Part 1 – A Rapid Participatory Biodiversity Assessment - IUCN

Part 3 – Status of biodiversity in the project area including
ecosystem services and conservation issues
The landscape-level analysis presented above provides insights into the human-natural inter-linkages
as they play out on the ground. A number of issues have arisen concerning how major changes to the
landscape may affect local ecological and social systems. For a discussion of the status of biodiversity
in the project area, information gathered in the landscape analysis is combined with secondary data to
provide a snapshot at the district level. It is important to zoom out from village to district at this point,
because many of the decisions that affect whether and how a project will move forward are made at the
district level. Given the central role the district envisions for its staff in monitoring the project, it was
deemed appropriate that biodiversity data be summarized at this scale.
3.1 General land use, vegetation and/or habitat types around villages
The general land-use, vegetation and habitat types in and around the villages of the five districts
include a mosaic of home gardens, mixed cultivation plots, upland paddy fields, fallow land
(shrubland/scrubland), degraded forest, grasslands, riverine forests and dense primary forests. A few
villages harboured plantation forests. The main aquatic habitats include networks of streams and rivers,
while ponds and marshes were found in some villages visited.
3.2 Structure and composition of plants in different land-use/vegetation types
Home gardens - These include managed areas within the village where houses are located, dominated
by planted trees and shrubs. The quality of home gardens range from poorly managed ones (neglected,
with a few scattered trees) to fairly well-managed ones (a mixture of several useful trees/shrubs). In
general, the old villages consist of home gardens with a variety of useful plants. The common plant
species in home gardens visited are highlighted in Table 3.1 below:
Table 3.1 Common plants in home gardens
Family Species
Palmae Cocos nucifera (Coconut)
Bombacacea Bombax ceiba (Kapok)
Anacardiaceae Mangifera indicus (Mango)
Fabaceae Tamarindus indicas (Tamarind)
Moraceae Artocarpus heterophyllus (Marmi )
Musacecae Musa balbisiana (Banana)
Caricaceae Carica papaya (Papaw)
Mixed cultivation plots: Small plots of mixed cultivations include fruits such as banana, papaya, pine
apple, orange; tubers/yams such as Cassava; and several species of vegetables.
Fallow land (1-15 years): These are areas abandoned after cultivation of upland rice and/or other
crops, and include vegetation communities under different stages of succession, depending on the age
of the fallow lands. The more recent fallow areas (ie. less than 2 years) include shrublands dominated
by herbaceous weed species (including invasive alien plants) and pioneer plant species. The common
invasive alien species in recent fallow lands include Lantana camara and Eupatorium odoratum, which
form dense thickets. The older fallow land includes bamboo scrubland and secondary forests
dominated by woody vegetation. In general, 4-8 year fallow lands consist of isolated trees and a layer
of impenetrable scrub. The common plant species in recent fallow areas and old fallow area visited are
highlighted in Table 3.2 & Table 3.3 below: