Search for economic rationale in conservation
Early this month, ScienceDaily reported the successful hatching of 20 Siamese crocodiles in a project conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Lao government and a mining company in the Laotian province of Savannakhet called NMG LXML Sepon.
The baby reptiles, after a year, are expected to go out and help to protect the wetlands and associated biodiversity of Savannakhet.
The event was another small victory in the fight to retain the world's biodiversity. It was quickly followed by a commitment by global leaders to restore 150 million hectares (937.5 million rai) of lost forests and degraded lands worldwide by 2020. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is the world's oldest and largest global environmental network, estimates that the restoration will cost about US$85 billion (Bt2.56 trillion) per year.
As the consequences of global warming grow, more policymakers are realising the value of nature's free services, such as purifying water and air. There is also growing realisation that humanity will suffer if these ecological services - and hence biodiversity - cannot be preserved. Therefore, the world's rich economies are more willing, these days, to make promises to preserve biodiversity and, in doing this, help to protect poorer people from the impacts of biodiversity loss.
Recently launched in Thailand was "Enhancing the Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Thailand and Southeast Asia", an organisation known locally by the acronym TEEB, which aims to use economic and financial tools to strengthen the conservation of nature.
Being implemented by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNP) in collaboration with German International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the project is funded by the European Union's Environment and Natural Resources Thematic Programme, the governments of Thailand and Germany and UFZ.
With a budget of 2 million (Bt82.15 million), the three-year project aims to reduce biodiversity loss in Southeast Asian countries for the benefit of local communities. The budget is expected to cover TEEB's activities in Thailand and at two pilot sites in Laos, as well as information-sharing activities and training courses for Asean officials and those of countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
"The funds aim to test TEEB in a real situation in Thailand and Laos, to develop guidelines for identification and development of TEEB services, and to ensure the development of competence centres building human resources and holding training courses in Thailand for GMS and ASEAN," said GIZ's project codirector Piyathip Eawpanich.
Despite covering only 3 per cent of the earth's total surface, Southeast Asia is home to 20 per cent of all known species of plants and animals. Piyathip said that in Thailand, biodiversity loss was now less serious than it was over the past two decades due to higher public awareness, migration of labour to big cities and clearer forest-preservation policies.
"Despite the lower loss ratio, the consequences of the loss are the same - or even more serious, when global warming and economic dependence are considered," she said.
The current problem is how to overcome the consequences when forest land is forever lost to encroachment by humanity, industry settlements and infrastructure, or when wildlife habitats are gone. This requires cooperation from all parties, she said.
TEEB's main focus is on ecosystem services. Its pilot site is in the Dong Phayayen Khao Yai World Heritage area in the Northeast. Others are under discussion, and could be watershed areas adjacent to Khao Luang National Park (Khiriwong village), in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
The project will also provide technical support to the national Tree Bank concept, which will support biodiversity and the plantation of mixed timber trees on individual farms and land holdings. Training by foreign experts will be incorporated.
Piyathip believes that there is a common misconception about forest conservation which actually leads to biodiversity loss in Thailand.
"Tropical Thailand has the potential to become a major wood-products exporter, but we have to import raw materials because of the policy to keep forested lands untouched. Timber industries can be environmentally-friendly, but no one dares to speak of this in public," she said.
Efforts are now being made to show the sound economic and financial sense of conserving biodiversity and ecosystems. This follows realisation that without the evidence, households, businesses and governments will continue to under invest in these valuable but threatened assets - and in many cases, they may be economically unable to do so.
