
es that seek to limit forest loss and degradaton in areas of
natonal importance, such as dam catchment areas, rather
than on localized initatves.
Areas where REDD+ results-based payments could yield
incomes high enough to cover opportunity costs plus
transacton costs (which may vary from US$23 to US$94
per ha) are geographically limited to the north-western
areas where this could be achieved through avoided de-
forestaton. Interventons could, however, be more viable
generally, and over a broader spectrum of the landscape,
through public or private sector payments to secure pub-
lic benefts of forest conservaton. It should also be recog-
nized that the potental carbon income that can be gener-
ated through REDD+ initatves also helps to make public
sector investment in forest conservaton a more viable
prospect.
However, there are other ways to achieve successful REDD+
results-based actons, for example, by placing greater ef-
forts to improve the agricultural productvity of and val-
ue derived from existng cultvated and degraded areas
rather than formal expansion into virgin forest areas as is
currently the case in Zambia. To this end, further research
will need to be undertaken to explore the costs and bene-
fts of alternatve optons and their spatal locaton, as well
as how actons, policies and measures can best tackle the
drivers of deforestaton and forest degradaton. While the
estmates produced in this study will enable a broad-scale
analysis, it is recommended that further research be under-
taken to improve understanding of the supply and demand
aspects of forest services.
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