Rapid Agrobiodiversity Appraisal (RABA) - Are you looking for one ...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Agriculture usually implies a loss of biodiversity. Yet, seen at larger temporal and spatial scale, many agricultural
landscapes still contain substantial parts of the original biodiversity of pre-human vegetation – and allow for the
expansion of flora and fauna of more open habitats. In other words, agriculture tends to operate in a 'trade-off' zone,
where intensification tends to have financial benefits but ecological costs. Reward mechanisms that help 'internalize'
the global benefits at the level of the farmer – decision maker are therefore relevant and necessary. Beyond this
general need for rewards, however, we realize that location-specific appraisal is needed to develop reward
mechanisms that are effective, efficient and transparent.
Environmental degradation linked to agricultural intensification may occur due to insufficient benefits flowing to the
guardians of the land for their efforts in maintaining ecosystems and harbouring agrobiodiversity. Environmentalservice
reward is a new tool offering new opportunities for conservation. A key difference with past attempts to
integrate conservation and development is the concept of 'conditionality' (the reward is linked to performance) and
freedom of choice. However, few if any currently known mechanisms in developing countries meet all the criteria to
be considered as 'pure' environmental-service rewards, with 'conditionality' as the most difficult one to achieve.
Reward for conservation, especially in agroecosystems, is probably located at the bottom of the list, while most of the
funds are allocated to 'protected areas'. The higher complexity of multifunctional agroecosystems and associated
high transaction costs are limiting factors. A better targeting of situations that have a real chance of success can help
both local communities and external conservation stakeholders to use their resources more effectively and thus
reduce transaction costs. This primarily depends on improving the flows of information.
Rapid Agrobiodiversity Appraisal (RABA) was developed under the assumption that effective natural resource
management, including biodiversity conservation, can only be achieved if there is a synergy between three different
types of capital – human, natural and social. While the relationships between the three capitals is shown in the
following figure, the combination of all three provides the basis for evaluation of local agrobiodiversity for
conservation.
VALUE THREAT OPPORTUNITY TRUST
Natural capital Human capital Social-bonding
capital
Criteria and indicator LU restriction Spatial planning
ES criteria and
indicators linked
to rewards
Voluntary LU
restriction
agreements
Spatial
planning:
rule-based LU
restrictions
Rapid Agrobiodiversity Appraisal (RABA)
in the Context of Environmental Service Rewards
Social-bridging
capital
Respect and authority
Mutual respect
shared
objectives
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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