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3.5 Emerging Opportunities for the Promotion of Sustainable Land Management

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3.5 Emerging Opportunities for the Promotion of Sustainable Land Management 3.5 Emerging Opportunities for the Promotion of Sustainable Land Management 86. Recent years have seen the emergence of a range of new market based opportunities for promoting SLM through financial incentives and increased possibilities for improving profitability, including: Environmenta and Ecological Opportunities: 87. Payments for environmental services – is a relatively new source of funding that although small in scale in SSA at present has considerable potential for expansion as part of a comprehensive programme for SLM. In the SSA context, most promising may be the transfer of funds from outside of the Region in order to pay for globally important services such as biodiversity conservation1 or carbon sequestration2. The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit is promoting the use of money contributed by governments and companies in OECD countries to purchase project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and countries with economies in transition3. Other opportunities need to be explored such as encouraging water companies, industry and irrigation schemes to provide financial incentives for land users in upstream catchment areas to adopt environmentally sensitive land management practices for the maintenance of water quality and quantity. 88. Eco-tourism – is defined by the International Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas, which conserves the environment and improves the livelihoods of local people”. There is strong consumer demand for such "ecotourism" products, and globally there are dramatic growth forecasts for this sector of the world's largest industry. While the game parks in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa are well known and already attract significant numbers of overseas visitors, there are many other natural areas (both within and outside officially protected areas) that could support eco-tourism with the revenues generated being used to fund local conservation and economic development. The key to sustainable ecotourism is sustainable ecosystem management and benefit with equitable benefit sharing among local populations. Without the biodiversity, there is no business, and this should provide the incentive for those utilising and managing the resource for eco- tourism to reinvest in its conservation. 89. Environmental Interest Groups – sometimes known as green lobby groups, these are typically private sector environmental public interest groups that are promoting environmental protection, conservation and regeneration as a basis for future development actions and demanding such from governments. Many of these may be actively engaged in the SLM partnerships. However, even where not directly associated, these groups are often well endowed financially, are willing to carry the messages of many, are calling for and willing to pay for sustainable land management to address climate change impacts and enhance biodiversity, water quality and quantity, among others. Market and Economic Opportunities 90. Bioenergy - may provide new markets for farmers producing for agrofuels. While the pros and cons of biofuel production relative to environment4 and food security benefits are still strongly debated, the production of secondary sources could hold opportunities for African farmers. If producing for such markets uses an SLM approach, it could benefit the environment and increase food security for example if smallholders farmed biocrops and biomass as a source of energy for themselves and their local communities or contributed to commercial production for national or 1 In this regard the Wildlife Foundation in Kenya, is securing animal migration corridors on private land through conservation leases at US$4 per acre per year. 2 Principally by paying for reforestation programmes, which qualify for carbon credits under the Kyoto protocol. 3 There are Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements ongoing in Uganda and South Africa and other initiatives under development in DR Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Uganda and South Africa. Most of these are being developed to address land degradation issues, for instance in DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, and Uganda payments are being made for afforestation, while in Madagascar a Community-managed forest protection programmeme is under appraisal. 4 For example, if second generation agrofuels include crop residues, these could negate any soil moisture and nutrient gains made through conservation agriculture practices of leaving crop residues to protect the soil surface. international markets. Additionally, some biocrops can provide additional benefits such as windbreaks, restoration of degraded areas, habitats for native biodiversity and a range of ecosystem services5. National biofuels strategies would need to be based on thorough assessments of the opportunities and costs (World Bank 2007d). 91. Fairtrade – has become one of the fastest growing consumer movements in Europe and North America. As a result today more than five million people – farmers, workers and their families – across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system. A recent survey has estimated that British shoppers will spend £two billion on Fairtrade, organic and locally sourced products in 2007, an increase of 62 percent since 2002. Fairtrade roast and ground coffee now accounts for about 20 percent of the UK market and the number of Fairtrade accredited products rises year on year6. While still small there are a growing number of farmers in SSA who are benefiting from a fair trade premium for their products7. Fairtrade is concerned with more than just paying farmers a premium price for their produce, typically it involves building human and social capital within the participating communities, as well as promoting good farm management practices, with the emphasis on long term sustainable production. 92. Green/Organic Labels and Certifications - predominately aimed at regulating and facilitating the sale of organic products to consumers, these certification processes have been put in place for farmers and others involved in food production including seed suppliers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. Requirements vary by country and involve a set of production standards that include:avoidance of synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additivies, etc.) and genetically modified organisms. Currently there are numerous examples of both certified organic and non-certified organic agriculture in Africa and with a tradition of low input agriculture in Africa, organic agriculture does hold great promise8. For example, in Kenya, ecotourism has recently prompted a much greater market for the "green labels" among Kenyan lodges and hotels indicating their responsibility in not degrading the environment but actually working to improve it9. 93. Food Safety and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) protocols evolved in recent years in the context of a rapidly changing and globalizing food economy and concerns of various stakeholders about food production and security, food safety and quality and the environmental sustainability of agriculture across the food chain. The food chain approach has implications for agricultural production and post-production practices and offers the opportunity to address sustainable use of resources. The use of GAP is also being promoted increasingly by the private sector through informal codes of practice and indicators developed by food processors and retailers in response to emerging consumer demand for sustainably produced and wholesome food. This trend may create incentives for the adoption of GAP by farmers by opening new market opportunities, provided they have the capacity to respond10. 94. Each of these opportunities can provide incentives for meeting the twin objectives of SLM as they promote the sustainable agricultural and natural resource management practices that underpin production needed to meet a growing demand from societal priorities and markets. 5 From FAO 2007, http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2007/1000540/index.html 6 Figures taken from a special supplement, Fair Trade – A force for social change, published in the UK Guardian Newspaper, March 2007. 7 Examples include: (i) the Cooperatives des Producteur de Coton de Dijidian, Keita Mali who are supplying fair trade cotton to Sainsbury’s a UK based supermarket; (ii) the Abahuzamugambi Bakawa coffee cooperative in Rwanda are due to be paid, in 2007, a premium price of $1.65 a pound for their green Maraba coffee beans by the UK based Union Coffee Roasters; and (iii) the Kagera Co-operative Union (KCU) which is made up of 90,000 small-scale coffee growers in north-west Tanzania supply part of the fair trade coffee marketed by Clipper and M&S in the UK, and the KCU has been able to invest some of the fair trade premium into an instant coffee factory (allowing farmers to sell their low grade, non-exportable coffee, within Tanzania) and to fund three schools and attract quality teachers. 8 http://orgprints.org/5161/03/parrot-et-al-2006-africa.pdf 9 http://allafrica.com/stories/200708071127.html 10 As a neutral body, FAO is promoting Good Agriculture Practice http://www.fao.org/prods/GAP/index_en.htm 95. Promoting SLM through market based opportunities will be critical, but so too will be capitalizing on new information and communication technologies (ICT). Building awareness and capacity and sharing information can be bolstered by taking advantage of cellular telephones and the internet, as
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