Harpinder Sandhu Editor

Ecosystem
Functions and
Management
Theory and Practice
Ecosystem Functions and Management
Harpinder Sandhu
Editor

Ecosystem Functions
and Management
Theory and Practice

123
Editor
Harpinder Sandhu
School of the Environment
Flinders University
Adelaide, SA
Australia

ISBN 978-3-319-53966-9 ISBN 978-3-319-53967-6 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6
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Foreword

The idea that biodiversity in our natural ecosystems provides important ecosystem
services to humanity, and must, therefore, be protected has been gaining ground in
recent decades. Perhaps nowhere else in the world, the critical role the ecosystem
services play in the lives of people is more evident than in South Asia. Tens of
millions of people, almost all of them from the lowest income strata- of our society,
directly rely on natural ecosystems to sustain their livelihoods.
Our agricultural production depends upon several ecosystem services such as
natural processes that form and maintain soils, ensure continuous flow of water for
irrigation, and maintain pollinators, and other beneficial organisms that control
pests and diseases. Almost everyone depends on nature to regulate air quality, and
to provide aesthetic and spiritual services. Natural systems, above all, provide us
options to deal with an uncertain future.
We can calculate the economic value of these ecosystem services to justify their
protection and sound management, and we have done that. But we all know that
nature is priceless.
Priceless, as it may be, assaults on nature continue in South Asia, as elsewhere.
Some losses in ecosystem services are inevitable, as a result of development, others
resulting from poor policies and governance and the lack of appreciation of full
economic, social, and environmental consequences of the decline, are unnecessary.
Equally important, continuing degradation ignores the inherent value of natural
ecosystems in providing solutions to our social, economic, and environmental
dilemmas.
This book, a contribution from some of the most well-known experts from South
Asia, explores the status of ecosystem services in the region. The essays by a range
of experts in ecology, sociology, and economics, describe ongoing changes and the
impacts of these changes on six major ecosystems as well as societies. General
trends are driven home by case studies from forest ecosystems in the mountains and
agricultural systems from the plains of Punjab.
The changes in natural ecosystems are rapid, massive, and in most cases irre-
versible. Climate change, growing populations, and development aspirations are

v
vi Foreword

exacerbating these the negative impacts of these changes. Given the importance of
natural ecosystems in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,
in particularly the importance of forest ecosystems in sequestering carbon, the lack
of sufficient attention to the maintenance and restoration of natural systems is
surprising.
Hopefully, books such as these will help draw attention to the role of natural
systems in meeting society’s quest for sustainable development.

Kamal Bawa
University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, USA
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore, India
Preface

Healthy and functioning ecosystems are necessary for the survival of human beings as
they provide life-supporting goods and services. These goods and services are often
called as ecosystem services (ES). ES not only provide major inputs to many sectors
of the economy, but also support our lifestyles. They include biological control of pests,
pollination of crops, flood control and wind erosion control, provision of food (including
fisheries), carbon capture, aesthetics, etc. In other words, mankind cannot survive
without healthy and functioning ecosystems. However, ecosystems and their services
worldwide are being degraded more rapidly than ever before and this degradation poses
serious threats to quality of life and modern economies. However, recent scientific
evidence suggest that ecosystems and their services are declining rapidly ove the worldr.
Asia hosts nearly one-third of the human population. To fulfill increasing needs of food
and industrial products for growing population, massive industrialisation is occurring at
faster pace in this region. These activities are having negative impacts on natural
ecosystems and their services, which are likely to be increased in coming decades due to
increasing population and their growing demands. Globally, ecosystems have been
studied in much detail; however, vital information on the key local ecosystems, their
functioning, state of health, etc., needs to be addressed in Asian context particularly in
Indian subcontinent. This book aims to fulfill this gap by presenting current knowledge
on ecosystems, their functions, values, and importance to society and the economy.
This book addresses six major ecosystems in Indian subcontinent—mountain,
agroecosystems, desert, forest, urban and freshwater ecosystems. It provides an
overview of their functions and discusses how they support livelihoods. Building on
the ecosystems theory and literature since the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, it then elaborates on methods, concepts, policies and practices to
maintain ecosystems. It highlights the ecosystem management approach that involves
management of natural resources within the ecological constraints to fulfill
socio-economic objectives of the communities that are dependent on natural
ecosystems. It is a holistic approach that covers social, economic and environmental
aspects of the sustainability. In this book, we take anthropocentric view of the
ecosystem management. It involves managing ecosystems to get desired social,
cultural and economic benefits. The book concludes by discussing the significance of

vii
viii Preface

interlinking ecosystems for sustainable and equitable development in the region. This
approach is timely and will be of high scientific and political value as discussed at the
recent Rio+20 Summit to move towards green economy for sustainable and equitable
development.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I is introduction and has two chapters
that set the scene for rest of the book. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the
different types of ecosystems in the South Asia region. It introduces an ecosystem
approach including its management and value of ES. It also provides the conceptual
framework of relationship between ecosystems and human well-being. This
approach is further elaborated in the rest of the book chapters. Chapter 2 builds on
this theme and define ecosystems and economic systems. It argues that both are
evolving and interlinked. There is also need to consider ethics in designing policies
to manage them for the welfare of humans and other species on earth.
Part II describes six major ecosystems in South Asia. Chapter 3 is a case study
located in Himalayas as an example from mountain ecosystems. It provides an
empirical exploration of interactions between humans and the environment using an
ecological modelling approach. Such modelling can be used for decision-making
process to manage complex ecosystems. Chapter 4 provides a case study from
agroecosystems by elaborating on the agriculture in Punjab, India. It examines the
current status of ES provided by agriculture in Punjab and health of water and land
resources. Chapter 5 describes deserts and their management in relation to Indian
subcontinent. It describes major deserts in the subcontinent with special reference to
Pakistan. Chapter 6 provides overview of forest and the role they play in supporting
livelihood in India. It discusses the financial incentives of improving forest ES and
its impact on economy. Chapter 7 discusses urban ecosystems by taking examples
from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It elaborates on the ES concept and its
relevance to the urban ecosystem management and planning. Chapter 8 focuses on
freshwater ecosystems. It provides a case study of tank water systems in India.
Part III comprises two chapters. Chapter 9 provides a framework to interlink all
ecosystems discussed in the book. It also discusses the benefits of interlinkages for
the long-term sustainability. Chapter 10 discusses how business organisations are
being affected and affect ecosystems. It provides a comprehensive framework for
the business organisations for the management of natural resources on which their
operations depend. The book concludes with an epilogue about designing sus-
tainable ecosystems for equitable and sustainable development in the region.
This book has been written by leading researchers in South Asia. I believe that it
will be useful for undergraduates, postgraduates, ecological economists, policy
makers, local and regional government personnel, etc. I acknowledge the effort,
knowledge and care of team members that brought this project to completion.
I sincerely thank all co-authors for their valuable contributions and publishers for
their encouragement to complete this book. I also thank my family for their con-
tinued support.

Adelaide, Australia Harpinder Sandhu

December 2016
Contents

Part I Setting the Scene

1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions
and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Harpinder Sandhu
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages,
Co-evolution or Disparate Movement? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Kanchan Chopra and Purnamita Dasgupta

Part II Ecosystems’ Perspectives

3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas
of India and Its Socioeconomic and Ecological Consequences:
An Ecological Modelling Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Sunil Nautiyal
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Lalit Kumar and Harpinder Sandhu
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use . . . . . 85
Aleem Ahmed Khan, Tahira Ruby, Nargis Naz
and Muhammad Rafay
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Madhu Verma, Rohit Singh and Dhaval Negandhi
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management . . . . . . . . . . 123
Jürgen H. Breuste, Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, Rab Nawaz
and Mehwish Rani
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks:
A Study of Tanks in Rural Andhra Pradesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
M. Dinesh Kumar and Neena Rao

ix
x Contents

Part III Moving Forward

9 Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Harpinder Sandhu
10 Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Sukhbir Sandhu
Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Contributors

Muhammad Mushahid Anwar Department of Geography, University of Gujrat,

Gujrat, Pakistan
Jürgen H. Breuste Department of Geology and Geography, University of
Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
Kanchan Chopra Formerly Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi
Enclave, Delhi, India
Purnamita Dasgupta Formerly Institute of Economic Growth, University of
Delhi Enclave, Delhi, India
Aleem Ahmed Khan Department of Zoology, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi
Khan, Pakistan
Lalit Kumar Department of Business Economics, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College,
Delhi University, Delhi, India
M. Dinesh Kumar Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad, India
Sunil Nautiyal Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources
(CEENR), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India
Rab Nawaz Department of Geography, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan
Nargis Naz Department of Life Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Dhaval Negandhi Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh, India
Muhammad Rafay Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management,
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Mehwish Rani Department of Geography, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan
Neena Rao SaciWATERs, Hyderabad, India

xi
xii Contributors

Tahira Ruby Department of Life Sciences, The Islamia University of

Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Harpinder Sandhu School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide,
Australia
Sukhbir Sandhu School of Management, University of South Australia, Adelaide,
Australia
Rohit Singh Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,
India
Madhu Verma Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,
India
 Part I
Setting the Scene
Chapter 1
Theory and Practice of Ecosystem
Functions and Management

