C o l l e g e o f F o r e s t r y , P o n n a m p e t – 5 7 1 2 1 6 , K o d a g u ,U n i v e r s i t y o f A g r i c u l t u r a l S c i e n c e s , B a n g a l o r e , I n d i aC a n a d i a n M o d e l F o r e s t N e t w o r k , O n t a r i o , C a n a d a

2012

C o l l e g e o f F o r e s t r y , P o n n a m p e t – 5 5 7 1 2 1 6 , K o d a g u ,U n i v e r s i t y o f A g r i c u l t u r a l S c i e n c e s , B a n g a l o r e , I n d i a

C a n a d i a n M o d e l F o r e s t N e t w o r k , O n t a r i o , C a n a d a

2012

© Forestry College, Ponnampet, UAS, Bangalore. India

Cover Page design: Dr. Mohana, G.S., ARS, Ponnampet

Printing: Type Corner, Bangalore

Contents

P a r t i c u l a r s P a g e N u m b e r

Introduction

Background of the Study and Project Team

Biodiversity v i s - à - v i sEcosystem Services:

A Perspective for Kodagu District

Carbon Sequestration Potential and PES Feasibilities in

Kodagu Landscape

Hydrological Services and Possibilities of PES from Kodagu

Landscape

Recommendations for making PES a reality : Stakeholders’

perception

P r e f a c eKodagu is one of the greenest landscapes in India and is part of the Western Ghats, a global

hotspot of biodiversity. With 81% of the geographical area under tree cover, district harbors

diverse ecosystems such as natural forests, sacred groves, coffee agroforestry systems and

paddy fields that contribute to the diversity of species which represent 8% of India's plant

wealth. However, the landscape and demography in Kodagu is currently undergoing rapid

changes which are bound to impact the ecosystem and services that flow from the district and

in turn communities within and outside the district.

World over including many developing countries ,Incentive Based Mechanisms like Payment for

Ecosystem Services (PES), Ecological Certification and Landscape Labeling are being promoted

as means of “Green and Clean development”. Under the current scenario in Kodagu , there is

an urgent need to formulate an action plan for economic development model based on

sustainable utilization of natural resources by adopting above approaches. We have essentially

attempted here to review the key ecosystem services from the landscape of Kodagu and look at

mechanisms of providing incentives to communities. A team of researchers from the University

of Agricultural Sciences(Bangalore) has prepared this document based on studies undertaken in

the region and in discussion with stakeholders and local peoples’ representatives. The project

team has made a beginning by compiling information on ecosystem services and taking it to the

policy makers and private entrepreneurs to support the cause of Incentive Based Mechanisms

for sustainable landscape management.

We wish to acknowledge Canadian Model Forest Network for providing financial assistance to

carry out this compilation. Inputs from Drs. Philippe Vaast, Claude Garcia (both from CIRAD,

France), Jabuory Ghazoul (ETH, Switzerland), Shonil Bhagwat (Oxford University, UK) and teams

of FERAL, Pondicherry and AgroParis Tech, France are highly appreciated. Our special thanks are

due to farmers and elected representatives of Kodagu district who have actively participated in

consultation process and given their valuable inputs for this endeavor.

We hope this document will raise awareness among key stakeholders involved in providing and

receiving the life sustaining ecosystem services and pave ways for development on the principle

of ecological economics. We seek critical inputs and suggestions from diverse sections of the

society on how we could make PES a reality for communities in Kodagu.

I n t r o d u c t i o n

The planet is experiencing a period of rapid ecosystem degradation, species loss and climate

change. The deterioration of biodiversity is reaching unprecedented levels, with an extinction

rate reported in the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to be 1000 times higher than what

has been typical over most of the earth’s history (UNEP, 2010). Biodiversity loss threatens the

well-being of human societies and less diverse and degraded ecosystems are compromising the

livelihoods of many vulnerable communities around the world.

The much talked climate change and water crisis at local level often have resulted from poorly

managed ecosystems and biodiversity loss in addition to other causes of environmental

degradation. Biologically diverse and healthy ecosystems provide essential benefits for water

supply, ranging from water filtration and erosion control to the regulation of flood, carbon

sequestration to sink excess C02 from the atmosphere. Nevertheless, little has been invested in

maintaining ecosystems and sustaining their services. Too often, human-built infrastructure is

adopted as the solution to problems that ecosystems have been addressing for millennia. For

instance the costs of setting up a water treatment facility can run into billions of dollars, the

opportunity cost of having the same filtration services provided by ecosystems are often

considerably lower. As a result, it is becoming increasingly recognized that the preservation and

maintenance of ecosystems and the services that they provide often makes good economic

sense and well being of the mankind.

The ability to meet our needs without jeopardizing the prospects of future generation has

become one of the major causes of concern. This is true in case of many ecosystem services we

derive from natural forests and various tree based land use systems. These services include

climate modification functions that may result from carbon uptake and storage (FAO, 1998)

water and soil protection, biological diversity of various life forms, wildlife habitat protection

and recreational use opportunities. From ages these profound ecological services have been

used indiscriminately. However, studies done in the recent past have clear indications to show

that, natural resources are not eternal and need to be conserved and used in sustainable

manner. All these years natural resources have been thoroughly exploited or even abused

without proper accountability. In this regard, United Nations initiative in the form of

Convention of Conference on Environment and Development, has developed a concept of

accounting the Natural resources and termed it as “Green accounting” under System of

National Accounts (SNA). Here, the natural resources can be duly accounted and incorporated

into the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Pushpam Kumar e t a l

., 2006). 1 . A n o v e r v i e w o f e c o s y s t e m s e r v i c e s

The literature on ecosystem services and their influence on human societies has been growing

both in number and complexity in recent years. There are attempts to value these ecosystem

services and to get payment from the beneficiaries. Such systems of payment are generally

termed as PES schemes and they focus on ecological/environmental services provided by forest

conservation, reforestation, and sustainable forest utilization as well as agroforestry and silvo-

pastoral practices, for which there is an existing market demand, or for which such demand can

emerge in future under appropriate conditions. Such PES mechanism has already been

incorporated in forest laws of American and Asian continents.

Ecosystem services, which have little direct cash-generating value but have significant indirect

economic value to livelihood of the people. Lack of cash compensation for the benefits from

ecosystem services leads to ecosystem degradation, often with disastrous environmental and

social effects. Conversely, income from payments for ecosystem services, when appropriately

structured, leads to the preservation and regeneration of these resources.

These services mainly fall under following four categories:

� Water services,

� Carbon sequestration,

� Biodiversity conservation and

� Landscape beauty

1 . N e e d f o r P E S M e c h a n i s m i n K o d a g u

The diverse ecosystems and associated diversity of bio-resources of Kodagu have contributed

to economic development of the region. In addition to shade grown coffee, Kodagu is known

for Mandrin, Cardamom, which have got geographic indications (GI) as unique products. Coorg

honey, black pepper, valuable timbers like rosewood, teak, ebony, sandalwood, non-timber

forest products like medicinal plants, bamboo, G a r c i n i a are some of the examples of valuable

bio-resources from this ecosystem. In addition to these direct benefits there are many

ecosystem services provided by the landscape. These include 1. Provisonal services which

provide goods like food, fresh water and timber 2. Regulating services like climate stabilisation,

clean water, pollination of crops 3. Cultural services which includes recreation as well as

aesthetic, intellectual and spiritual inspiration and 4. Supporting services which produce direct

services described above.

In the recent years the district has become an important tourist destination owing to its

landscape beauty and places of cultural interest. There can be many such examples of

contribution of ecosystems for the development of “Green Economy” in the district as indicated

by one of the highest developmental indices among the districts in India. Higher green cover

and associated higher economic and developmental index is a proof of the synergies between

sustainable environment managment and sustained economic development. The ecosystem

services provided by the "Greenscape" of Kogadu is not only confined to the district. A range of

life supporting and sustaining benefits are provided to communities downstream the river

Cauvery in terms of water for drinking and agriculture, climate regulation, providing timber and

fuelwood needs of people. The contribution of river Cauvery for the economic development in

Bangalore and agricultural productivity in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is well known. Thus it is

imperative to promote sustainable management of coffee agro-forests, which contributes to

protection of environment, through incentive based mechanisms like PES.

2 . T h e K o d a g u L a n d s c a p e

It is essential to understand the legal and socio-economic framework, as well as broad

biophysical, geographical, and meteorological information is necessary to evaluate the

feasibility of PES in the district and hence relevant information is presented in this section.

Kodagu covering an area of 4106 km2, is located in Western Ghats (700 25’ - 760 14’ E and 120

15’ - 120 45’ N) and shares common border with Kerala in the south and is surrounded by three

other districts of Karnataka v i z., Dakshina Kannda, Hassan, and Mysore. The eastern border of

Kodagu district extends over the Mysore plateau. It has a steep west to east climatic gradients

especially for temperature and rainfall from the edge of the Ghats. This has resulted in large

tree diversity in the west and gradually decreasing towards the east. Temperature ranges

between 23 to 35°c and mean annual rainfall is 1200 to 2500 mm. Soil is mainly lateritic in

nature.

Kodagu district is the largest coffee growing region in India producing about 38% of India’s

coffee and is also known as the land of river Cauvery, which is a lifeline for several million

farmers in the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as well as source of drinking water to many

towns and cities including Bangalore. The river Cauvery is worshipped by the local people

as Goddess Cauvery. Realizing the significance of the river Cauvery, the pioneering farmers of

Kodagu have adopted a shade grown agro-forestry system for cultivation of coffee, cardamom

and other plantation crops as well as paddy cultivation in low lying areas amidst coffee areas.

Over a period of time, coffee intercropped with black pepper and orange has been established

as major cropping pattern in the district. Today, the coffee plantations of Kodagu are

recognized as one of the most diverse coffee production systems in the World. The shade

grown coffee plantations cover 33% of the landscape of the district complimenting the other

forested landscapes like reserve forests and protected areas, sacred forests and other wooded

areas. With these diverse forested ecosystems which cover 78% of the total land area of the

district, Kodagu has been identified as a micro hotspot of biodiversity within the larger Western

Ghats region. The district with one national park and three wildlife sanctuaries under the formal

government managed system of protection, a network of 1214 sacred forests under the

informal community managed areas and about 104000 ha of coffee plantations provide unique

opportunity for the researchers to study the key issues of sustainable landscape management.

In addition to hosting spectacular biodiversity, the forested ecosystems provide a range of

ecosystem services which sustains the livelihood of the local communities. Following pictures

depict the diverse ecosystems in the landscape.

3 .

L a n d s c a p e d y n a m i c s

This diverse multistoried agroforestry system is undergoing transformation with respect to

canopy densities and diversity due to changes in the production systems under the current

liberalized market situation. There is a gradual increase in area under coffee cultivation either

by converting privately owned wooded areas or existing cardamom plantations. An assessment

of change in forest cover during the last 20 years between 1977 and 1997 indicated that the

forest cover has declined by 28% (from 2566 to 1841 sq. km) representing a reduction of 18%

the forest cover in the total area. The most depleted forest type is medium elevation evergreen

forest which decreased by 35% (representing 9% of the total area). Low elevation ever green

forests have shrunken by 17 % (1% of the total area). Moist deciduous forest area has been

decreased by 7 % (2% of the total area). A large part of it has been converted into coffee and

teak plantations after 1977. Most of the areas converted into coffee plantations are privately

owned areas (Elourd, 2000). In addition to conversion of wooded and cropped areas into

coffee, there is another important change in the characteristic of coffee holdings. Most of the

estates previously planted with Arabica coffee maintained under a good cover of mixed shade

are being converted to Robusta coffee, which requires sparse shade (when compared to

Arabica) resulting in decrease in canopy cover and population of native tree species. The

Robusta coffee plantations which had higher density and diversity of shade trees earlier are

now becoming more open and hence the diversity is coming down. Further, planters are

replacing native trees with exotic Silver Oak (G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t a) to increase productivity of their

coffee holdings and to overcome difficulties related to shade management and marketing of

native trees owing to ban on green felling. This intensification of coffee production through

shade reduction and replacing native trees with exotic trees in the ecologically fragile areas

where coffee is being cultivated, may lead to long term effects on the environment. This in turn

will affect the ecosystem services like water supply, carbon storage and bio-diversity.

(A) (B)

( C) F i g u r e 1 : L a n d u s e m a p o f K o d a g u d i s t r i c t ( 1 : 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 ) . M a p p r e p a r e d w i t h 2 3 m e t e rr e s o l u t i o n s a t e l l i t e i m a g e r y . T h e l a n d u s e / v e g e t a t i o n t y p e c l a s s i f i c a t i o n i s b a s e d o n ( P a s c a l1 9 8 2 ) . T h e s e m a p s s h o w t h e c h a n g e s i n l a n d - u s e b e t w e e n 1 9 7 7 ( a ) , 1 9 9 7 ( b ) a n d 2 0 0 7 ( c )S o u r c e : C A F N E T p r o j e c t ( h t t p : / / w w w . i f p i n d i a . o r g / M a n a g i n g - B i o d i v e r s i t y - i n - M o u n t a i n -L a n d s c a p e s . h t m l ) . 4 .

L a n d t e n u r e a n d l e g a l f r a m e w o r kThe land tenure system in Kodagu is complex and distinctive as compared to other parts of

country. However, understanding the forest management structures and associated land

tenure systems is essential for constructing PES for carbon sequestration. Table 1 provides a

typology of forest management types, land tenure and responsible institutions that are

essential to develop a meaningful PES mechanisms.

T a b l e 1 . B r o a d t y p o l o g y o f l a n d - t e n u r e a n d f o r e s t m a n a g e m e n t t y p e s i n K o d a g u L a n d U s e S y s t e m

T y p e M a n a g e m e n t O b j e c t i v e R e s p o n s i b l eI n s t i t u t i o n

Government

managed Forest

Reserved Forests Protection and production of

forest products

Karnataka Forest

Department

Protected

Forests

Protection of wildlife,

conservation of biodiversity

and environment

Karnataka Forest

Department

Community

Forests

(VFC’s)

__ Production of forest products,

biodiversity conservation and

multiple purpose use

Forest user groups

Sacred Groves __ Protection of religious sites Communities

Coffee based

Agro-Forests

__ Protection and Production Individuals, Industry

Private Forests __ Production of forest products Individuals, Industry,

NGOs

With this in background we aim to compile and quantify the key ecosystem services namely

biodiversity, carbon sequestration and watershed services based on the scientific studies

carried out in the district. It is also focused at devising payment mechanism that suits the

landscape. This document envisaged to be an eye opener to policy makers and private

entrepreneurs to support the cause of incentive based mechanisms for sustainable landscape

management which are already in practice elsewhere in India and world.

L i t e r a t u r e c i t e d :FAO, 1998, Food and Agriculture Organization, Report on Economic and Environmental

Accounting for Forestry: Status and Current Efforts, Rome, Paris, pp. 1-18.

Pushpam Kumar, Saanjee Sanyal, Rajiv Sinha and Pavan Sukhdev, Accounting for the Ecological

Services of India’s Forests. In G r e e n A c c o u n t i n g f o r I n d i a n S t a t e s a n d U n i o n T e r r i t o r i e sP r o j e c t (eds. Pushpam Kumar, Saanjee Sanyal, Rajiv Sinha and Pavan Sukhdev) TERI,

New Delhi, 2006, 7

: 1-48.

