Natural Capital Mapping and Accounting in Liberia: Understanding the Contribution of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to Liberia’S Sustainable Development
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Authors/analysts: Rachel Neugarten, Mahbubul Alam, Natalia Acero Martinez, Miroslav Honzak, Daniel Juhn, Kellee Koenig, Trond Larsen, Kevin Moull, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Timothy Max Wright Contributions from: Liam Walsh, Jessica Donovan, Peter Mulbah, Jim Valenza, Kim Reuter, Rosimeiry Portela, Tim Noviello, Shelly Wade, David Hole, Manuel Peralvo, Jess Silver, and Jessica Junker Acknowledgements: This project was funded by a generous gift from Gordon and Betty Moore. We are grateful for the support and expertise provided by our collaborators at the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia, Jeremiah Sokan and Anyaa Vohiri and for the support from the Gaborone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa (GDSA) Secretariat, and from the Natural Capital Project. Data provided by Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority (FDA), Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS), and Liberian Hydrological Services (LHS), the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. 1 “Natural capital –our ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources– underpins economies, societies and individual well-being. The values of its myriad benefits are, however, often overlooked or poorly understood. They are rarely taken fully into account through economic signals in markets, or in day-to- day decisions by business and citizens, nor indeed reflected adequately in the accounts of society. The steady loss of forests, soils, wetlands and coral reefs is closely tied to this economic invisibility. So, too, are the losses of species and of productive assets like fisheries, driven partly by ignoring values beyond the immediate and private” - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, at the Summit for Sustainability in Africa, Botswana, 2012 Suggested citation: Conservation International. 2017. Natural Capital Mapping and Accounting in Liberia: Understanding the contribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services to Liberia’s sustainable development. Arlington, VA. 2 Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................. 3 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 4 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 13 Accounting for timber resources in support of ecosystem accounting in Liberia ....................................... 25 Mapping Essential Natural Capital for Biodiversity ..................................................................................... 34 Mapping Essential Natural Capital for Climate Mitigation .......................................................................... 40 Mapping Essential Natural Capital for Freshwater Ecosystem Services ...................................................... 52 Mapping Essential Natural Capital for Food Security: Bushmeat and Non-Timber Forest Products ........... 65 Mapping Essential Natural Capital for Coastal Protection ........................................................................... 82 Mapping Essential Natural Capital: Combined maps ................................................................................... 89 Limitations ................................................................................................................................................... 97 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 97 List of Tables Table 1. Area in different landcover types, and within designated and proposed protected areas (PAs). Data source: JV/Metria Geoville and FDA 2016. ......................................................................................... 21 Table 2. Timber concession contracts, operating hectares and volume harvested (Source: FDA) ............ 28 Table 3. Quantity of timber harvested and transported through chain-saw logging (Source: FDA) .......... 28 Table 4. Inputs into calculation of resource rent for commercial concessions timber .............................. 29 Table 5. Inputs into calculation of resource rent for chain-saw logging .................................................... 30 Table 6. Allocation of resource rent to different sectors of economy ....................................................... 31 Table 7. Economic contribution of timber industry to different sectors .................................................... 31 Table 8. Landcover classes from Geoville 2015, areas, and reclassified forest/non-forest categories ...... 42 Table 9. Forest cover change by land-use designation ............................................................................... 49 Table 10. Carbon stocks (2015) by land-use designation ........................................................................... 49 Table 11. Non-timber forest products in Nimba and Sinoe counties, listed roughly in order of economic importance (USAID 2009). 1ry and 2ry forest means primary and secondary forest, respectively. .......... 67 Table 12. List of commonly hunted species near Sapo National Park, with their local and English names (Greengrass 2011). ...................................................................................................................................... 69 Table 13. Landcover classes, their extent, and the percentage of total land area, based on the Geoville landcover product (JV/Metria Geoville and FDA 2016). ............................................................................. 71 Table 14. Road type and associated travel time (dry season) .................................................................... 73 Table 15. Land cover type and associated travel time ............................................................................... 73 Table 16. Slope categories .......................................................................................................................... 75 3 Table 17. Exposure ranks for the InVEST model, from least (1) to most (5) exposed ................................ 83 Table 18. Essential natural capital within designated and proposed protected areas ............................... 94 List of Figures Figure 1. Illustration of some of the ways that natural capital (biodiversity and ecosystems) provide benefits (ecosystem services) that benefit people ..................................................................................... 13 Figure 2. Steps for mapping natural capital ................................................................................................ 15 Figure 3. Map of Liberia .............................................................................................................................. 17 Figure 4. Landcover in Liberia. Data source: JV/Metria Geoville and FDA 2016 ........................................ 18 Figure 5. Designated and proposed protected areas in Liberia. Data source: IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2016. ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 6. Landcover, designated protected areas, and proposed protected areas. ................................... 20 Figure 7. Ambient population density in Liberia (people per km2). Data from LandScan (Bright et al. 2014). .......................................................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 8. Major events, policies and processes related to forestry sector in Liberia ................................. 26 Figure 9. Components and characteristics of timber, forest and ecosystem accounts .............................. 26 Figure 10. Proposed and ratified timber concessions in Liberia (Source: GoL) .......................................... 27 Figure 11. Conservation priority areas and timber concessions (left), essential natural capital and timber concessions (right). For more information on essential natural capital, see following sections. .............. 32 Figure 12. Survey points for Junker et al. 2015 biodiversity study (left) and modeled chimpanzee abundance overlaid with final priority areas identified by Junker et al. (right) ......................................... 36 Figure 13. Modeled large mammal abundance (left) and modeled tree taxonomic diversity (right) ........ 36 Figure 14. Occurrences of elephants and other large mammals, with buffers sized according to the respective approximate species-specific home range size (left) and evidence of hunting (cartridges and snares) (right) .............................................................................................................................................. 37 Figure 15. Conservation priority areas, designated protected areas, and proposed protected areas in Liberia (left). Conservation priority areas and Key Biodiversity Areas in Liberia (right). ............................ 38 Figure 16. Conservation priority areas and concessions in Liberia (left). Proposed and designated protected areas and