Harpinder Sandhu

An ecosystem can be defined as a functional ecological unit comprising biophysical

and chemical components that are interacting with each other (Lovelock 1979;
Costanza et al. 1992; Gadgil and Guha 1993; Daily 1997). The science of ecosys-
tems is the study of inter-relationships between these ecosystems their component
and human beings. Ecosystems are broadly divided into two categories natural and
managed (MEA 2005; Wratten et al. 2013). Natural ecosystems are the one with
limited management by human beings or are not modified by humans, for example,
forests, oceans, mountains etc. Whereas managed ecosystems are the ones, which are
heavily modified by humans for their own use, for example agroecosystems (Sandhu
et al. 2008). These ecosystems perform functions and provide a range of benefits in
the form of ecosystem services (ES) for human well-being (Dasgupta 2001; MEA
2005). It is currently recognised that not only natural but also modified ecosystems
perform certain functions, which significantly impact the delivery of ecosystem
goods and services that contribute to human welfare (Daily 1997; Costanza et al.
1997, 2014; Wratten et al. 2013; Sandhu et al. 2015). In recent years, the concept of
ES has gained wide acceptance within the international scientific community (MEA
2005). Extensive international peer review resulted in the adoption of the ES concept
by the United Nations’ sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(MEA) program (www.millenniumassessement.org). It was designed to meet the
needs of decision makers and the public for scientific information concerning the
consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being and options for responding
to those changes. The MEA raised awareness of ecosystems and their services but it
concluded that the global environment continues to degrade faster than ever before
due to lack of understanding of the value of ES to the economy and well-being of
humans. To fulfill this gap, recently, the United Nations has established the

H. Sandhu (&)
School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 3

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_1
4 H. Sandhu

Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

(IPBES 2010) to translate ecosystem science into action. This action plan is focused
on strengthening assessment, relevant policy and associated science at a range of
spatial and temporal scales for the globe. Moreover, there is a potential new para-
digm shift at global level after the Rio+20 summit towards sustainable goals for
decreasing poverty, hunger and improving environment sustainability (UN 2016).
Therefore, understanding functioning of ecosystems and human reliance on them is
critical to respond to the global goals of a desirable and sustainable future (Chopra
and Kadekodi 1999; Kadekodi 2004; Kumar 2007, 2010). This chapter first
describes the concept of ecosystem science by defining ES associated with various
ecosystems. It provides global estimates of the economic value of the benefits and
compare with those in South Asia. South Asia comprises seven countries:
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This book
largely focuses on this region and provides case studies citing examples from the key
ecosystems. It concludes by providing policy and management options to protect
these ecosystems for long-term sustainability and human well-being.

1.1 Types of Ecosystems

Ecologists have described various types of ecosystems based on their biophysical

characteristics and their functions (Daily 1997; De Groot et al. 2002). We adopt the
typology used by the MEA for consistency in this book. MEA divides global
ecosystems into 10 broad categories: marine, coastal, inland water, forest, dryland,
island, mountain, polar, cultivated and urban. These systems consist of several
ecosystems that share similar biological, climatic, and social factors. These are
briefly described in Table 1.1.
In this book, we explore six different types of ecosystems and provide case
studies that examine the ecological and socio-economic dimensions of these
ecosystems located in South Asia (Negi 1993; MEA 2005). Six key ecosystems that
cover most of this region are briefly defined below.

1.1.1 Mountain Ecosystems

Mountain ecosystems consist of areas with elevation between 300 and 1000 m with
slope of at least 2° (Körner and Ohsawa 2005). Globally about half of the human
population depends on mountain ecosystem for various benefits especially water
(MEA 2005; ICIMOD 2015). The dominant mountain region encompassing South
Asia is the Himalayan rages extending 3500 km from Afghanistan in the west to
Myanmar in the east (Sandhu and Sandhu 2014). More than 1.2 billion people live
in mountain ecosystems. There is significant number of population in South Asia
that depends directly on mountain ecosystems especially in the Himalayas.
1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions and Management 5

Table 1.1 Description of ecosystems adapted from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
(adapted from MEA 2005)
Ecosystems Description
Marine Ocean, with fishing. Marine areas where the sea is deeper than 50 m
Coastal Interface between ocean and land, extending seawards to about the middle of
the continental shelf and inland. Area between 50 m below mean sea level and
50 m above the high tide level or extending landward to a distance 100 km
from shore. Includes coral reefs, intertidal zones, estuaries, coastal aquaculture,
and seagrass communities
Inland Permanent water bodies inland from the coastal zone. Rivers, lakes, floodplains,
water reservoirs, and wetlands; includes inland saline systems
Forest Land dominated by trees. A canopy cover of at least 40% by woody plants taller
than 5 m
Dryland Lands where plant production is limited by water availability. Annual
precipitation is less than two thirds of potential evaporation, from
dry sub humid areas
Island Lands isolated by surrounding water
Mountain Steep and highlands. Specifically, elevation >2500 m, elevation 1500–2500 m
and slope >2°, elevation 1000–1500 m and slope >5° or local elevation range
(7 km radius) >300 m, elevation 300–1000 m and local elevation range (7 km
radius) >300 m, isolated inner basins and plateaus less than 25 km2 extent that
are surrounded by mountains
Polar High latitude systems frozen for most of the year. Includes ice caps, areas
underlain by permafrost, tundra, polar deserts, and polar coastal areas
Cultivated Lands dominated by domesticated plants and animals. Areas in which at least
30% of the landscape comes under cultivation in any particular year
Urban Built environment with a high human density. Known human settlements with a
population of 5000 or more

1.1.2 Agroecosystems

Agroecosystems comprises of rural land that support activities such as farming and
rural residential. Agriculture is one of the largest sector of global economy that
supports 45% of the global population as farmers, labours, agribusiness organisa-
tions and contribute to the provision of ecosystem goods and services (Wratten
et al. 2013). It contributes on an average 6% to the global gross domestic product
(GDP), ranging from only 1% to that of advanced economies to 40% in least
developed economies (World Bank 2016). Agroecosystems occupy about 5 billion
hectare (one-third) of the global land area, and are the largest managed ecosystems
on earth. Out of these 5 billion, about 1.5 billion hectare is arable (cropping) land
and rest is under pastures. In South Asia, key countries occupy over 400 million
hectares with little over 200 million hectares in agriculture (FAOSTAT 2016).
6 H. Sandhu

1.1.3 Desert Ecosystems

Desert ecosystems are the ecosystems that have barren land and receive very less
precipitation (Safriel and Adeel 2005; Sivaperuman et al. 2009). Hence, have very
sparse plants, animal and human population. Globally deserts occupy about
one-third of the land surface. In South Asia, they occupy about 30 million hectares
mostly located in the eastern parts of Pakistan and western parts of India
(FAOSTAT 2016).

1.1.4 Forest Ecosystems

Forest comprises of natural flora and fauna that interacts with physical features of
the environment (Shvidenko et al. 2005). Forest ecosystems provide several ben-
efits to human beings in terms of timber, wild foods, and biological resources to be
used in pharmaceuticals, provision of freshwater and clean air, biodiversity etc. In
South Asia forest occupy about 80 million hectares which is approx. 20% of the
total land area (FAOSTAT 2016).

1.1.5 Urban Ecosystems

Urban ecosystems comprise of areas which are built area for human habitat (Breuste
et al. 2013). These are not natural areas but have been modified heavily to provide
infrastructure to host human population. However, they depend heavily on sur-
rounding ecosystems for all goods and services. For example, rural ecosystems for
food, forests for biodiversity and fresh air, rivers for freshwater etc. Recent data
estimates that 50% of the human population lives in cities and towns which was less
that 20% at the beginning of 20th century (UN 2015). It is estimated that more than
75% population will move to urban areas in next 40 years. In South Asia, out of
total 1.5 billion population, 30% lives in rural areas (FAOSTAT 2016).

1.1.6 Freshwater Ecosystems

Inland rivers, reservoirs, ponds, groundwater resource comprise freshwater

ecosystem that sustain human, plant and animal life on the earth. Out of the total
water available only 2.5–3.0% is freshwater and 1% of it is available for human use
whereas rest is stored in ice caps, groundwater etc. (Vörösmarty et al. 2005).
1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions and Management 7

1.2 Benefits from Ecosystems

Human beings are integral part of global ecosystems and they receive benefits in the
form of food, timber, freshwater etc. from these ecosystems (Costanza et al. 1997;
De Groot et al. 2002; Sandhu et al. 2008, 2012; Wratten et al. 2013). These benefits
are termed as the ecosystem services (Table 1.2; Daily 1997). These ES in the form
of material and non-material benefits results in human well-being (Costanza 2008).
The linkages between ecosystems, its services and human well-being are classified
as an ecosystem based approach (UNEP 2010). This approach is based on the
principles of equity and sustainability for the integrated management of land, water,
and living resources on the planet. For implementing this approach there is need to
understand the complexities between benefits of ecosystems and relationship with
human well-being. Therefore, key benefits in terms of ES provided by six
ecosystems in South Asia are described below and in Table 1.3. Based on MEA,
these ES are divided into four categories: provisioning, regulating, cultural and
supporting services. Provisioning services are the outputs of regulating and sup-
porting services and are primarily used for human consumption. For example food,
fruits, timber are the key ES in this category. Regulating services are defined as the
processes that regulate key ecological process such as climate regulation by storing
carbon in soil or vegetation. Cultural services are the non-material benefits such
recreation, aesthetics etc. Supporting services like pollination, nutrient cycling
support production of provisioning services.

1.2.1 Mountain Ecosystems

Mountains provide several regulating services (such as clean air, flood protection)
cultural services (aesthetics, source of inspiration, recreation etc.) but are limited in
the supply of provisioning and supporting services.