Elourd, C., Landscape and Society. 2000, In M o u n t a i n B i o d i v e r s i t y L a n d U s e D y n a m i c s , a n dT r a d i t i o n a l E c o l o g i c a l K n o w l e d g e(eds. Ramakrishnan, P.S., Chandrashekara, U.M.,

Elourd, C., Guilmoto, C.Z., Maikhuri, R.K., Rao, K.S., Sankar, S. and Saxena, K.G.), Oxford

& IBH Publishing, New Delhi, pp. 25-44.

UNEP, 2010, United Nations Environment Program, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report

acess: w w w . u n e p . o r g / d e c / . . . / m i l l e n n i u m _ e c o s y s t e m _ a s s e s s m e n t _ f i n d i n g s . p . . .

B a c k g r o u n d o f t h e s t u d yThis being the first effort from Kodagu to collate information on the research studies

undertaken on inventory of biodiversity, quantification of carbon sequestration capabilities and

impact of changes in the land use on hydrological services brain storming sessions were held

on 22-11-2011 which was attended by 30 delegates. In this meeting the stakeholders identified

Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration and hydrological services as the key ecosystem services

which need to be included for the current effort to formulate policy document on payments for

ecosystem services for landscapes of Kodagu. Based on these discussions a proposal was

developed and submitted to Canadian Model Forest Network by the University of Agricultural

Sciences(Bangalore) and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the partners

on 25-1-2012. This is the first MOU between Canadian Model Forest Network and University

and hence it took some time to get the working arrangement in place.

The first meeting was held of stakeholders and project team was held on 31-1-2012 at College

of Forestry, Ponnampet and project team members explained the proposal to the stakeholders

and inputs provided by the stakeholders were considered for the development of the policy

document. Mettings with stakeholders were also held on 13-2-2012 to review the progress of

work and presentations were made by the three teams on biodiversity, carbon and hydrology

and valuable inputs from the stakeholders were included for the proposal.

As part of the programme a team of visiting

faculty and students from AgroParis Tech(France)

interacted with the project team on 6-2-2012 and

discussions were held on synergies that could be

worked between the teams . The visiting team

was mainly involved in collecting stakeholders

perception on Payments for Ecosystem Services

from Kodagu. After the work preliminary results were shared with the project team and

stakeholders on 23-2-2012 at College of Forestry. A presentation by the team was also made in

the department of Agricultural Economics of the University Bangalore on 24-2-2012 where the

Vice Chancellor and Registrar of the university attended the event along with researchers from

different institutions attended the interaction. This partnership provided the project team to

interact with the visiting team on issues related to possibilities of payments for ecosystem

services and supplement the policy document.

The draft policy document was presented to invited service providers and receivers of

ecosystem services from Kodagu through a buyers-sellers meet held on 13-3-2012. The event

was inaugurated by the Dean(Forestry) and Principal investigator of the project and

presentations were made by the team leaders of Biodiversity, Carbon, Hydrology and Economic

valuation. Around 50 delegates representing different stakeholders like farmers self help

groups, Women’s self help groups, Agricultural Scientist Forum of Kodagu, Kodagu Model

Forest Trust, Codagu Planters Association from service providers group and representatives

from tourism sector and industries which use water representing the service users attended the

meeting. Fruitfull interactions were held and very valuable inputs were collected on the

perception and mechanisms of providing PES.

The final interaction with peoples

representatives of local bodies like

Kodagu zilla Panchayat and three

Taluk Panchayt was held on 14-3-

2012. This event was jointly hosted

by the University , CMFN and

Karnataka Forest Department . The

event was inaugurated by Mr.Ravi

Kushalappa , President of Kodagu

Zilla Panchayat in the presence of Dr.S.N.Rai former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests,

Karnataka and Dr.Anand ,Deputy Conservator of Forests(Madikeri) . Dr.N.A.Prakash, Dean

(Forestry) and Principal Investigator of the project highlighted the purpose and progress of

development of policy document of PES for Kodagu. In his address the president of Kodagu Zilla

Panchayt congratulated the project team for undertaking this effort which is first of its kind in

the entire region of Western Ghats. He strongly advocated the need for providing payments for

ecosystem services from landscapes of Kodagu and assured all the support for taking the policy

document to the regional and national government to provide incentives for sustainable

natural resources management. The presentations made by the project team was helpful in

creating awareness about ecosystem services that are provided by the landscapes and how we

could use them as a tool in economic development of the district among the elected

representatives.

Very productive interactions were held

and the local leaders shared their opinion

on problems being faced by the people

and how we need to work together by

involving the forest department,

community and institutions as in the

current effort to find answers to the

complex environmental issues. Contributions from officers of the developmental departments

like forestry, local governance, social forestry, water shed and agriculture was also very useful.

This event was a very productive effort to take the message of need for PES to the local

governance and through their support take the proposal to the state and national policy makers

and governments to seek support for this initiative.

P r o j e c t T e a mP r i n c i p a l I n v e s t i g a t o r :Dr. N.A. Prakash, Dean (Forestry), University of Agricultural Sciences,

Bangalore, College of Forestry, PonnampetB i o d i v e r s i t y :D r . M o h a n a G . S. Junior Rice Breader, Agricultural Research Station, Ponnampet (UAS,

Bangalore) ; D r . S a t h i s h , B . N .

Asst. Professor, Department of Forest Products and Utilization,

College of Forestry, Ponnampet (UAS, Bangalore); D r . S m i t h a K r i s h n a n

, ETH, Zurich.; M r .A n a n d , M . O

. National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore

C a r b o n :D r . D e v a g i r i , G . M. Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resource Management, College

of Forestry, Ponnampet (UAS, Bangalore); D r . D e v a k u m a r , A . S

. Associate Professor,

Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,

Bangalore; D r . P h i l i p p e V A A S T , Senior Researcher, CIRAD, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi,

Kenya

H y d r o l o g y :D r . C . G . K u s h a l a p p a, Professor and Head, Department of Forest Biology and Tree Improvement,

College of Forestry, Ponnampet (UAS, Bangalore); M r . R a g h u , H . B

. Asst. professor, Department

of Forest Biology and Tree Improvement, College of Forestry, Ponnampet (UAS, Bangalore); C o l .M u t h a n n a

, Secretary, Kodagu Model Forest Trust, College of Forestry, Ponnampet. E c o n o m i c e v a l u a t i o n :Dr. M. G. Chandrakanth, Dr. P S Srikanthamurthy and Dr. Chinnappareddy, Dept of

Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

B i o d i v e r s i t y v i s - a - v i s e c o s y s t e m s e r v i c e s : A p e r s p e c t i v e f o r K o d a g ud i s t r i c tS a t h i s h , B . N * . , M o h a n a , G . S # . S m i t h a K r i s h n a n $and

A n a n d , M . O ¥ .* Department of Forest Products and Utilization, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, College of Forestry,

Ponnampet-571216

# University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, Agricultural Research Station, Ponnampet

$ Researcher,

ETH, Zurich, Switzerland

¥ National Centre for Biological Sciences, GKVK campus, Bangalore I n t r o d u c t i o n :

As per the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report of World Resource Institute (MEA, 2005),

the ecosystem services derived from nature have been classified into following categories.

• Provisioning Services ( Food, Fuel, Fiber, Fresh water, Biochemicals, Genetic resources)

• Supporting Services ( Nutrient recycling, Primary production and Soil formation)

• Regulating Services (Climate, Disease regulation, Water regulation and Purification,

Pollination)

• Cultural Services (Spiritual and religious, Recreation and ecotourism, Aesthetic,

Inspirational, Educational, Sense of place, Cultural heritage)

Noticeably, biodiversity is the underlying element for many of the above said services. Here, we

examine the critical role of biodiversity in structuring and functioning of various ecosystems

present in Kodagu district.

K o d a g u : a m i c r o h o t s p o t o f d i v e r s i t yKodagu district is one of the most important landscapes within the Western Ghats biodiversity

hotspot region because of the following reasons.

• One of the densely wooded districts with all the major tropical forest types of India.

• It has more than 80 per cent of its land under tree cover (Forest Survey of India, 2011).

There are about 1332 species belonging to 717 genera and 160 families along with

Picture 1. Largest tree in Kodagu

about 163 cultivated plant species. This constitutes 8 % of

India’s and 35% of Karnataka’s flora.

• There are 34 distinct land tenure and tree management

systems unique to this region.

• Nagarahole National Park is one of the best managed

national parks in Asia. E c o s y s t e m s d i v e r s i t y :The district has diverse ecosystems contributing to biodiversity conservation and various

ecosystem services. The following are some of the major ecosystems of the district which are

playing a crucial role in biodiversity conservation.

• Natural Forests and sacred groves with different vegetation types

• Coffee Agroforestry systems

• Paddy lands

• Grassland and sholas

• Wetlands

P i c t u r e 2 . V i e w o f t h e l a n d s c a p e s o f K o d a g u w i t h e v e r g r e e n a n d s h o l a f o r e s t s

The elements of each of these ecosystems are explained in the following sections1 .

B i o d i v e r s i t y i n n a t u r a l f o r e s t e d e c o s y s t e m sNatural forested ecosystems cover an area of 46 per cent of the total geographical area of the

district. These ecosystems include evergreen, semi evergreen, moist deciduous, dry deciduous

and scrub forest types. Among these forests types, Evergreen forests form the major vegetation

type, which cover nearly 33 per cent of the total forested landscapes (Moppert, 2000) followed

by moist and dry deciduous forests (5 per cent each). Evergreen forests also include small

proportion of high altitudinal grassland sholas. The evergreen forests are found in the Western

aspect of Kodagu on either part of Ghats crest. These forests are characterized by heavy rainfall

and a short dry season. They have highest species richness and diversity and contain a large

number of endemic species (Ramesh and Pascal, 1997).

The species richness ranges between 100 to 174 species (Pascal, 1988; Pelissier, 1997) in low

elevation evergreen forests, around 90 to 126 in medium elevation evergreen forests (Ganesh e t a l . ,1996), between 90 to 100 species in high elevation evergreen forests (Pascal, 1986).

Generally, less than 50 species in moist deciduous forests, and less than 30 in dry deciduous

forests. The species richness relates to all the forests of Western Ghats i.e. the richness of

species in the evergreen forests of Kodagu is as good as Western Ghats in general. In a recent

study by Sathish (2010), it was found that within the evergreen forests, species richness varied

from 70 to 111 tree species.

In addition to rich diversity, evergreen forests are also considered as treasure house of endemic

species. Endemic species are those which have restricted distribution and are abundant in low

elevation evergreen forests of the Western Ghats. For instance, 48 per cent of the species are

endemic (Pascal and Pelissier, 1996) in low elevation evergreen forests of Kadamakal reserve

forest in Kodagu. D i p t e r o c a r p a c e a e

members are dominant in number with D i p t e r o c a r p u si n d i c u s , V a t e r i a i n d i c a

as endemic species representing 21 per cent of the trees (Elourd e t a l . ,

1997; Pelissier, 1997).

Structure of the forests in terms of density and basal area indicates that the mean number of

stems in Kodagu were comparable with the mean density of 419 trees/ ha in the Western Ghats

(Parthasarthy, 2001; Ghate e t a l .

, 1998). The values of basal area in the forests of Kodagu were

also as good as the basal areas recorded from the different forests in the Western Ghats

(Ayappa and Parthsarthy, 1999). The density and basal area of these forested ecosystems

contributing directly to the biomass and the quantum of carbon sequestered.

Shola forests or high altitudinal evergreen forests forms a unique ecosystem. These forests are

characterized by small patches of forests in the valleys surrounded by grasslands. These forests

support unique species diversity and hosts variety of orchid species. Keshavamurhty and

Yoganarasimhan (1990) have recorded 62 species of orchids from 32 genera in Kodagu. Sixty

one species of orchids in 32 genera were recorded from Tadiandamol, the highest peak in

Kodagu, of which 46 species are epiphytic and 16 are terrestrial (Rao, 1998). Mahesh (2006) has

documented 67 species of epiphyte belonging to 22 families and 33 genera. L i t s e a f l o r i b u n d a

in

evergreen forest, G l o c h i d i o n m a l a b a r i c u m in Shola and C a n t h i u m d i c o c c u m

in plantation hosted

higher number of epiphytes.

The natural forested ecosystems systems not only conserve biodiversity but plays a very

important role as major sinks for carbon, provide timber, non timber forest products, fuel

wood, fodder etc. In addition to tangible benefits, these forests also play a very crucial role in

providing indirect services in terms of soil and water conservation, nutrient recycling and

regulating hydrological cycle.

2 .

B i o d i v e r s i t y i n c u l t u r a l l a n d s c a p e s – S a c r e d g r o v e sSacred forests are the unique traditional landscapes which play a vital role in biodiversity

conservation. Kodagu district has 1214 sacred groves covering an area of 2550 hectares. Of

these 508 are present in Virajpet taluk, 306 in Madikeri taluk and 400 in Somwarpet taluk. The

density of sacred groves is very high i.e. one grove for every 300 ha of land, which is highest

density in the world. Every village in Kodagu has at least one and in many cases more than one

sacred grove. There are 39 villages, which have more than seven groves. The highest number of

groves is found in Thakeri village of Somwarpet taluk. Considering the wide diversity of

vegetation features, deities worshipped and communities involved in protection, Kodagu can

regarded as ‘hotspot’ of sacred grove tradition in the world. (Kushalappa and Shonil Bhagwat,

2001).T a b l e 1 . N u m b e r o f s a c r e d g r o v e s i n d i f f e r e n t t a l u k s o f K o d a g u ( K u s h a l a p p a a n d K u s h a l a p p a ,1 9 9 6 ) . N u m b e r P e r c e n t A r e a ( h a ) P e r c e n tVirajpet 508 41.85 872.13 41.85

Madikeri 306 25.21 534.23 20.95

Somwarpet 400 32.95 1144.09 44.85

Total 1214 _ 2550.45 _

Several studies on the floristic structure and diversity conducted in sacred groves indicate that

they are as good as natural forests. For instance, comparative assessment of species diversity

and the species richness among the reserve forests and sacred groves indicates that the

species richness was highest in reserve forest (160) followed by disturbed sacred groves (156)

and conserved sacred groves (146). There is a slight decrease in the number of species

compared to reserved forests in these sacred groves. The disturbed groves harbor shrubs and

climbers in higher numbers. Among disturbed sacred groves, nearly 13 per cent of species were

of deciduous type, which is almost 50 percent more when compared to reserve forests and

conserved sacred groves. The altered species composition could be attributed to prevailing

disturbance regimes in the sacred groves (Boraiah, 2001). Studies by Shonil Bhagwat (2002)

indicates that total of 215 tree species in the forest reserve, sacred forests and coffee

plantations were recorded and it was found that 45 per cent of all species are ubiquitous, 26

per cent are shared and 29 per cent are unique. The observed number of unique species was

higher than expected in the forest reserve but lower in the sacred groves.

T a b l e 2 . S p e c i e s r i c h n e s s , d i v e r s i t y a n d e v e n n e s s i n d e x o f r e g e n e r a t i n g i n d i v i d u a l s i n r e s e r v ef o r e s t s a n d s a c r e d g r o v e s ( B o r a i a h , 2 0 0 1 )Sl

no.

Landscapes Species

richness

Shannon’s

index

Evenness

index

1 Reserve forests 160 3.96 0.779

2 Conserved sacred groves 146 4.04 0.796

3 Disturbed sacred groves 156 3.68 0.728

Species richness was higher in larger sacred grove compared to the smaller groves and

regeneration status of plant species increased with the size of the grove (Tambat, 2001). The

rate of accumulation of species with area showed that, when compared to larger groves, the

regeneration rate was faster in the smaller groves, where the accumulation was not saturating.