1.2.2 Agroecosystems

Agroecosystems are designed to provide provisioning services in the form of crops,

horticultural products, fibre, meat, etc. Regulating and supporting services are
limited in supply from these ecosystems. Some agroecosystems also provide
opportunities for cultural ES.
8 H. Sandhu

Table 1.2 Classification of ecosystem services (Costanza et al. 1997; De Groot et al. 2002; MEA
2005; Sandhu et al. 2012; Wratten et al. 2013)
Ecosystem Definition Example
services
Provisioning services
1 Food production That portion of gross primary Production of fish, crops, nuts,
production extractable as food fruits
2 Raw material That portion of gross primary Production of timber,
production extractable as raw fuelwood, or fodder
material
3 Genetic Sources of unique biological Products for materials science,
resources materials and products resistance to plant pathogens
and crop pests
4 Ornamental For display purpose Horticultural products, flowers
resources etc.
5 Medicinal Source of medicinal compounds Products used in medicines
resources
Regulating services
6 Gas regulation Regulation of atmospheric chemical CO2/O2 balance, O2 for UVB,
composition SOx levels
7 Climate Regulation of global temperature, Greenhouse gas regulation
regulation precipitation, and other biologically
mediated climatic processes at
global or local levels
8 Disturbance Capacitance, damping and integrity Storm protection, flood
regulation of ecosystem response to control, drought recovery
environmental fluctuations
9 Water regulation Regulation of hydrological flow Irrigation, milling
transportation
10 Water supply Storage and retention of water Watersheds, reservoirs,
aquifers
11 Erosion control Retention of soil within an Erosion control, reduction of
and sediment ecosystem runoff
retention
12 Waste treatment Recovery of mobile nutrients and Waste treatment, pollution
removal or breakdown of excess or control detoxification
xenic nutrients and compounds
13 Refugia Habitat for resident and transient Nurseries, habitat for
production migratory species, regional
habitats for locally harvested
species
Cultural services
14 Aesthetic Associated landscapes Landscaping of farmland
information
15 Recreation Providing opportunities for Eco-tourism, sport fishing,
recreational activities outdoor activities
(continued)
1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions and Management 9

Table 1.2 (continued)

Ecosystem Definition Example
services
16 Cultural and Providing opportunities for Aesthetic, artistic, education
artistic non-commercial uses spiritual, and/or scientific
information values,
17 Spiritual and Source of historic and spiritual value Associated history of
historic farmsteads
information
18 Science and Source of education and training Research and development
education
information
Supporting services
19 Pollination Movement of floral gametes Reproduction of plant
populations
20 Biological Trophic-dynamic regulations of Reduction of herbivory by top
control population predators, control of prey
species
21 Carbon Carbon sequestration by vegetation Regulation of chemical
accumulation and soil composition
22 Mineralisation of Storage, internal cycling, processing Nitrogen fixation
plant nutrients and acquisition of nutrients
23 Soil formation Soil formation processes (Turning Structure maintenance
(maintenance of over of soil by earthworms
soil health)
24 Nitrogen fixation Storage and cycling Legumes fixing N
25 Services Protection against wind erosion Windbreaks
provided by
shelterbelts

Table 1.3 Ecosystem Ecosystems Provisioning Regulating Cultural Supporting

services and their intensity
Mountain XXX XX
(XXX = high,
XX = medium, X = low) in Agriculture XXX X XXX
six key ecosystems in South Desert X X X
Asia Forest X XXX XX X
Freshwater XXX XX
Urban XX XX

1.2.3 Desert Ecosystems

Desert ecosystems are also limited by biophysical constraints to supply ES in

general. These ecosystems provide habitat to arid fauna and flora and provide
provisioning services in the form of dry land agriculture products. Deserts also
provide some opportunities for tourism.
10 H. Sandhu

1.2.4 Forest Ecosystems

Forests are the most valuable source of regulating services. They provide habitat to
wild species of plants and animals. Vegetation in trees and shrubs capture and store
carbon which is a key pollutant driving climate change. Forests also provide cul-
tural services such as recreation and aesthetics, source of spiritual aspirations etc.

1.2.5 Urban Ecosystems

Urban ecosystems host more than half of the human population. They do not
provide provisioning services but are source of cultural services. Urban ecosystems
are more reliant on other ecosystems for the fulfillment of needs. However, they
generate economic activities which result in human welfare.

1.2.6 Freshwater Ecosystems

Inland sources of freshwater such as reservoirs, lakes, ponds, and rivers provide
essential provision services in the form of freshwater, fisheries etc.

1.3 Valuation of Ecosystems

Decision making at local, national and global level very often ignore values
associated with ecosystems and their services (UNEP 2010; UN 2013). This hap-
pens when these benefits are unaccounted for in the national income or the gross
domestic product (GDP; Sen et al. 2010; Kubiszewski et al. 2013; NSO 2013). The
utilitarian approach argues that there are benefits from ES and hence we can attach
economic values (Costanza 2008). These values could be direct use value of ES or
indirect use value (De Groot et al. 2002). More on economic valuation is presented
in the chapter nine in this book. Valuing ecosystems and their services provide an
estimate of the natural capital available in the region. This assessment and valuation
is important tool that can be used for the protection of those natural assets.
Global ES have been estimated to be in the range of US$125–145 trillion
annually (Costanza et al. 2014). It includes value of 16 ES in major biomes of the
world. According to an estimate by Costanza et al. (2014), global loss of ES is also
on increase at US$20 million annually. This is partly due to lack of integration of
ES approach in managing ecosystems and also due to lack of understanding of their
role in generating human welfare. By using similar methodology of benefit transfer
used by Costanza et al. (2014), economic values of four categories of ES associated
1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions and Management 11

with three key ecosystems in six major countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) are presented in Table 1.4 (in 2016 US$). These
values are then used to estimate the total economic value of three key ecosystems
according to their geographical area (Table 1.5). This snapshot of valuation indi-
cates that the agroecosystems are the main providers of provisioning and supporting
services whereas regulating services are highest in forest ecosystems. Urban
ecosystems are the main providers of cultural services. These estimates are based on
the studies used to estimate the total economic values by Costanza et al. (1997,
2014). These estimates are used here to provide a magnitude of the values asso-
ciated with ecosystems in South Asia. For comparisons, Table 1.6 summarises total
GDP (World Bank 2016), share of agriculture and forest rent in six countries in
south Asia. Agroecosystems in these countries provide $1447 billion worth of
annual (2.7 times more) benefits or ecosystem services than the current agriculture
share ($532 billion) in GDP. Similarly, forest ecosystems also provide $355 billion
worth of annual benefits in terms of ecosystem services (7.7 times more) than the
forest share ($46 billion) in GDP. Total benefits worth $2800 billion annually

Table 1.4 Economic values (US$ per ha per year) of four categories of ecosystem services in
three major ecosystems in South Asia
Ecosystems Provisioning Regulating Cultural Supporting Total
services services services services economic
value
Agroecosystems 4127 1514 94 770 6505
Forest 1002 1972 1099 359 4432
ecosystems
Urban 0 1060 6610 0 7670
ecosystems

Table 1.5 Area (million ha) under three key ecosystems in six countries and their total economic
value (US$ billion per year) in South Asia
Agroecosystems Forest ecosystems Urban ecosystems
Area Total economic Area Total economic Area Total economic
(M ha) value (US$ (M ha) value (US$ (M ha) value (US$
billion per billion per billion per
year) year) year)
Bangladesh 9.30 60 1.44 6.4 3.03 23
Bhutan 0.56 3.6 3.25 14 1.39 11
India 179.71 1169 68.43 303 92.66 711
Nepal 4.21 27 3.64 16 2.45 19
Pakistan 26.20 170 1.69 7.5 29.28 225
Sri Lanka 2.64 17 1.86 8 1.13 9
Total 223 1447 80 355 130 998
12 H. Sandhu

Table 1.6 GDP, agriculture share and forest rent in six major countries in South Asia
GDP US$ Agriculture (% of GDP) US$ Forest rents (% of GDP) US$
billion per year billion per year billion per year
Bangladesh 195 31 (16%) 3 (1.5%)
Bhutan 2 0.4 (18%) 0.5 (25.1%)
India 2073 352 (17%) 41 (1.8%)
Nepal 21 7 (34%) 0.15 (7.1%)
Pakistan 270 67 (25%) 0.27 (1.3%)
Sri Lanka 82 74 (9%) 0.6 (0.7%)
Total 2643 532 (20%) 46 (1.7%)

provided by only three ecosystems—agriculture, forest and urban—out performs

the combined GDP of $2642 billion in this region.
Valuation of ecosystems and their services can provide necessary information
about the significance of ecosystems for human well-being and to formulate policy
for their protection. Very often valuation is misinterpreted as an exercise aimed at
commodifying nature (Costanza et al. 2014). However, on the contrary, valuation
helps to identify various trade-offs between ES in particular ecosystems. As ES are
associated with public or common goods, trading them in conventional market will
not work properly (Costanza et al. 2014). Valuation approach includes use or
non-use values of ES and not the exchange values. Therefore, valuation of
ecosystems should not be confused with privatization of nature.

1.4 Ecosystem Management

Ecosystems provide both economic and non-economic benefits to humans through

various ES. However, they cannot provide any benefit without human intervention.
Therefore we emphasise on the human aspects of ecosystem management in this
book. This notion of ecosystem management is also aligned with the earlier studies
such as MEA and the current United Nations led Intergovernmental Science-Policy
Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The conceptual
framework adapted in this book builds on earlier works where main elements are
human well-being which is dependent on the interaction of various biotic and
abiotic factors leading to the generation of ES (Fig. 1.1). It also accepts that human
activities lead to various impacts on ecosystems and their services through
socio-economic and biophysical drivers. Ecosystem based management is required
at temporal and spatial scales to maintain ecosystems and sustain human welfare.
The framework of ecosystem based management presented here includes social,
economic and natural capital for human well-being. It is widely accepted by the
international scientific community (Costanza et al. 1997; Daily 1997; Sandhu et al.
2008, 2012, 2015, 2016; Wratten et al. 2013). It can be used effectively by policy
makers to resolve some of the issues related with environmental degradation and
1 Theory and Practice of Ecosystem Functions and Management 13

Fig. 1.1 Conceptual

framework of human
well-being supported by
biodiversity and ecosystems

alleviation of poverty through global efforts through the recently set up sustainable
development goals for the globe to target extreme poverty, hunger, child nutrition,
gender issues, environment etc. (UN 2015). ES framework has been applied widely
for environmental conservation, human well-being studies and for sustainable
development interventions for poverty alleviation. Therefore, the need is to develop
pathways based on the broad framework of ES to achieve equitable and sustainable
development (Sandhu and Wratten 2013; Sandhu and Sandhu 2015).
Scientific evidence suggests that human activities have been impacting global
ecosystems and their services since industrialisation (IPCC 2014). Recent devel-
opments also indicate that these ecosystems support human life on the planet through
various processes and functions. To manage natural resources for the benefit of
human society, the United Nations has started environmental programs that include
policies and practices for the protection of ecosystems. These policies form the basis
of ecosystem management practices for the various ecosystems around the globe.
These are used to inform governments, scientific community, private sector, and the
general public to develop responses for the sustainable management of ecosystems.
Ecosystem management approach has its origin in the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP 2010) led environmental movement since 1970 through the various
action programs to understand and internalise the role of environment in
socio-economic development policies. Beginning in Rio Summit of 1992, UNEP led
the process of raising concern and awareness of environment degradation on the
planet and its impact s on human health and economy. These principles became the
basis of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment (MEA) in beginning of 21st century. MDGs were specific goals aimed at
reducing poverty, hunger and environmental degradation, dealing with child
malnutrition, maternal health and education issues across all member countries of
the United Nations (UN 2000). MDGs were initially setup for the period
between 2000 and 2015. As these goals came to end in 2015, UN has setup
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; UN 2015) for the post 2015 development
agenda (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabledevelopmentgoals).
14 H. Sandhu

These goals are based on the agreements between UN member countries during
recently concluded Rio+20 Summit, which advocates a sustainable and equitable
development for all in the 21st century. For the management of ecosystems, MEA
focused on assessing the role of ecosystems in socio and economic development.
Learnings from the MEA led to a program of action through the global study—The
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB 2010). Now to translate this sci-
ence of ecosystems into practice, UN have started an action plan through the
Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 2010),
which aims to close the gap between science and policy at global and regional level. It
aims to provide action plan for the governments and society to implement ecosystem
management in their development programs to achieve the agenda 2030 (UN 2016).

1.5 Summary

Natural and managed ecosystems provide many benefits for human and industrial
use to fulfill basic needs and to support global economy. The unprecedented growth
in human activities since industrialisation started in 18th century have led to
massive environmental degradation worldwide. Scientific, policy and civil com-
munity has raised concerns about these unwanted developments, which threaten the
existence of human beings on the planet. Various global and regional programs
under the United Nations have raised awareness about the issues and generated
policy responses to deal with those issues at local, regional or global scale.
Scientific and policy community along with the civil society are working in col-
laboration to address these global issues for positive outcomes for all species of the
planet (UNDP 2013). This response also recognises the high economic value of
ecosystems and their services to local and global economy. Rest of this book
elaborates on this framework and provides key concepts about the role of ecosystem
management in sustaining human well-being and the economy by focusing on
South Asia. It also explores various case studies by taking examples from different
ecosystems and examine their role in equitable and sustainable development in
South Asian region.

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Chapter 2
Economic Systems and Ecosystems:
Interlinkages, Co-evolution or Disparate
Movement?

Kanchan Chopra and Purnamita Dasgupta

2.1 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: How Do They

Relate to Each Other?

In general parlance, an economic system is a fairly well-understood term, while

‘eco-systems’ is a somewhat esoteric one. An economic system refers to the pro-
duction, distribution and consumption of goods and services in an economy and the
network of societal arrangements and institutions governing them. Ecosystems are
nature based categories. They have been defined as “a dynamic complex of plant,
animal, and microorganism communities, and the non-living environment inter-
acting as a functional unit.” In other words, the natural world as we understand it
can be thought of as consisting of a range of ecosystems.1 One would expect that
the manner in which humankind organizes its economic activity or the ways in
which it provides for its material provisioning should be based on these subdivi-
sions of the natural landscape. This happens only in a very limited manner. For the
most part economic systems and the buzz that surrounds them overshadows and
supersedes substantially the role of nature. We specify below how this happens.
Economic systems are categorized, more often than not, with reference to the
significant institutions through which their functions of providing for human con-

1
The Millennium Assessment (MEA 2005) identified nine major ecosystem types among them
forests, fresh water, marine, agricultural and drylands.

K. Chopra
P. Dasgupta (&)

Formerly Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi Enclave, Delhi, India
e-mail: [email protected]
K. Chopra
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 17

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_2
18 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

sumption are performed. Broadly, three kinds of economic systems are distin-
guished between: traditional, centrally planned and market, respectively those
where the central organizing institution is tradition, central government planning (or
command) and the market. Given that a range of traditional and government
institutions, market structures and social customs are inevitably associated with all
economic activity, this means that each of the three economic systems referred to
above focuses more on some aspects to the neglect of others. Moreover, there has
occurred a gradual transition from systems based on tradition towards the other two,
even as it may sometimes be claimed that all three continue to co-exist
simultaneously.
Another perplexing fact is that market dominated economic systems capture a
great deal of attention in the discipline, even though historically speaking, they have
had a relatively short time span of existence. People were hunter-gatherers for
99.5% of human history, until the rise of agriculture began some 15,000 years ago,
and markets became significant much later. Even so, production, consumption and
distribution of goods and services, by markets of different kinds seem to occupy the
attention of economists most of the time. This may be due to the oft-mentioned fact
that whereas the rules designed by societies or by central fiat need norms and laws
to be implemented, markets provide, “self-correcting” systems where the forces of
demand and supply working through prices (whether of goods, services or factors
of production) ensure course-correction. It was postulated that economic activity
took place when factors of production entered into contracts in market situations.
The reality however is that some aspects of production, consumption and social
welfare, in all economies, lie outside markets. In the main, ecosystems and the
services they provide as a category belong here. For a large part of human history,
when the scale of economic activity was localized and limited, these systems
constituted the main focal point of economic activity. However, technological
change and the ever increasing scale of production and consumption expanded the
reach and operating capacity of human creativity. The organization of economic
activity took place in ways far removed from the natural resource base. As the
Millennium Assessment put it, this resulted in increased human well-being for large
populations but also led to a lacuna in the formal understanding of the association
between natural and economic systems.

2.1.1 Are Ecosystems an Intrusion into the Functioning

of Economic Systems? or, Is It the Other Way Round?

Currently, a large part of the literature in the context of nature and society is about
re-conceptualising the links between nature and economic systems and their sig-
nificance under different situations. One way to look at the role of nature is as an
intrusion into the economic space, with nature limiting the space through con-
straints imposed by ecosystems which in turn become binding on economic
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 19

activity. This is the widely held understanding of ecological issues limiting eco-
nomic activity. It is a variation of the traditional ‘externality’ argument in eco-
nomics. In this mode of thinking, human well-being in the present is of the essence.
Anything which limits an extension of the economic system to enable it to achieve
higher levels of current human welfare is considered an intrusion.
A more in-depth awareness of the science behind ecosystem state and func-
tioning results in nuances in this approach bringing in the role of irreversible as
against reversible change in ecosystem states and of discontinuous changes in
ecosystems. These impact economic welfare through their impact on the scale of
economic activity. Witness the literature on the ecology of shallow lakes and the
consequences for their economic management (Carpenter 2001; Scheffer 1997): the
deep economics of shallow lakes, as stated by an experienced practitioner of the
art.2 Economic systems and ecosystems are treated as interlinked entities in this
mode of analysis.
Alternative approaches, formulated under the rubric of ‘ecological economics’,
have taken a position that the economic system is a part of a larger ecosystem,
conceived of as the sum total of the physical world with the laws of
thermo-dynamics governing it. This larger viewpoint generated perhaps a scien-
tifically more correct view of the world (such as that of a ‘space ship earth’ per-
spective and so on). It ordained that the safe operating space within which humanity
could function was determined by planetary boundaries of different kinds.3
But it had two deficiencies. The first emerged from the fact that it took a very
macro, physical view of the earth, which must manage its whole environment and
give content to the notion of optimal physical scale of the economy relative to the
ecosystem by minimizing throughput and energy use. But the planetary ecosystem
that it conceived of is made up of several smaller ecosystems and the limits imposed
are not equally binding on all sub ecosystems and at all times and places. Secondly, it
left out of its reckoning the social and individual motivations for human behavior.
Behavioral sciences are not integrated into the calculus of such ecological thinking.
The ecological critique of economics has a fairly long lineage but has not been able
to impact mainstream economics due partly to “the separation of the natural and the
social sciences”.4 An important component in any integration shall have to be via the
factors determining human behavior. Also, the unwillingness of these earlier forays
to consider explicitly power relations in society has also been commented on.5