The rate of accumulation of species in the medium size fragments was not very different from

that of the larger groves, which suggests that the process of species loss and gain in the

different sized groves could be similar. Shannon’s diversity index at both the species and family

level increased with the size of the groves. This indicates the large groves had, on an average

greater species diversity and family diversity compared with the small groves.

The Sacred groves of Kodagu are considered as treasure house of plants of medicinal value.

Shonil Bhagwat (2002) reported high number of plant species with medicinal and other utility

value from coffee plantations and sacred forests compared to the reserve forests. Boraiah

(2001) reported that though the sacred groves are small in size they are repositories of endemic

flora and have a high conservation value. In the recent concern over high degradation of natural

resources, sacred groves play an important role in preserving medicinal plants. Raghavendra

and Kushalappa (2011) have documented the plant resources in the sacred groves of Virajpet

taluk and of the total plant resources, 27 per cent of the flora constituted threatened medicinal

plants.

These cultural landscapes play an important role in conserving biodiversity as well in the supply

of various needs of the people like small timber, fuel wood and non timber forest products.

They also play a role in sequestering carbon, regulating hydrological cycle, providing pollinator

services and seed dispersal.

P i c t u r e 3 . S a c r e d g r o v e s o f K o d a g uB i o d i v e r s i t y i n A g r o - e c o s y s t e m s :Agro-ecosystems represent human managed systems at large and will have heterogeneous land

area with cluster of interacting ecosystems. They are dynamic both at spatial and temporal

scales. The diversity in agro-ecosystems includes between and within diversity and it

encompasses plants, animals, pollinators and the soil biota of the system.

Agro-ecosystems in Coorg mainly consist of Coffee based agroforestry system and Paddy lands

in the valleys. Many studies have shown that these agro-ecosystems do harbor considerable

levels of diversity. Though paddy is grown as a mono crop, intraspecies diversity is substantially

high as the cultivation system is still traditional with local varieties under low input systems.

The detailed account of biodiversity in these two agro-ecosystems is given here. a .

C o f f e e b a s e d a g r o f o r e s t r y s y s t e m s

Coffee agroforestry systems in Kodagu are the examples for human managed systems and

represent remnants of original forest. Therefore they can be viewed as potential areas for

conserving diverse flora and fauna. Studies conducted by Elouard e t a l

. (2000) indicated that

the canopy cover, floristic composition and structure are mainly determined by the

management of plantation and original forest type. The number of species observed is higher in

plantations under evergreen vegetation type than in moist deciduous vegetation. Since coffee

plantations in evergreen area are established recently with increased economic interest in

coffee, canopy cover is selectively cleared by retaining majority of the local species. The moist

deciduous vegetation contains relatively less canopy cover owing to longer history and

intensive management practices.

In recent years, there has been a shift in choice of shade trees from native to fast growing

exotics such as G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t aand hence there are coffee based agro-forests with only native

shade trees, a combination of native and exotics and few predominated by only exotics.

Despite these changes, the agro-forests have retained a high diversity and density of shade

trees (Shonil Bhagwat 2002, Sathish 2005, Krishnan 2011). Studies by Sathish (2005) indicated

that the density (310 trees per ha) and basal area (17.11 m2 per ha) of trees in semi evergreen

vegetation was higher compared to moist deciduous vegetation with density (272 trees per ha)

and basal area (12.98 m2 per ha). The study also indicates that the G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t a is the

dominant tree species in both vegetation followed by E r y t h r i n a s u b e r o s a , C i t r u s r e t i c u l t a ,A r t o c a r p u s i n t e g r i f o l i u s , D a l b e r g i a l a t i f o l i a

andA c r o c a r p u s f r a x i n i f o l i u s .

The coffee based agroforestry systems can be called as tree managed forests supporting high

levels of biodiversity. They are acting as corridor between the fragmented natural forests and

facilitating gene flow, seed dispersal and pollination services. Coffee based agroforests are also

Tree/ha

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Large Medium Small Sacred Forests Natural Forest

Estate size

reducing the pressure on natural forests by providing timber, non timber forest products and

fire wood. In addition to this, they are also playing a crucial role in regulating hydrological cycle

as evidenced by the outcome of the CAFNET project (2011). b .

S t a t u s o f B i o d i v e r s i t y i n t h e c o f f e e a g r o f o r e s t r y s y s t e m s i n C a u v e r y w a t e r s h e d a r e aThe findings of the CAFNET project

(2011) indicatesthat the structure of the

shade cover of the coffee estates in

Kodagu is complex. The tree density is

high, compared to remnant forest

patches (for example s a c r e d g r o v e s

),

and highly variable across estates

(Figure 1). On average, coffee estates in

the Cauvery watershed have 350 trees

per ha, compared to 270 Trees/ha in s a c r e d g r o v e s

and 640 trees/ha in the forest of the

Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. The coffee estates of Kodagu are some of the coffee production

systems with more trees on earth. The reasons behind this include the need to protect the

floral buds against desiccation in case the blossom showers are late, the agronomic properties

of the trees that improve the fertility of the soil and the specific land tenure and tree rights that

constrain the management options of the farmers. C o m p o s i t i o nThe coffee agroforestry system of the Cauvery watershed contains a remarkably high

biodiversity (Fig. 2). We identified close to 280 different tree species, and estimate the actual

species richness to be close to 320 species. This is due to the fact that many of the trees of the

original wet evergreen and moist deciduous forests have been conserved by the planters when

they converted their land into coffee estates.

F i g u r e 1 : T r e e d e n s i t y i n t h e c o f f e e s t a t e s , s a c r e d f o r e s t s f r a g m e n t sa n d r e f e r e n c e f o r e s t s . T h e d a t a f r o m t h e f o r e s t f r a g m e n t s a n d t h er e f e r e n c e f o r e s t a r e d r a w n f r o m G a r c i a , 2 0 0 3 .

20%

10%

5%

4%

4%

57%

Grevillea robusta

Erythrina lithosperma

Acrocarpus fraxinifolius

Areca catechu

Artocarpus heterophyllus

Others

F i g u r e 2 : S p e c i e s a c c u m u l a t i o nc u r v e s . A s w e k e e p a d d i n g p l o t s t ot h e s a m p l e , w e k e e p i d e n t i f y i n g n e wt r e e s p e c i e s , u n t i l w e h a v e f o u n dm o s t o f t h e s p e c i e s p r e s e n t i n t h ew a t e r s h e d . T h r o u g h t h e u s e o f as t a t i s t i c a l e s t i m a t o r w e c a n e s t i m a t et h e n u m b e r o f s p e c i e s w e h a v em i s s e d . T h e t o t a l n u m b e r o f t r e es p e c i e s i n t h e c o f f e e a g r o f o r e s t r ys y s t e m o f t h e C a u v e r y w a t e r s h e de x c e e d s 3 2 0 .

The species are not equally abundant

(Fig. 3). One of them, G r e v i l l e ar o b u s t a (Silver oak) represents close

to 20% of the trees of the watershed

(that is one out of five).

B i r d d i v e r s i t yThe database comprises currently more than 3000 observations, and from the study 109

species belonging to 35 families and 12 orders of birds were identified. The most abundant

species belong to the order P a s s e r i f o r m e s

. The study also identified indicator species that

disappear from the coffee estates when the percentage of G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t a increases.

F i g u r e 3 : D i s t r i b u t i o n o f t r e e s p e c i e s i n t h e C a u v e r y w a t e r s h e d .

Results indicated that the bird communities react

negatively to high levels of G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t a, with loss

of richness and diversity. Intermediate levels however

seem to increase biodiversity. As the proportion of

Silver Oak increases in an area, the total number of bird

species (Species richness) decreases. However, this

trend is observed only after the proportion of Silver Oak

exceeds 20-30% of the trees in the location. This

suggests that it is possible to retain Silver Oak in an

estate, as it improves the revenue of the farmer, without damage to biodiversity, provided it is

kept under a threshold (our data suggests 20-30%). E p i p h y t e d i v e r s i t yIn total, 42 epiphyte species were recorded from the coffee agroforestry systems in evergreen

and moist deciduous vegetations. Quantitative analyses done to evaluate the effects of these

variables on abundance of epiphytic species indicates that:

1. The proportion of epiphytic species significantly increased up to certain thresholds of

canopy cover (75%) after which it decreased.

2. Higher proportion of epiphytic species was recorded on host trees of girth classes (0.30 –

0.81 m) in both vegetation types. Since the density of trees was high in these girth classes,

the results indicated that epiphytic species abundance increased with increase in tree size.

3. In Evergreen vegetation, S y z y g i u m c u m i n i i

, O l e o d i o i c a

, T e r m i n a l i a b e l l i r i c a

were the most

common preferred hosts. In moist vegetation type, D a l b e r g i a l a t i f o l i a

which was the most

preferred host tree supporting much higher numbers of epiphytes than S y z y g i u m c u m i n i i

, O l e o d i o i c a,

T e r m i n a l i a b e l l i r i c a. Even though these tree species host higher epiphytic

species in evergreen vegetation but ranked after D a l b e r g i a l a t i f o l i a

in moist deciduous

vegetation types.

4. In total, 42 epiphyte species were recorded in evergreen and moist deciduous vegetations. P h o l i d o t a p a l l i d a and

B u l b o p h y l l u m n e l i g h e r r e n s e were the most dominant epiphytes in

both evergreen and moist deciduous vegetations. Following these three species, R h y n c o s t y l u s r e t u s a,

A r e i d e s c r i s p a , L i p a r i s v i r d i f l o r a , and C o e l o g y n e b r e v i s c a p e

were the

most abundant ones in Evergreen vegetation whereas C y m b i d i u m b i c o l o r,

A s p e l i u m n i d e s,

and F i c u sspp

. were other dominant epiphyte species in moist deciduous vegetation. M i c r o b i o l o g i c a l s t u d i e s

The outcome of the CAFNET study (2011) indicates that Coffee under evergreen ecosystem

supports higher population of bacteria. Arabica coffee harbors more bacteria compared to

robusta. Coffee grown under more than two shade tree species encountered higher bacterial

population. Fungal population was higher in evergreen ecosystem. Coffee under more than 2

shade tree species harbored marginally higher fungal population. Number of a c t i n o m y c e t e s

was

more in evergreen ecosystem, with robusta harboring higher number of a c t i n o m y c e t e s

. Coffee

under mono shade tree species had higher population of a c t i n o m y c e t e s

.

Lignin decomposing and nitrogen fixing bacteria were higher in coffee grown in evergreen

ecosystem whereas cellulose decomposers, starch hydrolyzing and pectin utilizing bacteria

were higher in deciduous ecosystem. Robusta coffee harbored higher number of lignin

decomposing, starch hydrolyzing and pectin utilizing bacteria while cellulose decomposing

microorganisms, nitrogen fixing bacteria and phosphate solubilising microorganisms were

higher in arabica coffee. Lignin decomposers were more in coffee grown under single shade

tree species, while starch hydrolysers were more in coffee grown under 2 types of shade tree

species and pectin utilisers were more in coffee grown under more than 2 types of shade tree

species. S m a l l m a m m a l sA total of six different species were captured:

B a n d i c o t a b e n g a l e n s i s(Lesser Bandicoot Rat), F u n a m b u l u s t r i s t r i a t u s

(Western Ghats Striped Squirrel, Jungle Palm Squirrel), M u s b o o d u g a(Little Indian Field Mouse), M u s m u s c u l u s

(Common House Mouse), R a t t u s w r o u g h t o n i

(Common White-bellied Rat), and S u n c u s m u r i n u s

(Grey Musk Shrew). Of these species only F u n a m b u l u s t r i s t r i a t u sis endemic to the Kodagu region. Over 50% of all captures were

R a t t u s

w r o u g h t o n i, followed by F u n a m b u l u s t r i s t r i a t u s , R a t t u s w r o u g h t o n i

(Common Rat), B a n d i c o t ab e n g a l e n s i s

(Lesser Bandicoot),S u n c u s m u r i n u s

(House Shrew).

c . P a d d y l a n d sPaddy is the major staple grown in the district in an area of about 35000 ha in valleys.

Compared to other irrigated areas of the state, the cultivation regime is still traditional i.e. local

varieties are grown under low input systems. Rice fields not only serve the purpose of

provisioning services such as food and fodder, but also provide a means of water infiltration

owing to huge volumes of standing water for at least 3 to 4 months.

Further, intra-species diversity in terms of number of local varieties grown in a unit area is

considerably high (as many as 4 to 6 varieties in an area of 1 hectare) which helps in checking

the pest and disease epidemic. Many traditional varieties have been grown since centuries to

suit the requirements of the land and people (Mohana, 2010). A concise list of paddy varieties

grown in Coorg district is given in the Table 3. Paddy fields also harbor a number of weeds in

addition to faunal diversity elements such as crabs, frogs and other lesser known insects. This is

due to the limited use of inputs like herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides. However, a

comprehensive study is lacking in respect of faunal diversity in the paddy cultivation systems. 3 . W e t l a n d e c o s y s t e m s :

These are characterized by swampiness and trees with knee roots. These landscapes support

unique species richness and plays a crucial role in regulating hydrological cycle. The area under

wetlands is decreasing drastically since many years and very little work has been done on the

diversity and functions of these ecosystems.

c

S t a t u s o f B i o d i v e r s i t y i n d i f f e r e n t E c o s y s t e m s o f K o d a g uT a b l e 4 . B i o d i v e r s i t y e l e m e n t sBiodiversity elements Number of

species

Source

Plant species 1342 Keshavmurthy and

Yoganarasimhan (1980)

Tree species in Coffee agroforestry

systems

280 CAFNET repot (2011)

Birds 310 Narasimhan ( 2004)

Birds in Coffee Agroforestry systems 109 CAFNET report (2011)

Snakes 49 Sathish (2009)

Frogs 23 Daniels (1998)

Small mammals 6 CAFNET report (2011)

Orchids 67 Keshavmurthy and

Yoganarasimhan (1980)

Ta b le 3. So me tr a d i t i o n a lv a r ie t ie s gr o w n i n Co o r g

P a r a me te r s Bo l iy a D o d d i Ke m b a t t i B K B Je e r i ge S a n n a Ko n ka n i S a n n aDuration (days) 150 100 100 140-150 150 120

Height Tall Medium Short Tall Medium Medium

Paddy color Brown Brown Red Brown Brown Brown

Rice color White Red White White White White

Paddy size Bold Bold Medium

Bold

Medium

Slender Short Slender Short Bold

Land grown Low land Upland Low land Low land Mid and low

land Low land

Pest, disease and other

problems Lodging Lodging - Lodging

Blast

susceptible -

direct

seedling/Transplanting Transplanting Transplanting Transplanting Transplanting Transplanting Transplanting

Season

K ha r i f

K ha r i f

K ha r i f

K ha r i f

K ha r i f

K ha r i f

Usage Table rice Table rice Table rice Table rice Table rice Table rice

Yield/acre (quintals) 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 14 18

Head rice recovery/100 kg

paddy 65 60 60 65 60-62 70

Specialty -

Taken to

Kerala and

Exported

- Good table

rice Aromatic rice Aromatic rice

Other varieties grown

Karta, Chingri,

Rajamudi,

Rajbhog

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5

Wet-Evergreen

Semi-Evergreen

Moist deciduous

Dry Deciduous

Sacred Grove

Coffee

Paddy

Water body

Habitat

Average of Shannon_Weiner

4 .