2
See Maler (1999).
3
One recent exposition of this is to be found in Rockstorm et al. (2009).
4
See Martinez-Alier (1991).
5
See for example, Gale and M’Gonigle (2000).
20 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

2.1.2 Both as Complex Adaptive Systems

We maintain in this chapter that economic systems and ecosystems can both be
viewed as complex adaptive systems. In economies as well as in nature, individual
agents compete for resources, and interact with one another directly through
competition, exploitation or beneficial association or co-operation. In this interac-
tion in the competitive economy, the coordination role of prices and markets was
understood right from the time of Smith (1776) and culminated in the contributions
of Leon Walras (1877) and Alfred Marshall (1890). This coordination worked both
to ensure co-operation and to resolve conflict over resources. Ecological systems at
all levels are similar to economic systems with possibilities of competition,
co-operation and conflict between individual agents in the system. Both are
“composed of individual agents which adjust their behavior or their relative
numbers, with consequences for the system as a whole, and these consequences can
in turn affect individual behaviours”.6
Another similarity is that individual and community (or social in the economic
context) goals do not often converge: incentive mechanisms may be inadequate: or
may not exist at all. Further, both kinds of systems may collapse if thresholds are
breached. Though economic systems exist within the larger biosphere or ecosystem,
they ignore ecological thresholds in particular. This is often because market
incentives do not exist to enable individual agents to internalize such irreversibil-
ities. If anything it is the somewhat lower level of development of market insti-
tutions that prevents economic systems from taking ecosystem based risk and
uncertainty into account. In this chapter we shall discuss two directions which can
be taken to correct for this underlying deficiency of economic systems in their
interaction with ecosystems.
The first direction is one in which independently generated scientific knowledge
is used in the framework of risk analysis and management to set limits on the
domain of economic systems. We argue that the links between ecosystem func-
tioning and economic activity need to be looked at through the lens of risk,
determining thereby, a safe operating space for humanity.
The second is one where economic decision-making is strengthened by
attempting to put a value on hitherto unvalued ecosystem services, in particular of
the regulating, supporting and cultural kinds. The notion of linking ecosystems to
human well-being through the services they provide for humans is one of the
plausible ways of placing nature and its contributions in the policy domain.
We conclude the chapter by focusing on ethical issues at the core of the inter-
linking between economic systems and ecosystems. The value we place on the
present as against the future, (more mundanely, the social rate of discount) is
fundamentally a human decision and is an ethical one. Since the time frame within
which change occurs in the two kinds of systems differs greatly, it becomes of the

6
See Arrow et al. in Barrett et al. edited (2014).
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 21

essence in determining the nature of the interaction. The economic system often
drives the direction taken with a short-run perspective. It is here that the respon-
sibility of humanity lies in adopting an informed and sufficiently long run per-
spective to ensure the continuance of a safe operating space.

2.2 Managing the Links Between Ecosystems

and Economic Systems

2.2.1 Risk Analysis and Management

If nature is to be taken into account in the management of an economic system for

development, the inherent uncertainties in the science of ecosystems should be
known and factored in. We can then proceed with alternate frameworks of
decision-making depending on the context for economic activity. Thus, where
life-support services such as biodiversity or carbon sequestration are concerned,
leaving decisions to the market will prove costly for long term economic growth. In
others, such as recreational services and a range of provisioning services (food,
fibre, fodder, fish) economic frameworks of analysis prove adequate where
well-functioning markets exist, with built—in safe guards such as institutions to
control perverse incentivisation so that basic principles provided by neoclassical
economics are not violated. These include those such as the rate of regeneration not
being lower than the rate of harvesting for renewable natural resources. However,
here too, what is presumed is that the market for ecosystem services will function
efficiently, at par with other product markets in terms of prices and costs in
decision-making, with externalities fully accounted for. For instance, an assumption
which is frequently violated in the real world is that of having no information
asymmetry among agents. As Arrow et al. (2014) conclude, markets alone cannot
create a society that is both just and sustainable.
It is, therefore, useful to adopt a risk analysis and management approach to
prioritize amongst the ecosystem services which are instrumental to sustainable
economic development, in particular when faced with the reality of tipping points
and non-linearity in natural processes. Both the probability of and hence likely
exposure to the occurrence of a change in an ecosystem service, and the economic
system’s ability to cope with these changes would determine the risks to social
welfare (including change in physical or/and monetary values of economic assets,
lives) and the need for foresight in planning for risk management. This is an
important input into planning for investments in a manner conducive with
acceptable levels of risk. For instance, a region well equipped with storm shelters
and early warning systems may suffer low consequences, although it may fall in a
high probability zone for cyclonic activity. Thus, an understanding of risks can
result in appropriate planning, such that a location which is in a high-risk zone by
mere biophysical parameterization, is transformed into a location in an acceptable
risk zone for the community with judicious planning and investment.
22 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

An ecosystems approach towards economic decision-making has to focus on

much beyond the biophysical as it seeks to accommodate the uncertainties of
available knowledge, to minimize risks to ecosystems and communities dependent
on these ecosystems. We consider two illustrations here that have relevance to the
South Asian region, one in terms of rural areas where increasingly stress on water
resources is being felt, partly due to climate change; and the other arising from
pressures of fast paced urbanization.
Consider that climate change can lead to movement of species, leading to dis-
ruptions of ecosystem services such as water purification, pollination of crops or
preservation of soils (Oppenheimer et al. 2014). Climate change adds to the stress
caused by destruction of forested areas, acquisition of land for industrial activity
and pollution of rivers, which in themselves have led to adverse impacts on bio-
diversity in many parts of South Asia. At the extreme, there is a risk of extinction of
biodiversity. The resulting vulnerability is to the entire human and social systems as
the loss in ecosystem services plays out in terms of challenges to food security,
malnutrition and other such emergent risks that arise from the complex interactions
of the socio-ecological and biological system. The implications for managing the
risks arising from this vulnerability would be twofold:
(a) reduce the risk of biodiversity loss through non-market mechanisms such as
use of a precautionary principle
(b) reduce the exposure and vulnerability of human systems through better
management of land and water resources by using a range of policy instru-
ments: market mechanisms such as efficient pricing of water to reflect its
scarcity value and taxing water pollution; non market mechanisms such as
protecting watersheds through legislation and community participation.
Fast paced urbanization has combined with the development of coastal areas in
many parts of deltaic south Asia. These areas have become vulnerable to a host of
stresses induced by sea level rise, coastal erosion, storm surges, flooding and saline
intrusion (Oppenheimer et al. 2014). Climate change constitutes a threat multiplier,
exacerbating the existing stresses in these areas and compounding of risks may take
place as an initial risk leads to another cumulatively.
A risk management approach could comprise of:
(a) reducing impacts through adaptation strategies, building appropriate infras-
tructure (including through the creation of market based incentives)
(b) non market mechanisms such as investment by the public sector in projects
that have high costs and low returns in the short run but high returns if all
externalities are internalized (e.g. building storm shelters)
(c) managing the potential threats of displacement and conflicts among commu-
nities (those receiving populations and those displaced) through participatory
and collective action among stakeholders. Thus, the impacts of extreme events
can be managed, and is dependent on the economic options that are exercised
to manage the risks (IPCC 2012, SREX).
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 23

These two illustrations highlight that (a) risks vary spatially and temporally and
(b) effective risk management will to a large extent depend on the choices that are
made based on value judgements about these risks depending on how different
losses and damages are valued and ranked by society.

2.2.2 Risk Levels and Risk Management

Risk levels can be graded in terms of the probability of an adverse occurrence and
the consequences of this occurrence. The extent of risk, whether high or low, will
depend on the extent of exposure and vulnerability that the dynamic nature of the
relationship between economic growth and the ecological system leads to. To quote
from the IPCC glossary: risk is “the potential for consequences where something of
human value (including humans themselves) is at stake and where the outcome is
uncertain.” In other words,
“Risk = (Probability of events or trends)  Consequences”
In the context of global warming for instance, the risks that may result from
warming are graded from undetectable to very high, for various consequences in the
recent IPCC report (IPCC, AR5, SPM WGII). Figure 2.1 presents how the risk
level posed to human or natural ecosystem changes with the likely degree of
warming (temperature changes discussed here are relative to 1986–2005). Current
understanding is that the additional risk posed by warming at 1 °C to unique and
threatened ecosystems has severe consequences, and can become very high at 2 °C
warming. This includes the Arctic sea ice systems and coral reefs. However, the
risks in terms of global aggregate economic impacts are moderate till 2 °C tem-
perature rise, while risks from large scale singular events which comprise of

Fig. 2.1 Key risks across sectors and regions. Source Assessment Box SPM1. Fig. 1 (IPCC WG II,
AR5, SPM, 2014). http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg2/ar5_wgII_spm_en.pdf
24 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

irreversibilites of ecosystems are moderate between 1 and 2 °C, and rise dispro-
portionately to become high risk as temperature increases from 1 to 2 °C. This
would include large irreversible sea level rise due to loss of ice-sheet.
To understand the linkages across risks, the adverse occurrences in the natural
world and their consequences, the risk to unique and threatened ecosystems, and
global distributional impacts is further elaborated upon.
Risks to species can be represented in terms of the maximum speeds at which
species can move across landscapes compared with speeds at which temperatures
are projected to move across landscapes (Fig. 2.2). The white bar indicates the
lower bound, median and upper bound of maximum speeds at which species can
move across landscapes (compared with speeds at which temperatures are projected
to move across landscapes). The left vertical axis measures speeds of movement,
while the right vertical axis represents climate velocities for increasing tempera-
tures. Horizontal lines show climate velocities for global land area averages (or for
large flat regions) under alternative scenarios of warming for the future at 2.6, 4.5,

Fig. 2.2 Maximum speeds at which species can move across landscapes compared with speeds at
which temperatures are projected to move across landscapes. Source IPCC, AR5, WG II, SPM:
Fig. 5. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg2/ar5_wgII_spm_en.pdf
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 25

and so on futures (namely RCPs or representative concentration pathways). Species

with maximum speeds that are below these lines, are unlikely to be able to move to
overcome global warming without human intervention, and thereby likely to face
extinction. Thus, primates are at risk and unlikely to survive at global warming
corresponding to scenarios of 4.5 whereas plant feeding insects are not at risk for
any of the scenarios shown.
Risk levels are impacted by factors that mitigate the probability of an adverse
event’s occurrence and or its consequences. For instance human intervention can
influence the consequences of economic activity on the ecosystems. Consumption
patterns, population and the availability of new technology, mediate this link
between exposure levels of a system to a hazard, and its vulnerability.
Thus, economic policy instruments can become crucial in regulating and
determining the extent of intrusion that occurs into natural systems, due to eco-
nomic activity. However, as the very grouping of risks in Fig. 2.1 indicates,
decision-making on the appropriate tools and instruments involves much more than
a mere aggregation of the monetized damages arising from the threats posed by
climate change. Rather it calls for a reasoned balancing of the overlaps and
trade-offs among these risks, and the designing of interventions that are dependent
on the scale, context and level of risk.
The argument can be elaborated upon, linking Figs. 2.1 and 2.2. Since climate
change impacts crop production in different parts of the world differentially for the
same global temperature change, the distributional impacts when aggregated may
not be considered to be too high till a 2 °C warming level is breached. However,
some ecosystems (for instance coral reefs) are already under risk, as are some
unique ecosystems and cultures associated with them. The risk to these increases to
a high level even with a 1 °C rise in temperature. Standard economic valuation
techniques can provide a limited measure of the values that maybe lost due to
extinction, given the current state of the art of these techniques. In recognition of
these limitations, newer techniques such as non probabilistic methodologies and use
of multi criteria analysis have been encouraged to supplement such measures in
decision-making as to whether a 2 °C change in temperature would be acceptable or
not in such circumstances.
A recognition of the interdependence between distributional impacts, species
adaptive capacity and ecosystem well being, throws up the difficulty of using only
estimates of aggregative economic damages for managing the threats. Risk man-
agement would include the use of a range of instruments that encompass the tra-
ditional, market and non-market societal values.
26 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

2.3 The Role of Valuation

The notion of value to humans is another significant way in which ecosystems have
been linked to economic systems. This approach is rooted in economic science and
is based on the assumption that services provided by ecosystems are anthro-
pocentric in nature. As relative value is of the essence in making choices in eco-
nomic theory, valuation is extended as a principle for factoring in ecosystem
services.
It follows then that the role of monetary valuation of the services provided by
ecosystems comes into its own as a guiding principle when trade-offs between
different ecosystem services or with other goods and services is of the essence. On
the other hand, risk analysis and management approaches are relevant when
thresholds in ecosystem states are significant. Even after such thresholds have been
factored in, there exist a range of ecosystem services for which tradeoffs are
relevant.

2.3.1 Valuation of Ecosystem Services

It can be argued that ecosystems, through the services they provide, are of value to
humans. Relative value, which leads to choice or trade-offs between services is
often of the essence here. In other words, more availability of one service means
less of the other. A choice has to be made. This choice does not become apparent if
markets do not exist for both kinds of services. Typically, provisioning services
from ecosystems have been privileged at the expense of regulating services because
the former enter the metric of market valuation, while the latter do not. Although
there are reasonable estimates of the value of many provisioning services—where
markets are most well-developed—there are few reliable estimates of the value of
most cultural services and all regulating services. The literature has, of course,
thrown up a slew of methods for valuation of ecosystem services, including non
market valuation. A discussion of these methods and their application to valuing
ecosystem services can be found in Freeman (2003), and Pagiola et al. (2004). In
recent years, the literature on valuation of ecosystem services has proliferated in
particular with cases studies in different parts of the world using both revealed
preference and stated preference methods.7
However, several aspects of the contribution made by ecosystem services to
present and future human well-being are still largely not accounted for, among them
the following:
• The effect which regulating services have on the distribution and supply of the
provisioning and cultural services.

7
See, among others, Haque et al. (2011).
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 27

• The exact nature of the links between the state of an ecosystem (such as forests)
and the ecological services accruing there-from e.g. increasing forest cover may
sometimes lead to decreases in water flows and flood regulation benefits may be
lower than commonly assumed.
• The existence of ecological trade-offs and the disservices such as pathogens and
pests which may accrue from some ecosystems.
• The future option values of some kinds of ecosystems.
Irrespective of reservations with respect to its accuracy and relevance, valuation
of ecosystem services has found favour with policy makers, mainly because it fits
into the economic money-metric. Such valuation, however incomplete or partial, is
then used in the application of some methods for decision-making. A benefit-cost
framework (BCA) is the most often used: more recent frameworks recommended
are multi-criteria, deliberative methods or participatory methods. Decision makers
almost always have a preference for relationships derived from empirical investi-
gation which (provided they are expressed transparently)are more useful than those
obtained only through deliberation8 and BCA gets privileged on this count. This
may result in ill-conceived analysis with erroneous policy implications, in particular
when inputs from other approaches are not incorporated in decision-making.
In India, for instance, the understanding of the economic value of forest
ecosystem goods and services in India is majorly impacted by various considera-
tions depending on the scale at which the services are considered and the stake-
holders’ perceptions can vary significantly. On one hand, there is substantial
mineral wealth below the ground in many forested regions of the country, for
instance in states such as Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. On
the other, the forests themselves are of high and substantial ecological value,
including biodiversity and habitat, and the sustenance of flows in rain-fed rivers
which originate here and therefore support water related economic activities such as
agriculture, downstream pastures, and inland navigation. Which of these should be
given precedence? In this context, Mukhopadhyaya and Kadekodi (2012) provide
an analysis of how a misplaced use of benefit-cost analysis with an under-valuation
of forest ecosystem services can provide misleading pointers in favour of mining.
There is also a significant population of forest dwellers many of whom are
critically dependent on these forests for both economic and socio-cultural reasons.
The fact that large numbers of forest peoples (i.e. both forest inhabitants and forest
adjacent communities) reside in states with poverty levels well above the national
average, implies that decision-making based on the monetized values of ecosystem
services would be erroneous in terms of its impact on sustainability of livelihoods
of the poor. As per the methodology recommended by the Planning Commission
Expert Group on Poverty (2009), the poverty level in states with a high number of
forest dwellers is substantially higher. Concerns regarding the above issues have
proved difficult to address in terms of quantitative approaches to deriving values. In

8
See, for instance the discussion in Lele and Srinivasan (2013).
28 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

fact issues of marginalization and giving voice to diverse stakeholders, has led to
the development of literature on the relevant language of valuation (Martinez-Alier
et al. 2010) and on alternative approaches for assessing ecosystem services
(Puroshothaman et al. 2013). At another level, recognition of the need to take “a
middle of the road” approach have led to the refinement of methodology towards
‘disaggregated benefit-cost approaches’ as well (Lele and Srinivasan 2013).
Ecosystem services and their interdependencies have been assessed at macro
scales as well. Climate change has forced recognition of the contribution ecosystem
services make to economic growth at a macro level as increasingly evidenced by an
upsurge in academic modelling exercises computing costs imposed by climate
change in aggregate terms of loss in GDP (Stern 2007; IPCC 2014). At a macro
scale, for instance, ADB and IFPRI (2009) estimate that for Asia, the annual
spending for coping with adverse agricultural impacts of climate change between
2010 and 2050 lies in the range of $4.2–$5 billion. At the sectoral level, agriculture
has received attention in costing and valuation studies on climate change. Dasgupta
et al. (2013a) estimate that India could experience a decline of up to 18% in
foodgrain production between 2030 and 2050. Kumar and Parikh (2001) estimated
that a 2.0 °C rise in temperature and 7% increase in precipitation would lead to
about 8.4% loss in net revenue in agriculture in India.
In other words, in a range of issues the determination of trade-offs, opportunity
costs and benefits provides the metric for arriving at the value of different
ecosystem services. However, whereas valuation has a role to play when trade-offs
exist, it needs to be used in a very careful and context specific manner. Decision
criteria that emerge from CBA or cost minimizing approaches are in themselves a
reflection of the privileged position given to individual rationality, the dominant
value underlying most of economic analysis. We need to further ask, whether this
dominant value is also the correct one in analyzing the relation between ecosystems
and the economic system. Could it be that the social constructivist position which
assumes that an individual is ‘socially constructed’ may be a better starting point for
analyzing the relationship between ecosystems and economic systems?
Further, and more importantly, in the valuation paradigm, we value ecosystem
services as items (e.g. provisioning, regulating), with additive or non-additive
properties, whereas they can be viewed only partly as items as they are also intrinsic
outputs of ecosystem structures. Vatn (2009) illustrates this aptly with reference to
Wilson’s definition of biodiversity.9 This definition captures two different traditions
of defining biodiversity, firstly as a set of species and secondly as a system feature.
Does valuation capture both? Very unlikely; hence the limits of this approach in
examining the relationship of economic and ecosystems and the imperative to bring

9
Wilson (2001) defines biodiversity as “The variety of organisms considered at all levels, from
genetic variants belonging to the same species through arrays of species, to arrays of genera,
families, and still higher taxonomic levels; includes the variety of ecosystems, which comprise
both the communities of organisms with particular habitats and the physical conditions under
which they live” (p. 377).
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 29

in an analysis of system structures, and likelihoods of changes in them through a

reliance on risk analysis and management.