F a u n a l D i v e r s i t yAs discussed in the above sections, the landscape is very rich in flora which in turn supports

higher faunal diversity. The district has one National park and three wildlife sanctuaries. The Rajiv

Gandhi National park is one of the best managed national parks in the country with high density

of Asian Elephants and tiger. These protected areas also hosting relatively high density of other

faunal species.

Narasimnan (2004) has described close to about 310 birds in the district and Sathish (2009) has

described about 40 snakes in their field guides. Danniel (1998) has reported close about 25

species of frog species in the district.

Under CAFNET project (2011) studies undertaken to document biodiversity of Coffee agroforestry

systems have indicated the presence 109 birds, 7 small mammals and a diverse group of

micoflora. The relevance of coffee estates as corridors for large population of elephants is also

indicated from the study.

From the studies by Bhagwat (2002), it is shown that the percentage of forest dwellers (birds) is

decreasing with the increasing disturbance

and the percentage of non forest dwellers are

increasing with the disturbance and are high

in coffee plantations than that of forest

reserves and the sacred forests. As per the

studies by Prakash (2003), there much

difference in diversity of birds among the

different landscapes was not observed as

shown in the Fig 7.

The remnant forests (sacred groves as well as privately owned remnant forests) provide

important nesting and forage resources to many species of bees and butterflies. Smitha (2011)

has listed about 82 morpho-species of bees of which four are social bee species and 78 morpho-

Fig 7 Mean Shannon Diversity Index for each habitat

species of solitary bees belonging to 12 genera from three families. Additionally, they have listed

about 78 species of butterflies (excluding L y c a n i d a e

family).

B i o d i v e r s i t y – T h e n e e d f o r P E SThe tree-dominated landscape mosaic of Kodagu district shelters a rich and unique biodiversity as

detailed above. This landscape contains large contiguous natural forests, forest fragments (which

are protected as sacred groves), coffee agroforestry systems, paddy lands and human

habitations. There have been a number of assessments of biodiversity in these different land use

types, especially in the contiguous forests, forest fragments and coffee agroforestry systems.

Bhagwat et al. (2005a) found that while there were similar levels of biodiversity across these

three land use types, endemic and threatened species were less abundant in coffee plantations

than in contiguous forests and forest fragments.

The impacts of habitat fragmentation (i.e. the loss of area and habitat connectivity) have been

studied for a variety of biodiversity groups. In general, there are losses in species richness and

diversity and forest regeneration (Tambat, 2001) with reduction in area. However, even small

patches can harbor high diversity, if the sites are well-conserved. This is particularly the case for

non-woody plants and macro fungi (Brown et al. 2006; Page et al. 2009).

Variations in management and biodiversity across coffee plantations has been the focus of some

recent research. Both in Kodagu and in adjoining coffee-growing landscapes, the spread of silver

oak (G r e v i e l l a r o b u s t a) as a shade tree has had detrimental impacts on species richness and

diversity (CAFNET project, 2011).

A landscape approach has been strongly recommended for pursuing conservation of biodiversity

in Kodagu (Bhagwat et al. 2005b). This is because of the various biodiversity interactions between

the different land uses within the landscape. For instance, while proximity to contiguous forests

boosts the biodiversity value within forest fragments and coffee agroforestry systems, native tree

cover provided by coffee plantations surrounding a forest fragment positively influence its

biodiversity value (Bhagwat et al. 2005a and b). These recommendations have support from

studies conducted at different sites as well. For instance, the conservation value of coffee

plantations in Chikmagalur (for mammals, birds and butterflies) and Valparai (birds) was strongly

and positively influenced by proximity and connectivity to natural forests (Dolia et al. 2008). On

the other hand, the trees in the coffee agro-forests form a more or less contiguous layer with the

remnant forest dispersed within the landscape, thus allowing transfer of genetic material across

the landscape.

In Kodagu, there are two recent (last 30 years) trends in land use change that need to be

immediately addressed from the point of view of conservation of native forest biodiversity: (1)

the widespread degradation and conversion of natural forests to coffee plantations and (2) the

conversion of traditional polyculture-shade coffee agroforestry systems to monoculture-shaded

plantations of silver oak. For successful biodiversity conservation in human-dominated

landscapes like Kodagu, it is essential to include local communities in conservation planning and

to take care of their welfare (Garcia et al. 2009). In this context, incentive based programmes

such as Payments for Ecosystem/environmental Services (PES) become crucial. When designing

and implementing these schemes, it is important to keep in mind the complex biodiversity

interactions between natural and human-modified land uses. Schemes that do not address all the

interacting components of the system, especially the crucial but neglected component of natural

forest remnants, run the strong risk of destroying biodiversity instead of protecting it. The

landscape labeling approach to PES schemes which will be implemented at larger spatial scales

could provide a solution to this problem. This model includes a greater diversity and number of

stakeholders and, importantly incorporate a variety of land uses might address some of the

problems described above. There is also a need to specifically promote schemes for the

conservation of standing forests, which are rapidly being lost.

V a l u a t i o n o f B i o d i v e r s i t y i n K o d a g u (Inputs from Dr. Chinnappareddy, UAS, GKVK, Bangalore

)As a starting point to initiate the PES program or scheme, it is essential to identify and quantify

various ecosystem services from different components of biodiversity. Major components of

biodiversity are above ground flora and fauna and belowground biodiversity (microbes,

mesofauna, flora). Within the broad spectrum of above ground biodiversity in Kodagu district,

various types of flora has been identified as described above. More specifically, identified

ecosystems are coffee ecosystems, paddy ecosystems, sacred groove and natural forest systems

of different types. We need to prioritize ecosystem services from these systems. According to the

prioritized list of services one can identify potential benefits with and without protection or

conservation or management with different regimes. We can assess whether such ecosystems

can be sustained through PES from the direct beneficiaries and decide which systems need

incentives/subsidies from the government to initiate conservation.

Highly conspicuous services from biodiversity in Kodagu district include non-wood forest

products, wood/timber products, hydrology (rainfall, soil moisture and related benefits),

medicinal plants and products, gene bank (in the form of wild crop varieties), soil nutrients, soil

ecology, food products, organic matter, indirect services such as pollination (which is a

prerequisite) for good coffee crop in robusta and many other related services.

Values of different types from biodiversity need to be estimated using various valuation methods

which will give some idea about the magnitude of value of services from Kodagu distirct. Based

on values of services derived from valuation studies one can evolve PES mechanism. For majority

of direct ecosystem services, direct use values as well as indirect use values are available.

However, for a host of Ecosystem Services (ESS) that are mostly indirect such as flood control

service, pollination, predator/parasite relationship, build of humus in the soil, etc deriving ESS is

rather difficult task.

W h o h a s t o p a y f o r t h e s e s e r v i c e s ?The beneficiaries or users of these services have to pay under PES scheme/program. However,

this issue assumes some complexities mainly due to the fact that ESS from biodiversity are highly

pervasive as most of them are public goods. Therefore, identification of beneficiaries for

collection or payment towards ESS becomes a cumbersome process. However, in such cases,

where benefits or services are derived by the specific groups of individuals, a collection

mechanism (payment vehicle) may be developed keeping in view the socio-economic profile of

such groups as it may affect the equity issues and may worsen their welfare such as weaker

sections and marginal and small farmers.

M o d e o f p a y m e n t o r p a y m e n t v e h i c l eThis again depends on type of ESS and target group. Suppose we are targeting the soil

conservation services from ecosystem, we can propose a mechanism to collect PES value from

regular land revenue tax paid by the farmer as in this case farmer is the primary beneficiary of

soil conservation services. Specific tax for any service or benefits in the form of ESS can also be

considered like ad valorem tax. In this type of payment vehicle, transaction costs are minimum as

this method does not call for a separate system for the collection of tax revenue.

W h o s h o u l d r e c e i v e i n c e n t i v e s o r s u b s i d i e s o r p a y m e n t s u n d e r P E S ?This is an important question as most of the ESS from biodiversity are created by the nature and

only minimum human effort is involved in the accessing these services. However, human effort is

essential to sustain these ESS by way of arresting degradation, conservation and management of

biodiversity. Therefore we need to identify actors/players involved in these endeavors and

recognize the hierarchy and the extent of participation in the conservation and management

biodiversity. For example, adoption of organic agriculture bestows numerous ESS/benefits.

Similarly farmers and others who are engaged with the nature with minimum role in the

alteration of biodiversity need to be recognized and accordingly they have to be appropriately

compensated. People whose livelihoods are largely dependent on the natural forest or

biodiversity need to be identified and suitably rewarded for protecting or practicing natural

farming activities that do not lead to destruction of natural ecosystem. Another solid example is

the wide ranging ESS from from sacred groves and natural forests; the payment values can be

determined as in the case of medicinal plants in the coffee plantations and sacred forests. After

deducting cost of efforts and transaction costs, the residual can be considered as net payment to

the ESS. This value can go directly to the individuals and communities/groups engaged in the

conservation of sacred groves.

How to effect the distribution of PES revenue across different households and

communities/groups? This is really a ticklish question as identification of individuals is really

difficult task. But one avenue that can be considered is that since individual effort or initiative is

hard to pin point (as in the case of public good nature of ESS), the community or local institutions

(which provide public good to the community) can be roped in public good to the entire

community or lower level workers involved in the hierarchy of conservation or protective

mechanism (as a mechanism for distribution of PES revenue).

P a y m e n t M e c h a n i s m s f o r B i o d i v e r s i t y C o n s e r v a t i o n (Inputs from Dr. Mohana, G.S., Sathish, B.N.

Smitha Krishnan and Anand, M.O.)

A number of payment mechanisms which promote directly or indirectly the conservation of

biodiversity are in place in different parts of the world. The mechanisms which can be lucratively

explored in the Kodagu district are briefly discussed in the following section.

1 )

A g e n c y d r i v e n b i o d i v e r s i t y c o n s e r v a t i o nThis involves buying/adapting a piece of land or area by either private or public agency

exclusively for conservation purposes which will be done in association with the forest

department. Private parties would involve corporate sectors or civil society organizations

interested in conservation. Government agencies can also buy or allot (their own property) for

conservation. The land might have already an established biodiversity element (example: lakes

where migratory birds visit annually, specific species rich area etc) or the procured land might be

utilized for reinstating the native biodiversity elements of the past. The ownership of the land will

not change but rights to access and management can be worked out after a thorough discussion

with forest department.

This approach can be profitably utilized in Kodagu as there are many areas with unique

biodiversity. For instance, there are areas where D y s o x u l u m

m a l a b a r i c u m

(an endangered

species with very high timber value) is naturally available or there are swampy areas where

endangered species are present. The exceptional s h o a l a

forests amidst grasslands can be good

area for this conservation strategy.

This agency driven strategy can also encompass supporting initiatives aimed at diversity

conservation by an individual or community. Kodagu owns a large number of privately owned

forests or diverse coffee agroforests which harbors considerable biodiversity. These are retained

by the farmers for many generations, thus maintaining the original vegetation cover. Provisions

for payment to the owner to help continue maintain these forests in its entirety can be made

through private parties. Such conservation easements could also be provided to the community

in case of community protected forests, mainly the sacred groves. Coffee farmers who have

retained the native shade tree cover can benefit from species specific conservation incentives.

2) P a y m e n t f o r A c c e s s t o S p e c i e s o r H a b i t a t

:

An area with research significance or potential for bio-prospecting can be made accessible to

research agencies or pharmaceutical companies on an agreed payment regime. This again will

come under the purview of Forest department. This would entail the rights of collection, testing

and using genetic material for either research or product development. Biodiversity management

committees under Grama Panchayaths can also receive payments for access to plant resources

within their village limits.

Even this option can be advantageously employed in Kodagu district as areas where medicinal

plants and other plants of research are available in plenty. For instance, M a p p i a

f o e t i d a ,a plant

that yields compound “ Campothecin” used for curing cancer is available in forests of Kodagu.

This can easily enter into the payment regime explained above.

3 )

E c o - t o u r i s mKodagu offers overwhelming opportunities for eco-tourism with spectacular array of places

having rich biodiversity and are of cultural significance. It has already made a mark in eco-

tourism worldwide. Home stays that offer the glimpse of traditional food with relaxed routine

are becoming popular throughout the district. However, there is a pressing need to systematically

nurture this venture further for higher economic benefits of the local community.

4 )

E c o - c e r t i f i c a t i o n a n d G I t a gWorldwide, eco-friendly farming practices are increasingly becoming popular. This is in quest of

safe food and environment. Many certification agencies and schemes are in operation for

achieving this end, which would offer premium over conventionally grown foods. Geographical

Indications tag, aimed at promoting location specific resources has also been received well in

different countries. Towards these, there are immense opportunities in Kodagu where traditional

farming is still practiced with low external inputs. In recent years, many certification schemes

have been successfully implemented in the district and two products (Citrus and Cardamom)

have obtained GI. Another new incentive tool “Landscape labeling” could also be very relevant

for Kodagu.

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Tree Species in the Evergreen and Semi-Evergreen Forests. Institute Francais de

Pondichery, Publications du Department d'ecologie, Pondicherry.

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Bangalore.

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Sathish, 2009. Snakes of Kodagu. Coorg Wildlife Society.

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C a r b o n s e q u e s t r a t i o n p o t e n t i a l a n d P E S f e a s i b i l i t i e s i n K o d a g uL a n d s c a p e

Devagiri, G.M.*, Devakumar, A.S. # and Philippe VAAST$

*Department of Natural Resource Management, Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, College of Forestry,

Ponnampet-571 216, Kodagu, Karnataka (gdevagiri@gmail.com)

#Department of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore-560 065

(asdevakumar@gmail.com)

$ Senior Researcher, CIRAD, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya (philippe.vasst@cirad.fr) 1 .

I n t r o d u c t i o n :Greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, ozone etc. are

natural and essential components of earth’s atmosphere. Greenhouse gases (GHG) absorb

incoming heat radiations and retain it in the atmosphere. This phenomenon is known as green

house effect which is essential to life on earth, creating an optimum temperature range in which

organisms can live. However human activities such as burning of fossil fuels, industrialization and

land use changes are increasing the amount of green house gases especially carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere. This has resulted in increased amount of heat trapped in atmosphere and

consequently gradual warming of the earth’s surface. Rise of atmospheric temperature by 0.50 C

is recorded over the past hundred years and it is projected to rise by 0.6 to 40 C in the coming

decades. Such global climate change will have huge impacts like increased intensity and

frequency of floods and droughts, rise of mean sea level submerging low lying areas, habitat loss,

and loss of biodiversity (IPCC, 2007).

Ecosystems are fine tuned to the climate in which they evolve and are resilient to some degree of

climatic variability. But, ecosystem resilience is not large enough to survive above mentioned

climatic perturbations given the other pressures they are subjected to by human development

(Mike, 2003). Climate change can cause several changes in forest ecosystem. This include change

in phenology of trees, loss of biodiversity, change in the distribution pattern of species, increased

invasion by weeds and increased incidence of forest fire. All these factors could seriously affect

tangible and intangible benefits provided by forests (IPCC, 2002).

Developing countries like India could be particularly at risk from the potentially negative effects

of climate change because of their heavy dependence on forests and other natural resources

(Priya, 1994). Any change in the structure and distribution of forests is likely to have serious

consequences for economies and communities which depend on them. So, it is need of the hour

to foresee the impact of climate change on forests and to plan adaptive and mitigation strategies

to reduce the potential negative consequences of climate change.

Vegetation, especially, forest ecosystems store carbon in the biomass through photosynthetic

process, thereby sequestering carbon dioxide that would have been present in the atmosphere.