2.3.2 Can Valuation Play a Role in Risk Management

Approaches?

The role that economic valuation can play in building ecological sustainability, can
also be visualised in terms of its contributions towards decision-making that
reduces vulnerability to risks and increases resilience of both human and natural
systems. In recent years, there has increasingly been a consensus emerging that risk
is the resultant of complex interactions among ecological and socioeconomic sys-
tems, and that the social construction of risk should be through the concept of
vulnerability (IPCC 2012; Oppenheimer et al. 2014). Vulnerability and resilience
increasingly require conceptualisation in terms of risks and we look at this issue in
the South Asian context.
Rural-urban spaces are being re-defined in the South Asian context, where rapid
urbanisation is projected and new types of land-use and economic activity are
emerging in what were more traditionally defined spaces for such economic activity
(Dasgupta et al. 2014). Similarly, the role of small scale technology in adaptation
for alleviating climate change and the importance of the value of knowledge
embedded in specific members of rural communities is increasingly recognised, for
instance in the water sector such as rain water harvesting, irrigation, improved
efficiency and water allocation rights (Hatcho et al. 2010; Rivera-Ferre et al. 2013;
Ngoundo et al. 2007). Most of the recent revival in agricultural growth rates in India
is being attributed to the growth in coarse cereals with renewed focus on dryland
agriculture, rather than the contribution of intensive irrigation based dominant
cereals such as rice and wheat. In this context, there is an increasing recognition of
moving towards a risk minimization approach, with or without valuation, recog-
nising the uncertainties of ecosystems, and in particular with regard to climate
change and climate variability. India’s drought prone areas programme, watershed
development programmes are in the nature of welfare enhancement that is linked to
recognition of trying to ensure thresholds levels of well being that minimise risk for
the farmers concerned. Once we place risk minimisation at the centre of policy
making, economic valuation can help in identifying the damages or losses from
risks and the costs of adopting strategies to reduce the risks. Potentially large,
irreparable losses or damages to the ecosystem pose severe risks, and may call for
varied policy approaches primarily invoking the precautionary principle towards
managing risks.
However, what is more widespread is the losses of ecosystem services which are
often small, slow in their progress, and considered to be marginal and therefore tend
to be neglected in economic decision-making. The impacts are ignored till these
30 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

reach a magnitude which constitutes a severe risk or threat such as near complete
loss of a water body such as a lake which has been dying gradually due to dumping
of solid waste; or the accumulation of suspended particulate matter in a city from
industrial pollution.
Economic valuation has been used extensively in evaluating the impacts of such
small perturbations, those which are often slowly evolving over time and lead to
gradual loss of ecosystem services. A range of valuation techniques have been used,
focused primarily on monetizing values for both marketed and non-marketed or
partially marketed ecosystem services. In the context of South Asia in particular, a
large number of these studies have been motivated by the importance of natural
resources in contributing to the livelihoods of communities dependent on them, and
a recognition of the need to thereby conserve and nurture them, quite distinct from
an international perspective such as the one on transboundary sharing of water
resources or of the consequences of global warming. These studies span a range of
sectors and find that values of ecosystem services are significant for sustaining
livelihoods and should be accounted for in economic decision-making. A range of
techniques have been used in valuing ecosystem services in the region—namely,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka (Dasgupta 2009; Haque et al.
2011); forests and common property resources (Chopra and Dasgupta 2008; Khan
2011), mangroves (Adhikari et al. 2010; Das 2011), wetlands and rivers (Alam
2008; Alam and Marinova 2003; Dasgupta et al. 2013b; Dehlavi and Adil 2011),
floods (ADB 2011), pollution reduction (Adhikari 2012; Dasgupta 2004;
Bogahawatte and Janaranjana 2011; Murty et al. 2011) and in specific contexts of
distributional implications (Jacoby et al. 2011).
An international initiative, TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity) has put together the estimates based on different case studies in eleven
different biomes (such as oceans, coral reefs, coastal wetlands etc.) for about 22
ecosystem services. It is clear that not all services are quantifiable and the estimates
vary greatly across biomes. Figure 2.3 provides a sample from these estimates.
In some situations, risk management strategies offer win-win solutions and are
pursued with zeal because these address a range of developmental goals, while
concomitantly reducing stress on natural resources, such as reducing over har-
vesting of NTFPs or over grazing if alternative livelihood options open
up. Examples of such management strategies include poverty alleviation or good
governance. Examples of situations of synergies include the use of abatement
technology that reduces local pollution and increases the availability of resources
(clean air, safe drinking water) for immediate consumption, increasingly being
termed as co-benefits in the literature.
There are also situations where the trade-offs are much sharper and economic
valuation contributes by helping decision-makers internalize the environmental
externalities. Here, informed and often tough choices are to be made such as the
extent to which one should invest in climate resilient infrastructure given the
uncertainties of the future. Economic valuation has been and continues to be an
important contribution to decision-making.
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 31

Open Coral reefs Coastal Coastal Inland Lakes Tropical Temperate Woodlands Grasslands
oceans systems wetlands wetlands and forests and boreal
rivers forests
TOTAL 84 1195478 79580 215349 44597 13488 23222 4863 1950 3091
PROVISIONING 22 20892 7549 8289 9709 5776 9384 1736 862 715
SERVICES
Food 22 3752 7517 2600 2090 196 1204 1204 203 82
Freshwater supply 4240 5189 5580 875 455 602
Raw materials 16792 32 1414 2430 3723 54 659 31
Genetic resources 1799
Medicinal 35 1782 23
resources
Ornamental 348
resources
REGULATING 62 33640 30451 135361 23018 4978 7135 456 1088 2067
SERVICES
Influence on air 957
quality
Climate regulation 55 4677 351 761 376 387 1661
Moderation of 33556 9729 4430 340
extreme events
Regulation of water 9369 36 3
flows
Waste 77 120200 4280 4978 665 77 701 358
treatment/water
purification
Erosion prevention 755 3211 47
Nutrient cycling 30451 4588 1067
and maintenance of
soil fertility
Pollination 99
Biological control 7 7
HABITAT 0 56137 164 68795 3471 0 5277 2575 0 298
SERVICES
Lifecycle 164 59645 917
maintenance
Gene pool 56137 9150 2554 5277 2575 298
protection
CULTURAL 0 1084809 41416 2904 8399 2733 1426 96 0 11
SERVICES
Aesthetic 27317 3906
information
Opportunities for 1057492 41416 2904 3700 2733 1426 96 11
recreation and
tourism
Inspiration for 793
culture, art and
design

Fig. 2.3 TEEB estimates of the maximum value of 20 ecosystem services in 11 biomes (in 2007
dollars per hectare per year). Note Not all services were valued. Source Kumar (2010)

However and increasingly, the inadequacies of economic valuations in managing

risks have led to demands for multi metric approaches, where some values are
quantified, of which some are monetised, while a large quantum of values are
qualitative in nature. These include the valuation of socio-cultural aspects of
ecosystem services (Vihervaara et al. 2010; Martín-López et al. 2012; De Groot
et al. 2010), and constitute a recognition of the fact that institutions within which
values are articulated are themselves not ideologically neutral (Gómez-Baggethun
et al. 2010). Hence, there is scope for better decision-making through compli-
mentary processes of non-monetized valuation (Chan et al. 2012a, b). A recognition
that is most important is that economic criteria can by themselves prove inadequate,
32 K. Chopra and P. Dasgupta

and real time decision-making requires inputs from multiple disciplines. It is known
that equity matters, with people showing distinct aversion to risk, and to inequality
(Dietz and Atkinson 2010).
However, the challenge lies in articulating this in a meaningful manner in
policies, that recognize that the socioeconomic and ecological systems are complex
adaptive systems that are interdependent. For instance, it is important to integrate
policy interventions that lead a social system to retain desired attributes or get back
to a desired state after adverse perturbations. This would be a marker of increased
resilience and robustness (Arrow et al. 2014).