Undisturbed forest ecosystems are generally highly productive and accumulate more biomass

and carbon per unit area compared to other land use systems like agriculture. It is estimated that

the carbon stored in the biomass of world forest amounts to 2,40,439 Mt with an average carbon

content of 71.5 t ha-1. The carbon stored in the biomass of India’s forests was estimated to be

2,343 Mt with an average carbon content of 35 t ha-1 (FAO, 2007).

India’s forests serve as a major sink of CO2. It is estimated that that the annual CO2 removal by

India’s forest and tree cover is enough to neutralize 11.25 per cent of India’s total GHG emissions.

Over the last two decades, progressive national forestry legislations and policies in India aimed at

conservation and sustainable management of forests have reversed deforestation and have

transformed India’s forests into a significant net sink of CO2. From 1995 to 2005, the carbon

stocks stored in our forests and trees have increased from 6,245 million tons to 6,662 million

tons, registering an annual increment of 38 million tons of carbon or 138 million tons of CO2

equivalent. This is enough to offset 100 per cent of emissions from all energy in residential and

transport sectors; or 40 per cent of total emissions from the agriculture sector (MoEF, 2009).

Clearly, India’s forest and tree cover is serving as a major mode of climate change mitigation for

India and the world. In response to the climate change, Kyoto Protocol came into existence

during 1997 and the countries which are signatory to the protocol agreed to a 5.2 per cent

reduction in emissions of GHGs by 2012. India ratified the protocol in August 2002 and is

committed to reduce the atmospheric concentration of GHGs. Under the protocol, India also

agreed to prepare the national GHGs inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and

removal by sinks. India participated in the Conference of parties (COPs-15) held at Copenhagen

and demanded a comprehensive framework for compensation and positive incentives for

forestry as part of the ongoing climate change negotiations. It is important that any such

agreement provides incentives not only for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest

Degradation (REDD), but also for Sustainable Management of Forests (MoEF, 2009).

2 .

C a r b o n s e q u e s t r a t i o n b y d i f f e r e n t l a n d u s e s y s t e m s2 . 1 F o r e s t e d l a n d s c a p e s :

From Table 2 it is clear that standing tree biomass is contributed by both the tree density as well

as the size of individual trees in different forest types (Devakumar, 2011). Because in evergreen

forest type though the tree density was less compared to shola forest, because of higher basal

area, (which is a function of tree girth and height), the biomass contribution was highest. In case

of dry deciduous forest where both tree density as well as basal area was less, it was reflected in

biomass content of the standing trees as well as the carbon content. Carbon sequestration from

the standing trees was found to be highest in Evergreen forest type closely followed by Semi-

evergreen forest where it is because of both higher tree density as well as due to higher height

and girth. In Moist deciduous forest which is not much different from that of dry deciduous

forest the carbon stock was low due to low tree density lower height and girth of trees which in

general have slow growth compensated by higher drought tolerant capacities. In shola forests it

was clearly due to the smaller stature of the trees. This is not surprising because shoals in the

higher altitude generally have a species composition of low growth rates as well as trees with

lower height and girth. In a recent study (Mohandas & Priya, 2009) the girth of the trees in shoals

of Nilgiri mountains of southern India located at the same elevations that of our study sites, tree

size (girth) was less.

T a b l e 2 : T r e e d e n s i t y , b a s a l a r e a , b i o m a s s a n d c a r b o n c o n t e n t o f d i f f e r e n t f o r e s t t y p e s o fK o d a g u

Soil carbon content varies among the soils of different forest types (Table 3). Highest amount of

organic carbon was found in semi-evergreen forest type followed by shola grass lands, shoal

forest and evergreen forest. The least was seen in case of dry deciduous forest soils. Soil carbon

pool is considered to be a major sink of carbon among the terrestrial carbon pools. A study for

various forest types of India (Ravindranath e t a l

.1997) has shown the highest SOC in tropical wet

evergreen forest is 132.79 t/ha and least of 30.22 t/ha in littoral swamps. A recent study has

shown 60 to 80 t/ha at the soil depth of up to 20 cm in a short rotation woody crop grown site

with no soil preparation (Felipe e t a l

., 2007). One of the studies conducted in the sacred groves

of Kodagu has recorded values ranging from 60.60 to 74.40 t/ha. Compared to these values the

forest soils studied in this study are not higher. The major nutrient contents such as nitrogen,

phosphorus and potassium of the soil is also presented.

F o r e s t t y p e D e n s i t yN o . t r e e s / h a B a s a l A r e a( m 2 / h a ) B i o m a s s( t / h a ) C a r b o nc o n t e n t( t / h a )Evergreen 227 24.7 229 115

Semi Evergreen 270 24.0 223 112

Moist Deciduous 109 11.0 95 48

Dry Deciduous 67 7.0 86 43

Shola Forest 388 20.3 122 61

T a b l e . 3 M a j o r n u t r i e n t s c o n t e n t ( t / h a ) a n d o r g a n i c c a r b o n c o n t e n t i n d i f f e r e n t f o r e s t s o i l t y p e so f K o d a g u d i s t r i c t

The total carbon pool from the major components of carbon sinks of natural forest of Kodagu

(Table 4) was found to vary from 179 in semi-evergreen forest to 77 t/ha in dry deciduous forest,

while evergreen forest had 170 t/ha.

T a b l e 4 . T h e t o t a l c a r b o n f r o m d i f f e r e n t c o m p o n e n t s o f f o r e s t o f K o d a g u d i s t r i c t. F o r e s t t y p e A b o v eg r o u n db i o m a s s( t / h a )

L i t t e rb i o m a s s( t / h a ) H e r bb i o m a s s( t / h a ) S o i l c a r b o n T o t a lc a r b o nc o n t e n t( t / h a )E v e r g r e e n115 2.11 3.05 50.07

1 7 0 . 2 3S e m i E v e r g r e e n112 1.72 2.11 63.12

1 7 8 . 9 5M o i s t D e c i d u o u s48 0.13 0.13 42.00

9 0 . 2 6D r y D e c i d u o u s43 0.10 0.18 33.45

7 6 . 7 3S h o l aF o r e s t + G r a s s l a n d 61 1.92 4.73 56.13 1 2 3 . 7 8A v e r a g e

75.80 1.19 2.04 48.95 1 2 8 . 0 0

F o r e s t s o i l t y p e N P K C ( % ) C a r b o nc o n t e n tt / h a

Evergreen

0.407 3.45 0.337 2.06

50.1

Semi Evergreen 0.410 3.86 0.305 2.60

63.1

Moist deciduous 0.356 2.98 0.289 1.73

42.0

Dry deciduous 0.256 2.10 0.201 1.38

33.5

Shola Forest 0.335 3.82 0.414 2.31

56.1

Shola Grassland 0.271 2.21 0.304 2.47 60.1

2 . 2

S a c r e d g r o v e s :The total carbon sequestration occurring in the sacred groves from all the components of above

ground biomass, litter and soil put together was found to be reasonably high. The contribution of

above ground biomass is highest followed by soil carbon and least was from litter carbon. The

sacred groves have been instrumental in sequestering an average CO2 concentration of 759.36

t/ha from the atmosphere. The total carbon stock in the sacred groves of the district, with an

area of 2550 ha, is found to be 528105 Mt. T a b l e 5 . T h e t o t a l c a r b o n c o n t e n t o f t h e s a c r e d g r o v e s f r o m d i f f e r e n t p o o l . S i z e c l a s s o ft h e s a c r e dg r o v e s A G B C a r b o n( t / h a ) L i t t e rc a r b o n( t / h a ) S o i l O r g a n i cC a r b o n( t / h a ) T o t a l c a r b o n( t / h a ) C 0 2 c o n t e n t( t / h a )C l a s s - I

114 0.29 61 175 641 C l a s s - I I126 0.33 67 193 707 C l a s s - I I I159 0.28 66 225 823 C l a s s - I V151 0.35 74 225 827 C l a s s - V

1507 0.65 67 218 798 A v e r a g e140 0.38 67 207 759

2 . 3

C o f f e e b a s e d a g r o - f o r e s t s c o m p a r e d w i t h o t h e r l a n d u s e s y s t e m s1. Results from the studies carried out under National Vegetation Carbon Project (Devagiri, e t a l

. 2011) have revealed that coffee agro-forests sequester significantly high As regards

taxes as payment vehicle for Carbon, it is envisaged to collect Green Tax from vehicles as

one time tax equivalent to the amount of life time tax which is being collected by the

state for purchase of new vehicles at respective Regional Transport Offices.

T a b l e 6 . A b o v e g r o u n d b i o m a s s a n d c a r b o n d i s t r i b u t i o n i n c o f f e e a g r o - f o r e s t s a s c o m p a r e d t oo t h e r l a n d u s e s y s t e m s L a n d - u s es y s t e m T r e ed e n s i ty( S t e m sh a - 1 )

B a s a la r e a( m 2h a - 1 )A b o v e g r o u n d b i o m a s s( t h a - 1 ) T o t a lA G B( t h a - 1 ) T o t a lC a r b on ( th a - 1 ) C 0 2c o n t e nt ( t / h a )

T r e el a y e r S h r u b / c o f f ee l a y e r H e r bl a y e r E v e r g r e e nf o r e s t s 1142 47.5

5

286.1 0.88 0.07 287 135 486 M o i s td e c i d u o u sf o r e s t s 265 18.4

0

88.9 0.59 0.14 90 42 152 C o f f e eA g r o -f o r e s t s 252 28.9

2

116.6 10.45 -- 127 59 215 R u b b e rp l a n t a t i o n 245 9.58 87.7 0.10 -- 88 41 149 T e a kp l a n t a t i o n 207 26.4

0

128.4 1.46 0.02 130 61 220

Results from studies undertaken under CAFNET project (http://www.ifpindia.org/Managing-

Biodiversity-in-Mountain-Landscapes.html) showed (see Table 7 below) that coffee AFS

composed of Arabica shaded by either native or exotic tree species sequestered C at the same

rate as reference forest. To a lesser extent, this also appears to be the case for Robusta AFS

shaded with native species. With values in the range of 140-220 t/ha, total carbon sequestered in

the present coffee systems are well above the median C sequestration potential of other agro-

forestry systems estimated at 95 t/ha in the tropical AFS.

T a b l e 7 . A b o v e g r o u n d b i o m a s s a n d c a r b o n d i s t r i b u t i o n i n c o f f e e a g r o - f o r e s t s o f K o d a g u a sc o m p a r e d t o a d j a c e n t n a t u r a l f o r e s t . C a r b o n ( t / h a )

Land-use system T r e el a y e r C o f f e e S o i l L i t t e r T o t a lN a t u r a l F o r e s t97 -- 97 2.4 196 A r a b i c a n a t i v e88 4.8 112 1.6 206 A r a b i c a e x o t i c73 3.3 105 2.2 183 R o b u s t a n a t i v e78 13.0 90 1.8 182 R o b u s t a e x o t i c47 10.1 78 1.9 138

2 . 4 . A b o v e g r o u n d b i o m a s s a n d c a r b o n p o o l a t l a n d s c a p e l e v e lThe Kodagu landscape consists of about 32% area under Government forests and another 30%

under shade grown coffee. Kodagu also has about 2550 hectares as sacred groves which accounts

to the total vegetation cover of about 81 per cent. Therefore, Kodagu plays an important role in

carbon sequestration and should qualify for compensatory funding from REDD related

mechanisms. Study conducted by Devagiri e t a l

(2011) has revealed that Kodagu district

contributes 70 per cent of total above ground biomass and carbon pool as compared to the

adjoining districts in Western Ghats. Above ground biomass in the district ranged from 0.05 t ha-1

to 250 t ha-1 with a mean of 92 t ha-1. While the vegetation carbon density including coffee agro-

forests ranged from 0.03 t ha-1 to 120 t ha-1 with a mean of 44 t ha-1.

3

V a l u a t i o n a n d p a y m e n t m e c h a n i s m3 . 1 V a l u a t i o n s y s t e m :Carbon sequestration service offered at local, regional and global scales can be monetarily

valued. There are many efforts around the world to value forest or tree based land use system as

a source of carbon sink and for their contribution to mitigating global climate change. One

condition for the success of trading carbon credits is the ability to measure or estimate the

amount of carbon actually sequestered under different land use systems or landscapes as a

whole. Several methods are available to estimate the quantity of carbon stored in natural forests,

plantations and tree based land use systems, such as extrapolation from experimental plots or

modeling from inventory data.These different approaches and criteria’s will generally give

different figures. Therefore a site specific valuation process has to be adopted. In the present

context the total economic value (TEV) of carbon sequestered in the entire landscape is

considered for valuation of carbon based on the satellite data. The total carbon sequestered

includes both below (up to 30 cm depth) and above ground. The economic cost of the per tC is

highly variable and difficult to predict, as it is difficult to predict the future environmental impact

of global warming. Nordhans (1992) recommends a marginal cost of 5 USD per tC. On the other

Financing

mechanis

m

Service

Beneficiari

es

Governance

Structure

Payment

mechanis

m

Service

providers

Ecosystem services

hand Fankhauser (1995) who tried to account for the intrinsic uncertainties in climate change

impacts by including random variables into key variables such as damage functions and discount

rates derived a central estimate of 20 USD per tC. In considering all the methods and estimates

developed over the years, the economic value per tC has estimated with values that ranges from

5 to 125 USD per tC. Studies conducted in Kodagu landscape have revealed the carbon

sequestration potential of different land use types ranging from 40-150 tC ha-1 (see previous

section). Even if assume modest estimate of 90 tC ha-1 of carbon being sequestered by the

vegetation which means in forms of its value it is 9000 USD or Rs 40,500 per hectare of

vegetation at an assumed rate of 10 USD per tC in the international market. If we extrapolate to

the entire landscape the monetary value would be enormous.

3 . 2 P a y m e n t M e c h a n i s mGuiding principles for implementation of PES mechanisms in the district would be to:

� Foster biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, equitable access and benefit sharing

through sustainable management practices may be on individual or community basis

� Financially self-sustaining (after one time creation of central fund) and involve local

communities, governments, corporate sector through CSR and NGO’s

� Mainly address the needs of local farmers/communities

� Frame guidelines to qualify (existing management practices) and additionality

requirements (requirement of improvements in practices) for PES benefits by taking

larger interest

There are several challenges in devising payment mechanisms of ecosystem, services. The ideally

structured PES mechanism comprises of elements described in the following chart.

Local

State

National

Internation

Service

Beneficiari

esss

Governanc

e

Structure

� International agencies

like World bank, Bio-

carbon fund, GEF,

UNEP etc, and NGO’s,

� State and Central Govt,

MNC’s in India.

� Corporate bodies,

National and State level

� CDM

� REDD supported

by world bank

forest carbon

partnership

facility (FCPF)

� REDD+ envisaged under green India

Mission

� Natural forest and

plantations

� Coffee based

agroforests

� Community

managed forests

such as sacred

groves and VFC’s

Ecosystem

Services

Financing

mechanis

m

Payment

mechanis

m Service providers

� Bottom up approval from

Gram Panchayat to Zilla

Panchayat

� State Govt.

Mankind as

a whole

1. Adopting the above basic framework as developed by Pagiola (2005), following model has been

devised suited to Kodagu landscape and discussed in the following section.

2. The first challenge in developing a PES scheme is to define, measure and quantify the

environmental services (carbon sequestration, watersheds, biodiversity conservation or

landscape beauty) that are generated under the system. This requires significant scientific

knowledge as well as consultation with stakeholders in order to identify services that can

attract participation from beneficiaries. The key is to identify which services are needed,

by which beneficiaries and at which level.

3. Beneficiaries can be local (for example, water users in the downstream areas), national

(for example, state, NGOs or business associations) or international (international

organizations, multinationals or international NGOs). For carbon sequestration there will

be a mix of local, national and international beneficiaries. The nature, number and origin

of beneficiaries are directly related to the nature of environmental services generated

under the PES scheme. Transaction costs are reduced if beneficiaries are well organized.

4. The establishment of a PES scheme also requires the creation of a financing mechanism

that will gather and manage funds from beneficiaries. In theory, beneficiaries should not

have to pay more than the value of the services to them. Assigning a proper value for

environmental services therefore constitutes one of the main challenges in the

establishment of PES schemes. This valuation process involves economic analysis as well

as extensive consultations with beneficiaries in order to set up contributions that are both

acceptable to them and sufficient to fund the PES system and the provision of needed

environmental services. One key objective of PES schemes is to generate a stable and

continuous flow of revenues that will ensure the long-term sustainability of the system.

5. Revenues can be generated from different payment vehicles like taxes, user fees, state

subsidies, direct contributions, grants or loans by international institutions or donations

by international NGOs or foundations.

6. As regards taxes as payment vehicle for Carbon, it is envisaged to collect Green Tax from

vehicles as one time tax equivalent to the amount of life time tax which is being collected

by the state for purchase of new vehicles at respective Regional Transport Offices.

7. A payment mechanism must also be designed to deliver funds to land users. In theory,

payments given to land users should be enough to compensate for the cost of

conservation and the opportunity cost of foregone land uses. Therefore, a balance is

needed between the maximal payment that beneficiaries are willing to provide and the

minimal payments that will ensure the provision of services by land users. PES schemes

allow for great flexibility in the design of payments: they can be based on the number of

hectares that will be subjected to land use changes or to specific land use practices; they

can also be targeted to specific areas or practices or attributed according to very general

criteria. In addition to direct payments, PES schemes can also provide indirect benefits to

the farmers/communities in the form of infrastructure developments like good public

roads, electricity, market development for their produce, trainings on required aspects

etc.

Possible models/ types that could generate carbon credits for Kodagu landscape includes the

following:

1. Best Management Practices (BMP): Management practices to increase the standing

above ground biomass by reducing timber harvest, retention of native species, and

restriction of exotic species like Silver oak (up to 30%). Under this category Coffee Agro-

forests will qualify and the mechanism that suits is CDM and REDD+ as envisaged under

GREEN INDIA MISSION of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India. The CDM

under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol offers an economic opportunity for subsistence

farmers in developing countries for selling the carbon sequestered through agro-

forestry activities (UNEP, 2004). It is now widely recognized that sink-related CDM

projects can promote sustainable development and resilience of the smallholders’

production systems (UNFCCC, 2004). The Bio-carbon Fund (www. biocarbonfund.org)

established by the World Bank, is a prominent source of funds for such projects.

Another best option is to utilize the benefits of ECO-CERTIFICATION and LANDSCAPE

LABELING for sustainably managed landscapes like coffee agro-forests. Private

buyers/agencies participate in ecosystem service markets by paying a premium for

products produced in more environmentally friendly ways, such as shade-grown coffee

that conserves biodiversity.

2. Afforestation and Reforestation (A/R): Planting of trees or activities that promote

biomass accumulation in community forests. Under this category village forest

committees (VFC) areas and sacred groves offers potential scope.

3. Avoided deforestation or forest degradation (REDD) and REDD+: Avoidance of decrease

in forest biomass through forest degradation mainly in forest plantations and natural

Forests.

5 . B u y e r s o f C a r b o n s e r v i c e s :There are four categories of carbon service buyers that have been identified globally

1. Public sector buyers: These buyers seek to protect the public good of ecosystem services

on behalf of their constituencies. They include local, regional, and national governments,

as well as quasi-public agencies such as the World Bank.

2. Private sector buyers under regulatory obligation: These buyers are mandated to offset

their environmental impacts by laws such as greenhouse gas emissions trading schemes.

3. Private sector buyers acting voluntarily: These buyers may purchase ecosystem services to

support their business operations, to maintain a “green” brand image, or to adhere to

principles of corporate social responsibility. This category also includes philanthropic

buyers such as conservation nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and individual

consumers.

4. Consumers of eco-certified products: These buyers participate in ecosystem service

markets by paying a premium for products produced in more environmentally friendly

ways, such as shade-grown coffee that conserves biodiversity. Although the form of

payment is less direct than in the other three categories, this market segment is

important for low-income land stewards and is therefore included in our analysis. 6 . F i n a n c i n g s o u r c e s :Reflecting the source of financing, two broad categories of PES schemes can be distinguished

• Government-financed: The government acts as the service buyer. These

programmes typically feature multiple services and other related objectives.

• User-financed: The users (e.g., water and energy companies, municipalities) pay for

the ecosystem service directly. These programmes are smaller, typically single

service focused (mainly carbon and watershed protection services), and more

spatially targeted.

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H y d r o l o g i c a l S e r v i c e s a n d P o s s i b i l i t i e s o f P E S f r o m K o d a g u L a n d s c a p eC.G.Kushalappa and Raghu, H.B.

Department of Forest Biology and Tree Improvement, University of Agricultural Sciences (Bangalore) College of

Forestry Ponnampet-571216. Kodagu, Karnataka I n t r o d u c t i o nRecently there have been some developments in applying economic thinking to the use of

biodiversity and ecosystem services. The two critical points to consider are (1) why prosperity and

poverty reduction depends on maintaining the flow of benefits from ecosystems; and (2) why

successful environmental protection needs to be grounded in sound economics, including explicit

recognition, efficient allocation, and fair distribution of the costs and benefits of conservation and

sustainable use of natural resources There is also a compelling cost-benefit case for public

investment in ecological infrastructure (especially restoring and conserving forests, river basins,

wetlands, and others), particularly because of its significant potential as a means of adaptation to

climate change (TEEB 2010). Another dimension is that payments for ecosystem services are

generating considerable attention because they have the potential to create new funding

opportunities for biodiversity protection and other ecosystem services that contribute to human

wellbeing. Natural landscapes of Kodagu district in the Western Ghats of India one of the Hottest

Hot Spots of biodiversity provides an excellent opportunity for promotion of the recently

emerging concept of the ‘green economy’. The recent Convention on Biological Diversity

Conference of the Parties (COP-10 in Nagoya, October 2010) led the global players to declarations

on making the use of environmental goods part of the national accounting and the next

Convention to be held 2012 in Hyderabad will offer an excellent opportunity for India to come

out with national strategy on PES.

Freshwater is a finite resource necessary for sustainable development, economic growth,

agriculture political and social stability, human and ecosystem health, and poverty eradication.

The production of surface water is an ecosystem service that is generally not valued and paid and

hence water tariffs usually account for the services of capturing, treating, and delivering water

but not for producing the water. Therefore, the goods and services provided by healthy

watersheds are of critical importance to water consumers. There are many initiatives that have

demonstrated that healthy watersheds provide numerous, economically important services to

society. A recent review by IIED identified 287 initiatives of payments for ecosystem services of

forests, of which 61 were specifically for those associated with watersheds. The main concerns

addressed in these initiatives have been maintenance of dry season flows, protection of water

quality, and control of sedimentation (Landell-Mills and Porras, 2002). The "Rewarding Upland

Poor for Environmental Services that they provide" (RUPES) is a long-term research program

dedicated to developing practical environmental services schemes that can be adapted to work in

different countries with different circumstances. In our own country The Palampur Water

Governance Initiative, where the Palampur municipal council is paying the residents of Bohal

village to identify, adopt and maintain spring friendly practices in the upper catchment to ensure

water supply to the town and arrangements between upstream land owners and water users of

Bhopal and Chandigarh are pioneering examples of Payments for Hydrological services (Agarwal

et al 2007). Kodagu district is the source of origin of some of the important rivers in South India

like Kaveri and hence hydrological service is one of the key ecosystem service of the landscape. It

is therefore in the National Interest to protect and preserve the Kodagu landscape. C o n t r i b u t i o n o f l a n d s c a p e s f r o m K o d a g u f o r W a t e r

Kodagu a district is synonymous with river Kaveri worshiped as mother by local communities

and source of water for millions in her 800 km long journey from Talacauvery the source of origin

till Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu where she joins Bay of Bengal. The major perennial tributaries to

Cauvery are Harangi, Hemavati, Chikle, Kokkabe, Laxmantirth and Kabini. The district is also

drained by 6 perennial rivers namely westerly flowing Netrawati, Payasyani, Ariyakodavu,

Kuppam and Velapattanam. The length of river from its source to the place where it leaves

Kodagu district is 80 km. The farming community living along the banks and majority of

population living in the cities of Bangalore and Mysore are dependent on the river for their

livelihood, life and prosperity. The total catchment area of the river in three South Indian states is

30,228 sq. miles. of which 13,233 sq. miles is in Karnataka and 16,955 sq. miles in Tamil Nadu.

The contribution by Karnataka is 398 TMCft(52%), of which the bulk is from Kodagu. Tamil Nadu

provides 217 TMCft(30%) and though Kerala has only 1106 sq.miles of catchment area it

contributes nearly 135 TMCft(18%) of water . The total flow of water in Cauvery over a period of

50 years at 50 per cent dependability is 750 TMCft. The five year average annual inflow into KRS

dams in downstream for the period between 1990-95 and 1996-2000 is 186.78 TMCft and 119.65

TMCft, respectively. The water outflow also follows a similar pattern for the period 1990-95 is

71.34 TMCft and 1996-2000 is 62.73 TMCft, . These figures clearly show a reducing trend in both

the inflow and outflow of water from KRS dam over the years .

There has been large increase in the demand for the water from the river for meeting the

drinking water needs of Bangalore and other cities along the course and also for irrigated

agriculture in Southern states. The sharing of this scarce water resource is a major issue of

conflict between the riparian states and a Kaveri Water Tribunal established by the Central

government is involved in allocating the water resources. There is also increase in the water

demand for agriculture and domestic consumption within the district mainly during the summer

months which will impact the dry season flow. The loss of tree cover in the catchment area

,land use changes , reduction in area under paddy cultivation and unregulated activities along the

river banks will result in reduced water yields contributing to major crisis of sharing the limited

water among growing populations. The magnitude of the crisis is evident now since the conflict

for sharing water is not just inter state but different districts in the state and cities along the bank

have started to demand their share of water. H y d r o g e o m o r p h o l o g y o f K o d a g uThe district is part of Western Ghat a hill range of 1600 Km running North to South and in this

main range seven long and elongated ridges run from west to east in the district. These chains of

hill range have an elevation ranging from 1000 to 1700 meters with the highest peak of

Tadiondamol (1908 meters ). Based on the drainage map of the district Central Ground Water

Board (2007) is presented in Fig 1 the drainage densities the district is divided into 4 zones, viz.

areas having (i) drainage density less than 1, (ii) 1 to 2, (iii) 2-3 and (iv) >3 km /km2. It is observed

that the drainage density and the ground slope in the plateau areas with a minimum surface

runoff and moderate to good rate of water infiltration have enough scope for natural recharge of

ground water regime. Important soil and locality parameters and prospects for ground water

storage are also indicated in the figure.

F i g u r e 1 . D r a i n a g e a n d h y d r o g e o l o g y o f K o d a g u d i s t r i c t ( S o u r c e :Central Ground Water Board

(2007)R a i n f a l l d i s t r i b u t i o nThe district enjoys typical tropical climate characterized by slight to medium humidity due to

proximity to coast (about 32 Km). It is known to be quite pleasant and healthy, characterized by

high humidity, heavy rainfall and cool summer. A major part of the year consists of rainy season

as the monsoon period starting in June lasts till the ends of September. Even during the post

monsoon months of October and November certain parts of the district receive a significant

amount of rainfall. The average annual rainfall for the district (1997-2006) is 2552.54 mm and

the number of rainy days ranges between 85 and 153, with an average of about 118 rainy days in

a year.. Due to Orographic influence rainfall decreases as one proceeds from the western part

of the district to the eastern part.

Studies undertaken under CAFNET project (http://www.ifpindia.org/Managing-Biodiversity-in-

Mountain-Landscapes.html)) was able to gather, produce maps and analyse daily rainfall data

recorded by 80 farmers over last 70 years . The analysis indicates that there is a very strong

annual rainfall gradient in less than 50 km in the Kaveri watershed. Annual rainfall decreases very

rapidly from the Evergreen Western zone (Zone 1), very wet with 5000-4000 mm/year to the

West-Central Zone (Zone 2) with 4000-3000 mm/year to the East-Central Zone (Zone 3) with

3000-2000 mm/year and to the drier zone, the Moist Deciduous Eastern zone (Zone 4) with 2000-

1200 mm/year (Fig 2).

F i g u r e 2 : G e o g r a p h i c p o s i t i o n o f t h e f a r m s w h e r e r a i n f a l l d a t a w e r e c o l l e c t e d b y f a r m e r s a n dm a p o f r a i n f a l l d i s t r i b u t i o n g e n e r a t e d w i t h t h e s e d a t a .The analysis also shows that there is a strong fluctuation of annual rainfall with an apparent cycle

of 12-14 years in all the four zones . When the monsoon is very strong, all 4 zones have heavy

rainfall like in the years 1982, 1994 & 2008. When the monsoon is weaker, all 4 zones have lower

rainfall like in the years 1986 & 2002. From this apparent cycle, it can be predicted that the

rainfall is likely to be lower in the coming years to a very low level in 2014 to 2016. Analysis also

indicates that the average length of the rainy season has been decreasing over the last 35 years

(1975-2010) at the rate of 0.4 day per year, and hence the rainy season has shortened on average

by 14 days over the last 35 years (Fig 3)

F i g u r e 3 : F l u c t u a t i o n i n t h e l e n g t h o f t h e r a i n y s e a s o n o v e r i n t h e K a v e r i w a t e r s h e d C h a n g e s i n l a n d u s e a n d l a n d s c a p e i n t h e d i s t r i c t .An assessment of change in forest cover during the 20 years between 1977 and 1997 indicated

that the forest cover has declined by 28% from 2566 km2 to 1841 km2 representing a reduction of

18% the forest cover in the total area. The most depleted forest type is medium elevation

evergreen forest which decreased by 35% (representing 9% of the total area). Low elevation ever

green forests have shrunken by 17 % (1% of the total area). Moist deciduous forests decreased by

7 % (2% of the total area). A large part of it had been converted into coffee and teak plantations

after 1977. Most of the areas converted into coffee plantations are privately owned areas

(Moppert 2000) . In addition to conversion of wooded areas and other cropped areas into coffee

areas, there is another important change in the characteristic of coffee holdings. Most of the

estates previously planted with Arabica coffee and maintained under a good cover of mixed

shade are being converted to Robusta coffee which requires sparse shade resulting in decrease in

canopy cover and population of native tree species in the coffee area. The Robusta coffee

plantations which had higher density and diversity of shade earlier are now becoming more open

and the diversity is also coming down since planters are replacing native trees with exotic Silver

Oak ( G r e v i l l e a r o b u s t a ) to increase productivity of their coffee holdings and to overcome

difficulties related to shade management and marketing of native trees. Hence are major changes

in the tree cover and landuse in the district where diverse natural forested ecosystems are being

converted to more open and less diverse systems to for economic considerations which could

impact the ecosystem services provided by these landscapes mainly in terms of hydrological

services.

The relationship between land use and hydrology is complex, and established wisdom about their

nature can also change over time. Bruijnzeel (2004) reported that intact natural vegetation cover

guarantees optimum stream flow under given geo-climatic conditions. It also affords maximum

soil protection and therefore provides optimum regulation of seasonal flows while moderating

erosion and stream sedimentation loads. Removal of old-growth forest at large scales (>10,000

km²) in humid parts of the world reduces rainfall during the transition between rainy and dry

seasons. Annual average effects are modest (5-10%) but are higher during the transition.

Removal of forest has an initial short-term effect of increasing annual water yield (100-800 mm

for a 100% change in cover), with the size of change depending on rainfall and degree of surface

disturbance. Subsequent water yield depends on the new land cover. Reforestation does not re-

create the ecological conditions of old-growth forests due to the higher water use of the rapidly

growing trees compared with that of the vegetation the tree are from multiple species. Eltahir

and Bras(1994) reported that evopo transpiration from large forested regions could play a role in

rainfall regimes through recycling of evapotranspired water vapor. There is also emerging

hypothesis that forests in some region like Amazon and Congo attract rain clouds to the interior

of continents ( Sheil and Murdiyarso 2009). Changes in the forest cover results in soil erosion,

flood, flow- augmentation, ground water recharge and water quality services, loss of reservoir

capacity, and/ or adverse health impacts have impact on socio-economic status of dependent

communities. (Lele and Venkatachalam, 2006). R o l e o f c o f f e e p l a n t a t i o n s i n r e g u l a t i n g h y d r o l o g i c a l s e r v i c e s Studies undertaken under CAFNET project (http://www.ifpindia.org/Managing-Biodiversity-in-

Mountain-Landscapes.html) has indicated that the density and diversity of trees is being altered

and to increase productivity of coffee farmers are resorting to more open cultivation and

providing high inputs in terms of water and nutrients. The CAFNET team in India studied for 3

years(2008-2010) how the change in tree cover from predominantly native tree species to exotic

species (mainly silver oak) in 6 different locations was affecting the water dynamics in the coffee

agroforestry systems in the Cauvery watershed. Throughfall is the amount of rain arriving

directly to the soil surface without being intercepted by coffee and tree canopies were in the

range of 71-91% (Table 1). In the Western site, throughfall of the Exotic plot represented 71% of

total rainfall compared to 78% for the Native plot, which means that more rainfall arrives to the

soil in the Native plot than the Exotic plots. In the Central site, throughfall of the Exotic plot was

also lower (87%) compared to the Native plot (91%). In the Eastern site, values of throughfall

were very similar (78%-81%) in the Exotic and Native plots. Consequently, no definitive trend

could be observed on the effect of increasing proportion of exotics in the shade cover

composition on rainfall interception due to the fact that rainfall interception by trees (1-6%) was

small compared to that of coffee plants (9-22%). T a b l e 1 : R a i n f a l l , t h r o u g h f a l l , c o f f e e s t e m f l o w ( C o f f e e S F ) , t r e e s t e m f l o w ( T r e e S F ) , r a i n f a l li n t e r c e p t i o n o f s y s t e m ( c o f f e e + t r e e ) a n d o f t r e e c a n o p y a l o n e , a n d r u n o f f i n n a t i v e a n d e x o t i cp l o t s o f t h e t h r e e s i t e s ( E a s t e r n , C e n t r a l a n d W e s t e r n ) o f t h e C a u v e r y w a t e r s h e d . C o m p o n e n t sa r e e x p r e s s e d a s p e r c e n t a g e s o f t o t a l r a i n f a l l f o r t h e m o n i t o r e d p e r i o d ( J u n e 2 0 0 9 t o A p r i l2 0 1 0 ) .Site Plot

Total Rainfall

Mm Throughfall Coffee SF Tree SF Interception Run-Off

(inch) % % % System Trees %

Western

Exotic 3 529

(140)

71% 0.3% 5.0% 25% 3% 4.0%

Native 78% 0.3% 2.9% 20% 4% 5.0%

Central

Exotic 2 012

(80)

87% 0.4% 2.9% 18% 5% 5.2%

Native 91% 0.5% 2.0% 15% 6% 5.7%

Eastern

Exotic 1 024

(40)

78% 0.6% 3.1% 22% 1% 3.8%

Native 81% 1.0% 1.7% 19% 4% 3.4%

W a t e r r e c h a r g eThe amount of rain infiltrating into the soil was usually greater in native plots than in exotic plots

especially in the Western and Central zones where there was a lot of rainfall (Table 2). However,

the amount of water drained below the main root zone (i.e. 1.6 m depth) was lower in the native

plots than in the exotic plots . This is essentially due to the fact that the transpiration of coffee

and native trees (called system transpiration) was higher than that of coffee and exotic trees

particularly during the dry season . Therefore, there is less amount of water from native plots

going to rivers and recharging the aquifers than from the exotic plots.

T a b l e 2 : T o t a l r a i n f a l l , n e t r a i n i n f i l t r a t i o n i n t o t h e s o i l , c o f f e e t r a n s p i r a t i o n , s h a d e t r e et r a n s p i r a t i o n a n d t o t a l s y s t e m t r a n s p i r a t i o n ( c o f f e e + t r e e ) a n d e s t i m a t e d d r a i n a g e i n n a t i v ea n d e x o t i c p l o t s o f t h e t h r e e s i t e s ( E a s t e r n , C e n t r a l a n d W e s t e r n ) o f t h e C a u v e r y w a t e r s h e d .C o m p o n e n t s a r e e x p r e s s e d i n m m o f r a i n f a l l f o r t h e m o n i t o r e d p e r i o d ( J u n e 2 0 0 9 t o A p r i l2 0 1 0 ) .Site Plot

Total

Rainfall

Mm

Net rain

Infiltration

Coffee

Transpiration

Shade tree

Transpiration

System

Transpiration

Deep

Drainage

(inch) mm (inch) mm (inch) mm (inch) mm (inch) mm (inch)

Western

Exotic 3 529

(140)

1 610 (63) 287 (11) 484 (19) 771 (30) 838 (33)

Native 1 925 (76) 581 (23) 777 (30) 1 357 (53) 567 (22)

Central

Exotic 2 012

(80)

1 499 (59) 267 (11) 541 (21) 718 (28) 781 (31)

Native 1 630 (64) 492 (19) 658 (26) 1149 (45) 480 (19)

Eastern

Exotic 1 024

(40)

537 (21) 118 (5) 200 (8) 318 (13) 219 (9)

Native 601 (24) 217 (9) 290 (11) 508 (20) 93 (4)

The main conclusions of this hydrological study are: Canopy of coffee and shade trees intercepts

15-25% of the rainfall, which means that only around 75-85% of the rainfall arrives at the soil

surface. Furthermore, coffee plants intercept the largest part of the rainfall (9-21%) whereas

shade tree intercepted much less (1-6%), hence the effect of increasing proportion of silver oak in

the shade cover composition does not appear to be so important on rainfall interception. Coffee

under shade of native trees transpires more than coffee under shade of exotic tree (mainly silver

oak) during all the seasons but particularly more during the dry season. Native shade trees

transpire more than silver oak, especially during the dry season. Runoff is comparable (in the

range of 3-6%) in native and exotic plots. The amount of rain infiltrating into the soil is greater in

native plots than in exotic plots especially in the Western and Central zones where there is high

rainfall.

H y d r o l o g i c a l S e r v i c e s f r o m P a d d y l a n d s

Kodagu district is a important paddy growing area using monsoon rains. The total area under

paddy cultivation in the district is 32000 hectares and by their location in the valleys of the slopes

paddy lands impound the rainwater from June till November and help in recharging of the tanks

,streams, wells and thereby the improves underground water recharge. There is also a decrease

in area under paddy cultivation in the region due to lower returns and conversion of these lands

to residential areas or alternate landuse which has impacted the hydrological cycle mainly

through reduced water recharge for local water bodies like tanks and streams which in turn

impact the inflow to rivers. It is essential that studies to quantify the contribution of paddy lands

to water recharge needs to be undertaken. G r o u n d w a t e r m a n a g e m e n t s t r a t e g yAbout 2% of the net sown area is irrigated and of this a mere 10% is irrigated by ground water.

Although the contribution of groundwater is very low in agriculture sector, it is playing a vital role

as being the main source of drinking water, almost in the entire district. Hence, its optimum use

and sustainable management is more important. Further, deforestation and conversion of paddy

land for other activities reduces the natural groundwater recharge area. Hence, major quantity of

the rainfall leaves the area as run-off causing floods and heavy soil erosion. The moderate to high

sloping, undulating terrain in parts of the district covering areas are suitable for artificial recharge

structures like gully plugs, gabion structures, cement plugs, nalla bunds, contour bunds and

contour trenches. Even in the shallow water level areas, there are deep water levels occurring as

patches, where suitable artificial structures can be constructed. In the areas of deeper ground

water level and the plains, artificial recharge measures like percolation tanks and check dams are

to be implemented to augment the groundwater resource. Scientific management of

groundwater should be kept in mind while extending institutional finance to farmers and

awareness should be created in different user communities.

Impact assessments using remote sensing data based analysis on the watershed interventions

undertaken under National Watershed Development progrmme in the Kaveri watershed

indicates that the developmental interventions have yielded more of positive changes and less of

negative effects. Around 20% of the watershed area exhibited positive changes in terms of land

use/land cover compared to around 27% with respect to vegetation vigor levels. These changes

have contributed to increase in food productivity and ground water recharge(RRSSC/ ISRO ,RFSD,

MOA, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 2005) Fig.4

C o n c l u s i o n s :The district is one of the well wooded regions in Western Ghats and with sloping terrain and high

rainfall vegetation plays a key role in intercepting and regulating the flow of water. The landuse

and landscape changes in the form of reduction in density and diversity of trees both in natural

forests and coffee based agroforestry systems and reduction in area under paddy cultivation and

conversion of paddy lands to other land use and urbanisation will result in reduced ground water

recharge and result in lesser summer inflows into the river Kaveri . This reduced water inflow will

have to meet the growing demands of agriculture and drinking water in some of the fastest

growing urban areas in Asia like the city of Bangalore. Hence there is a very urgent need to

undertake research activities related to the impact of land use changes on the hydrological

services and look at providing incentives to stakeholders in the upstream who managing the

landscape in a sustainable manner and providing the key ecosystem services in terms of water. V a l u a t i o n a n d p a y m e n t m e c h a n i s m s f o r h y d r o l o g i c a l s e r v i c e sThe complexity of ascertaining and valuing the implicit and explicit benefits of ecological services

of watershed is widely appreciated. Accordingly, the the transactions may also revolve around

proxy indicators. Thus PES payments in cash or kind can be designed inter alia , labour exchange.

Examples of transaction mechanisms inter alia are watershed protection contracts, watershed

leases, water use rights, stream flow reduction licenses and water quality credits. However these

require institutional structures facilitating the transactions.

The following four mechanisms are proposed by Agarwal et.al ( 2007)

1. Taxes and levies. Himachal Pradesh has pioneered an ecological tax on diversion of forest

land for non-forestry uses. The purpose of the tax is to dis-incentivise diversion of forest

lands. The amount of tax has been based on the value of forests, of which watershed

services form a significant part. At the national level, the Supreme Court appointed an expert

committee to value forests. The committee has to undertake experimental valuation of the

forests of HP.

2. Payments to line departments. The payments for implementing catchment area treatment

(CAT) plans are provided for in regulation of what?. Hydroelectric projects make payments

to state governments which in turn release the fundsto the state Forest Departments for CAT

plan implementation.

3. Tenure as an incentive mechanism. At different points in time in the past, Governments

vested rights to local communities in forests to provide local incentives towards protection.

The logic is that while biomass benefits largely cater to communities, the environmental

service benefits – such as reduced erosion – would have local and wider relevance. The

state-level joint forest management (JFM) programmes, started after 1990 aimed at

restoring degraded forest lands for providing goods and services, provide weak tenure with

an element of conditionality that the Forest Department has rights over local forest

protection committees.

4. Direct payments from watershed protection to service providers. In the Shanan

hydroelectric project in the 1920s–1930s, in the Chota Banghal region of Kangra district of

HP (erstwhile Punjab), the state government bought the grazing rights of residents on an

annual basis, and made an annual payment.

I s s u e s r e l a t i n g t o d e m a n d f o r w a t e r Since agriculture is the largest user of water, any disciplining of water use should be from agriculture

since even a small proportion of disciplined water use results in largest absolute saving of scarce

water for other economic uses. Thus, irrigation water literacy should be the prime objective of

development in order to educate the farmers regarding the precious water resources and the need

for efficiency in water use which results in overall system efficiency.

S lN o

Y e a r

P r o j e c t e dP o p u l a t i o n ( I nL a k h s )

W a t e r P o t e n t i a la v a i l a b l e ( I n M L D )

a t 1 4 0L P C D

a t 2 0 0L P C D

a t 1 4 0L P C D

a t 2 0 0L P C D

1. 1991 41.30 435 578 826 143 391

2. 1992 43.10 435 603 862 168 427

3. 1993 44.90 705 629 898 76 193

4. 1994 46.70 705 654 934 51 229

5. 1995 48.50 705 679 970 26 265

6. 1996 50.30 705 705 1006 --- 301

7. 1997 52.10 705 729 1042 24 337

8. 1998 53.90 705 755 1078 50 373

9. 1999 55.70 705 780 1114 75 409

10. 2000 57.50 705 805 1150 100 445

11. 2001 60.00 705 840 1200 135 495

12. 2003 60.42 930

Regarding drinking water, Bangalore city has metered water supply which is the Asia’s largest .water

meter user. Even with almost 100 percent metering of water, the water unaccounted for is almost 40

percent. Thus there is need for reducing this large proportion of unaccounted for water.

The price of water for non domestic use varies from Rs. 36 per month for the lower slab users to Rs.

57 per month for higher slab users and in case of domestic user it varies from Rs.6 month to lower

slab user to Rs 36 for higher slab user. Considering domestic and non-domestic water requirement

including wastage totaling 140 liters per capita per day, the recommendation made at the

conference of Secretaries, Chief Engineers responsible for Urban Water Supply and Sanitation at

Mysore during 1989 (Million liters per day) the water demand projections have been made (Table 1).

W a t e r u s e f o r I n d u s t r yThe total water use / demand for industry is accordingly 33.24 TMC in 2010, 59.28 TMC in 2025 and

100.9 TMC in 2050 with corresponding proportions of groundwater and surface water as already

estimated above (Source: Technical consultancy services organization of Karnataka, 2004, Forecast of

water needs of industrial units in districts / areas falling under Krishna basin, Government of

Karnataka, Bangalore)

P E S f o r d o m e s t i c u s e o f w a t e rPES for water in general is a highly sensitive issue, and for domestic use is much more sensitive. But

at the same time it cannot be discounted and ignored. Considering the growing demand for water

for domestic and urban use and Bangalore growing Metropolitan, the importance of use value of

water is increasing. Right now Bangaloreans are paying the highest price for water which no other

city dweller in Asia is paying. Hence paying additional price as PES for water will invite the wrath of

the citizens. At the same time citizens need to be disciplined with regard to water use, which is

possible with PES. PES should ignore all the slums, students hostels, hospitals, and all public use.

Considering the environmental services provided by landscapes of Kodagu, we recommend that the

PES for water used for domestic purposes should be at least be 25 percent of the existing price of

water for non domestic (or industrial purposes) and 10 percent of the existing price of water for

domestic purposes. The PES should be exempted for slum dwellers and poor population and other

equity deserving segments.

P E S f o r i r r i g a t i o n w a t e r The estimated value of surface water irrigation is around Rs. 1000 per acre of irrigated area on a

conservative basis. The water rate charged is Rs. 100 per acre of paddy, Rs. 400 per acre of sugarcane

and Rs. 66 per acre of semi dry crops. However, even these are not being paid or recovered from

farmers. Thus, the use value of water flow for irrigation is at least Rs. 1000 per acre of irrigation. If

the non use values and non consumptive use values are added, this value may double. Thus, PES for

irrigation water should be at least Rs. 1000 per acre of irrigation irrespective of the crop cultivated at

least in the head and middle reaches, since water does not efficiently reach the tail end areas.

W h o h a s t o p a y f o r w a t e rThe user has to pay for water. In this case the user is a farmer, and due to political economy, farmers

will not be /cannot be asked to pay for water. Therefore the rice mills which are processing paddy

and sugar mills which are processing sugar, need to pay for water which is passed on to consumer.

P a y m e n t v e h i c l ePayment vehicle is the mode through which the PES payment is made. i.e. whether the user pays

the PES as tax, or cess, or duty, or advalorem tax... or fee, A crucial component of payment vehicle is

the transaction cost of collection. This implies that while tax should serve as a payment for the

ecosystem service, it should not result in high transaction cost of collection and large scale evasion.

One suggestion i is a processing fee or processing cess per quintal of paddy or per tonne of

sugarcane. Considering the value of irrigation water already estimated to be Rs. 1000 per acre of

crop, since paddy and sugarcane are the top two major crops cultivated using irrigatation water, and

as farmers cultivating paddy and sugarcane have to approach a processor to obtain the final product,

the vehicle of payment of ecosystem services for water is processing cess. Since one acre produces

about 20 quintals of paddy, and one acre produces about 60 tonnes of sugarcane, then per every

quintal of paddy the PES can be Rs. 50 per quintal of paddy processed and Rs. 17 per tonne of

sugarcane crushed. These have to be paid by the mills and then transferred onto service providers in

the Western Ghats. The advantage of this PES for water is that the cess can be collected and

transferred on to consumers at a lower transaction cost.

1. Watershed services and incentive-based mechanisms are a possible market-based equitable

solution for natural resource management. The Supreme Court of India sought the Institute

of Economic Growth (IEG) to value forest types for each bio-geographical zone of India. This

is expected to help determine amounts of payments for the costs of restoration and/or

compensation for destruction of forest.

2. The HP State Government demanded compensation from the Central Government for the

opportunity costs of maintaining land under forest cover. In its memo to the 12th Finance

Commission, the HP Government made a case for compensation based on the opportunity

costs of reduced revenue from not logging, and the benefits of forest cover to the nation

(through estimated supply of water for irrigation to the wheat baskets of Punjab and

Haryana, reduced silt loads, etc.).

3. Thenew Forest Policy in HP., endorses the concept of payment for the provision of

environmental services by HP (in terms of water,hydro-power and landscape values) both

locally and to downstream states.

4. The National Water Policy 2011 recommendations on Payments for watershed services.

5. Reccomendation of Western Ghat Task Force on conservation of watersheds of western

Ghats and providing PES for service providers either by Government grants or through

Corporate Social Responsibility (not clear, please be more explicit)

L i t e r a t u r e c i t e d :Agarwal, C, C Tiwari, M Borgoyary, A Acharya and E Morrison (2007): “Fair Deal for Watershed

Services in India”, N a t u r a l R e s o u r c e s I s s u e s

N o 1 0

(London: International Institute

forEnvironment and Development).

Bruijnzeel, L A (2004): “Hydrological Functions of Tropical Forests: Not Seeing the Soil for the

Trees?”, A g r i c u l t u r e , E c o s y s t e m s a n d E n v i r o n m e n t ,

104, pp 185-228.

CAFNET India Final report 2011 (http://www.ifpindia.org/Managing-Biodiversity-in-Mountain-

Landscapes.html)

Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India- Ground water

information booklet Kodagu district, Karnataka. August 2007.

Eltahir, E A B and R L Bras (1994): “Precipitation Recycling in the Amazon Basin”, Q u a r t e r l y J o u r n a l o f t h e R o y a l M e t e o r o l o g i c a l S o c i e t y ,

120, pp 861-80.

Landell-Mills, N., and I. Porras, 2002: S i l v e r B u l l e t o r F o o l s ’ G o l d : D e v e l o p i n g M a r k e t s f o r F o r e s tE n v i r o n m e n t a l S e r v i c e s a n d t h e P o o r ,

International Institute for Environment and

Development, London, UK.

Lélé, S and L Venkatachalam (2006): “Assessing the Socio-economic Impact of Changes in Forest

Cover on Watershed Services” in J Krishnaswamy, S Lélé and R Jayakumar (ed.),H y d r o l o g y

a n d W a t e r s h e d S e r v i c e s i n t h e W e s t e r n G h a t s o f I n d i a

(New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill), 215-

248.

Moppert, B., 2000. The Elaboration of the Landscape In: Mountain Biodiversity, Land Use

Dynamics, and Traditional knowledge (eds. Ramakrishnan, P.S., Chandrashekara, U.M.,

Elouard, C., Guilmoto, C.Z., Maikhuri, R.K., Rao, K.S., Sankar, S. and Saxena, K.G.), Man and

the Biosphere Programme, Oxford and IBH publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, pp. 42-

53Narasimnan (2004)

RRSSC/ ISRO, BANGALORE & RFSD, MOA, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA . Brief highlights of

impact assessment of NWDPRA Cauvery Watershed , Kodagu District, Karnataka.

December 2005

Sheil, D and D Murdiyarso (2009): “How Forests Attract Rain: An Examination of a New

Hypothesis”, B i o S c i e n c e ,

59, pp 341-47.

TEEB(2010) T h e E c o n o m i c s o f E c o s y s t e m s a n d B i o d i v e r s i t y : M a i n s t r e a m i n g t h e E c o n o m i c s o fN a t u r e : A S y n t h e s i s o f t h e A p p r o a c h , C o n c l u s i o n s a n d R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s o f T E E B

(Bonn:

United Nations Environment Programme).

R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s f o r m a k i n g P E S a r e a l i t y - s t a k e h o l d e r s ’ p e r c e p t i o nG e n e r a l r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s :1. There was a general consensus among stakeholders and local people representatives

to look at possibilities of providing Incentive Based Mechanisms like PES for

sustainable management of natural resources and to halt further degradation of

landscape. The whole process can be scaled up to cover entire Western Ghats, once

this model becomes successful in the Kodagu landscape.

2. As a first step, provisions under existing policies like Green India Mission, CAMPA and

National Forest Commission report (2006) recommendations and the draft National

Water Policy which provide Incentive Based Mechanisms could be explored.

3. Recent publications by Jaboury e t . a l .

(2009) have proposed Landscape labeling for

Kodagu as a means of Incentive based mechanism which considers ecosystem delivery

and cultural attributes of the landscape as defined by local communities. This is a

mechanism which bundles services and unique products from the landscape and can

provide incentives not only to land owners but also for other landless stakeholders

need to be considered.

4. Stakeholders felt that a strong monitoring and measuring of ecosystem services and

PES mechanisms is essential. It is very important that systems need to be developed

for monitoring the additionality and also ecosystem service delivery for continued

provision of incentives.

5. District level body for fund collection, disbursement and monitoring of activities

related to infrastructure, transportation and other community development

programmes of the landscape need to be established. This body will receive funds

from state, central government, corporate sector and international organizations. The

fund should be exclusively utilized in such a way that the activities taken should foster

sustainable utilization of resources and development of livelihood. This may include

support for activities such as infrastructural needs for eco-industries involving value

addition of plantation crops, apiculture, ecotourism, alternative farming etc.

6. Awareness should be given about the policy to the public and school children. This

issue is of primary importance and needs to be undertaken initially so that

stakeholders of the landscape become aware of the uniqueness of the landscape and

the need to sustainably manage them for ecological and economic development.

7. Driven by economic gains, agricultural lands have been converted to non agricultural

purposes in the past. This trend is still continuing and there should be a total ban on

conversion of private agricultural lands for non agricultural uses

•

S p e c i f i c R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s :a )

B i o d i v e r s i t y a n d C a r b o n1. Diversion of forest land for developmental activities such as hydro-electric projects,

establishment of high voltage power lines and other activities like mining, stone querying

etc. has resulted in loss of prime forest areas of the district. Extent of such lost forest

areas have to be assessed and valued, and must be considered while developing incentive

mechanism for the entire district.

2. Forest areas along the district border are under tremendous pressure, particularly the

area bordering Kerala state, due to smuggling, poaching and other illicit activities.

Stringent protection measures are to be taken as envisaged in Forests Act, Wildlife

protection Act etc. State Forest Department has to exercise strict vigilance in these areas

by deploying more staff and establishment of anti-poaching camps.

3. The diversity of natural forests needs to be improved by restoration of monoculture teak

plantations, enrichment of degraded natural forest areas and management of invasive

weeds.

4. Government driven conservation efforts aiming at acquisition of biodiversity rich areas

(Jamma malais and Coffee Saguvali malais), revenue forests around protected areas need

to be taken up with suitable compensation measures. Private agencies can also be

involved in acquiring and managing privately owned bio-rich areas under public-private

partnership model.

5. Sacred groves managed by the communities harbor rich biodiversity with high carbon

sequestration potential. There is a need to survey and demarcate these sacred groves and

appropriate incentive mechanisms and joint forest management systems need to be

devised for sustainable management

6. The density and diversity of native tree cover needs to be maintained and sustained based

on recommendations of coffee board and CAFNET project results. In this regard,

appropriate incentive mechanisms like eco-certification, Geographic Indications, forest

certification (FSC) need to be promoted.

7. Exotics like Silver Oak are becoming more popular due to tree ownership issues and fast

growth rates. Hence in order to maintain the native trees and to take up enrichment

planting of these trees, tree rights should be given to land owners and their harvest be

regulated as per the existing rules under Karnataka Tree Preservation Act of 1972.

Strengthening of forest department nurseries in order to raise sufficient quantity and

quality seedlings of native species, with public-private partnership should be encouraged.

8. Studies undertaken in College of Forestry, Ponnampet in CAFNET project have revealed

that Silver Oak should not exceed more than 30% of the shade trees in coffee agro-forests

to sustain biodiversity and carbon sequestration without affecting the production levels.

Awareness efforts to promote planting of native species have to be done in the interest of

overall landscape level ecosystem services including hydrology.

9. More budget allocation should be given for districts with higher forested areas as already

emphasized in the National Forest Commission (2006) report (recommendations - No 337

and 338). Similarly, conservation efforts of sacred groves need to be (recommendation

No. 200) supported.

10. An area with research significance or potential for bio-prospecting can be made accessible

to research agencies or pharmaceutical companies on an agreed payment regime. With

proper surveillance of, and association with Forest department and local bodies, this

would entail the rights of collection, testing and using genetic material for either research

or product development

11. As regards to taxes as payment vehicle for carbon, it is envisaged to collect Green Tax

from vehicles as one time tax equivalent to the amount of life time tax. Further charging

five percent of the cost of a vehicle towards biodiversity tax is recommended. This can be

collected by the respective Regional Transport Offices.

b ) W a t e r

1. There is an urgent need for an action plan to protect and promote paddy cultivation. This

could be done by regulation like the law passed by Kerala Government prohibiting

conversion of Paddy lands to any other use which has been approved by Zilla Panchayat of

adjoining Dakshin Kannada district. Incentives for Paddy cultivation like providing Rs.

5000/-acre as in Kerala or better support price of Rs. 2500-3000/quintal is essential.

2. Soil and water conservation measures need to be taken up both in private and forest

lands to improve ground water resources. Measures such as Rain water harvesting and

efficient water usage needs to be promoted in urban areas

3. There is a need to enforce the existing rules of river bank protection laws to prevent

illegal encroachments, sand mining and pollution.

4. Creation of Cauvery Watershed Development Authority in line with Command Area

Development Authority (CADA) comprising of stakeholders from government, farmers,

water users, institutions and NGOs to prepare and implement action plan for watershed

development in the catchment area.

5. Part of the tax collected by Cauveri Niravari Nigama and CADA should be provided to the

Kodagu for taking up watershed development activities.

c ) T o u r i s m :

1. There is an urgent need to regulate tourism in the district. This can be done by reviving

the District Tourism Promotion Council by inviting stakeholders to be part of this

committee. This body should take up carrying capacity study on tourism and till such time

there should be a moratorium on issuing new license for resorts and big hotels.

2. There is a need to promote locally managed ecotourism ventures like Home stays model

which has little impact on the environment. All the home stays should register with Coorg

Tourism Promotion Body, a private consortioum of home stay owners meant to regulate

home stays and their activities.

3. Local bodies like Town Municipalities and Gram Panchayts should not only regulate

issuing of new licensees for tourism ventures but also collect onetime tax from the

applicants and annual renewal charges which could be used for development of

sustainable natural resources management.

4. There is an urgent need to shift the tourism zone in Nagarahole National park from the

middle of the national park to the periphery to mitigate disturbance to wildlife.

R e s e a r c h G a p sB i o d i v e r s i t y :Biodiversity being the fundamental entity for ecosystem services, economic valuation of

components of biodiversity is imperative. This can be done either by assessing their p e r s e

worth

or through valuation of ecosystem services offered by biodiversity elements. However, this needs

considerable time and effort owing to complexities in deriving the exact values of different

components of biodiversity in a landscape.

Economic valuation of biodiversity in various ecosystems of Kodagu is particularly lacking and

there is a need to device suitable payment mechanisms depending on services and bio-resources.

The trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem services such as shade cover and coffee

production, vegetation cover and pollination services, man-animal conflicts need to be assessed.

C a r b o n :Assessment and monitoring of carbon stock and sequestration rate is essential in order to

understand the additionalities in the management practices.

W a t e r :Studies related to impact of land use changes and paddy land conversion on recharge of water

bodies and contribution of surface and sub-surface flows to the river systems need to be

undertaken to establish the linkages between landscape change and provision of water services. A c t i o n f o r w a r dBased on discussions with stakeholders and ongoing initiatives under Model Forest Programme,

following two models will be attempted as pilot studies.

M o d e l – I : C S R b a s e d a p p r o a c h

Using contributions from private entrepreneurs under corporate social responsibilities, the

ongoing green village community forums established under Model Forest Programme activities in

three villages will be strengthened and extended to additional villages. The private

entrepreneurs could be local corporate in plantation sector like TATA/BBTC/Skanda Coffee or

from tourism sector. M o d e l – I I : U p s t r e a m – D o w n s t r e a m r e s o u r c e s h a r i n g a p p r o a c h

Efforts will be undertaken to formulate a payment mechanism for hydrological services by water

users in Madikeri town and service providers in the upstream. The town municipality can collect

water CESS from commercial and domestic users and provide incentives to farmers. Experiences

from the towns of Bhopal, Chandighar and Palampur will be used in developing this model.

Kodagu district is one of the greenest

landscapes in India and is part of the Western

Ghats, a global hotspot of biodiversity.

However, the landscape and demography in the

district is currently undergoing rapid changes.

There is an urgent need to formulate an action

plan for economic developmental model based

on sustainable utilization of natural resources

involving Incentive Based Mechanisms like

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES),

Ecological Certification and Landscape Labeling.

Hence an effort to review the key ecosystem

services from the landscape and mechanisms

of providing incentives to communities has

been accomplished in this document.