2.4 Concluding Remarks: The Role of Ethical

Considerations

We have argued in the preceding sections that ecosystems and economic systems
are best perceived as complex adaptive systems, coevolving in different but inter-
linked ways. Two ways of designing policy with respect to these linkages are
considered: the risk and management approach and the valuation approach. We
argue that the two approaches can be used in different contexts and also comple-
ment each other in some. However, underlying both is an ethical concern with
services and well-being in the future, both of humans and non-human species.
How we value the welfare of future generations and non-human species are the
core questions which determine the stance we take as individuals, communities and
governments. In economic decision making, in a limited manner, the social rate of
discount reflects this value (Dasgupta 2008) and it is now accepted that lower rates
of discount are to be applied to investments in natural resources which yield
ecosystem services. In a manner of speaking a new norm has been created in the
realm of knowledge for policy. Norms and values are created very slowly but they
also stay ensconced for long. Some literature exists on how humans think beyond
self interest in varying situations. Hodgson and Geoffrey (2012) for instance, holds
that the interplay of self-interest and moral impulses has the potential to lead to
changes in preferences and behaviour. When this happens, we will be able to move
towards a rights-based approach to the sharing of some of our threatened resources
and to a more stable co-evolution of economic systems and ecosystems.
Meanwhile, we will need to depend on second best instruments such as risk analysis
and management and valuation to move towards a balance in the relationships
between ecosystems and economic systems as they co-evolve, moving, at times, in
disparate trajectories.
2 Economic Systems and Ecosystems: Interlinkages, Co-evolution … 33

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 Part II
Ecosystems’ Perspectives
Chapter 3
Interactions Between Humans
and Ecosystems in Himalayas of India
and Its Socioeconomic and Ecological
Consequences: An Ecological Modelling
Approach

Sunil Nautiyal

3.1 Introduction

The ecological models are extensively accepted because they are tools for
managing the future ecosystem/landscape and they provide enough opportunity to
study multifunctional approaches such as price, policy, trade, etc. of the system.
The effectiveness of the natural resource management requires a detailed under-
standing of the patterns and processes that exist within both the natural system itself
and the human institutions associated with the utilization of the resource (Deadman
1999). The applicability of the model related to the natural resource management
application should ideally incorporate the human system associated with that sys-
tem. This approach provides enough opportunity to interact and observe the rela-
tionship between interactions of behavior of complex humans and ecosystems in
any region and might be helpful to simulate the change in human behavior in due
course and patterns and implications of landscape change. Natural landscapes are an
important ecological, economic, and social/cultural resource that gives the basis for
the sustainability of any region and contributes significantly to the quality of life of
the local people. The degree of naturalness in the landscape has, in general, a
positive effect on the quality of the landscape (Waikato 2003; Brabyn 2005).
Research in natural resource management may be characterized as a search for
an understanding of patterns and processes relating to a particular resource

S. Nautiyal (&)
Centre for Ecological Economics and Natural Resources (CEENR),
Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 39

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_3
40 S. Nautiyal

(Anderson and Evans 1994) and this relies on the use of resource, economics, and a
production system of the landscape which, in most of the cases, is available in many
non-comparable scales (Mallawaarachchi et al. 1996). This is the main hurdle for
using data for detailed modeling and analysis. But in our study, we have gone in
detail to analyze the interaction between humans and ecosystems in a part of the
Himalayas of India. In our approach and methodology, we tried to articulate the
human decision-making behavior particularly to secure his livelihood in the fragile
Himalayan environment and tried to model the whole scenario development to
analyze the patterns of landscape change. The work on the development of a model
framework and modeling for natural resource management in the Himalayan region
is still very limited. Therefore, the present study aims to understand the develop-
ment process for the model for natural resource management for the Himalayas in
India based on the *AGENT’s behavior under changing socio-economic and
environmental conditions. In the region, there are six types of decision alternatives
which the agent has been selecting deliberately for last three or four decades to
secure livelihood. The decision alternative was defined precisely by Schleiffer
(2005). The aim of this research was to design and develop a new modeling
approach for the complex system analysis in the Himalayan landscape. The
objectives for the study are (A) to study the human-ecosystem interaction and
development of the framework of integrated natural resource management model
using the existing data sets, and (B) testing the efficiency of some known natural
resource management models for their applicability in mountain regions.

3.2 Study Area

The study area is the central part of the Indian Himalayan region located between
30017′N-30041′N latitude and 79040′E-8005′E longitude. The whole region is
divided in three agro-ecological zones: Lower elevation: >1000 masl; Middle
elevation: between 1000 and 1800 masl. The current study was executed in the
higher elevational zone of the Central Himalayas and represented the whole higher
elevational zone in which the area is located. The area has a great ecological
importance in terms of diversity of the natural resources. The world famous national
park, “Valley of Flowers,” and a Himalayan Biosphere Reserve, “Nanda Devi,”
were established in this region for the conservation and management of biodiversity
and ecosystem services and cover 223,674 ha landscape of the region. The over-
view of the area is given in Fig. 3.1. There are seventeen villages’ in the study area,
of which four are totally uninhabited. The total population of the villages was 2762
(947 male adults, 781 female adults, and 877 children below 15 years of age).
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 41

NDBR buffer zone

boundary
NDBR
core zone
boundary

Fig. 3.1 Landsat-7 ETM+ image of the area also covering a Himalayan biosphere Nanda Devi
(yellow polygons are villages; red polygons-pasture included banned for grazing; and green
polygons-pasture available for grazing)

3.3 General Description of Ecosystems in the Study Area

Located in the Indian Himalayan Region

The ecosystems in the study area are similar to that of ecosystems in the Indian
Himalayas where agriculture, animal husbandry, forests, and domestic sub-systems
are interlinked and have a flow of resources with the market. To analyze and
understand the land-use, land-cover change and developmental scenario in the
region, data pertaining to agriculture, including medicinal plants cultivation, animal
husbandry, natural resource utilization patterns, forest and domestic sectors, and
socio-economic profiles of local people are analysed at three points in time (i.e.,
1970–80, 1980–90, and 1990–2000). The study is important because, based on the
ecological and economic analysis of the rural ecosystem, land-use information is
produced to understand the causes and consequences of scenario changes and
developmental processes in the region.

3.4 Methodology

To understand the process of how the people have been changing their lives and
activities due to a variety of factors (such as environmental, policy,
socio-economic), and therefore, how the natural ecosystems also change with
human activities need to have a long-term study of any region. The work done for
last 11 years in the Himalayan region of India facilitates the start of work in this
42 S. Nautiyal

Remote
Sensing
imagery
Development of
land use land
cover map

Landsat ETM+ Images of

Mar 29th (left) and Oct 23rd (right) 2002

LUCC Field Studies Identify the Drivers Change estimation

Input/ Output

Existing data analysis

Linkages
Development of theoretical
agent model for natural
Village Process of
resource management to
Ecosystem change and
support conservation
function studies implications
options in Himalaya

Fig. 3.2 Work-flow of methodology for the study (Nautiyal and Kaechele 2009)

direction, and thus the work-plan for the data analysis was developed (Fig. 3.2).
The work plan was categorised into two segments:
• Analysis of existing data sets.
• Analysis of remote sensing imagery.

3.4.1 Analysis of Existing Data Sets

This is an interdisciplinary study to bring together ecological sciences with social

sciences. The data analysis was done in a detailed way for the whole region over
three points of time, and again, we formed the study in a microscopic view point to
understand the basic idea of how the farmer made his or her own decisions in the
system. The analysis approach was particularly exemplary because it has tried to
analyze different food production systems of the landscape such as agriculture,
medicinal plants cultivation, kitchen gardens, and animal husbandry using the
currencies in ecological, economical, and social terms of scenario development.
Further, it also analyzes the inter-linkages and interdependencies of all the sectors
of the landscape. This is an approaching effort to strengthen conservation programs
for biodiversity on one hand and development of the local economy on the other in
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 43

the fragile Himalayan environment. The methodology pertaining to the study of

agriculture, animal husbandry, a natural resource utilization pattern, and the whole
village ecosystem function is described in detail in Nautiyal 1999; Nautiyal et al.
2002, 2003a, b; and Rao et al. 2005.

3.4.2 Analysis of Remote Sensing Imagery

To understand that how the sustainable ecosystems (including the interaction

between anthropogenic and natural resource systems) are altered from past decades,
we need to emphasize a holistic or integrating approach. In this endeavor, the
analysis of remote sensing imagery gives geographic and temporal information for
land-use and land-cover change analysis and is helpful in understanding the degree
of extent of human dimensions to environmental change and the outcome of human
actions across the landscape. The imagery for the current study is used two times a
year, particularly during a two-crop calendar (winter and summer) of the region in a
decade interval starting in 1972. The acquisition dates of the imagery are
[11-02-1973; 26-10-1972; 20-04-1979; 26-10-1979 (Multi-Spectral Scanner-MSS);
21-05-1992; 22-10-1992 (Linear Imaging and Self Scanning-LISS-1); 29-03-2002;
23-10-2002 (Enhanced Thematic Mapper-ETM+)]. The image calibration was done
and all the images were registered manually using ENVI image to map registration
method. A satellite differential GPS was used in the field (accuracy  2 m) to
collect geo-referenced information for geometric correction of the satellite imagery
using the ground control points (GCPs). Easily recognizable landscape features
such as confluence of the rivers, water channels, agriculture, village, different forest
types, etc., were recorded and used to correct the image with the help of ArcGIS
9.0. The base image was calibrated with the landscape of the region while using
GPS data of the area (accuracy  2 m) to standardized the satellite data. For this
approach, we have selected the ETM+ imagery of the region as a base image of the
area. Thereafter all the imagery registered manually with the ENVI 4.1. To test the
efficiency of the natural resource management model, we analyzed the primary data
linked with the satellite data of the region. In this approach, we have selected the
animal husbandry linking with the alpine pasture ecosystem of the region. We used
Landsat-3 MSS (path/row, 156/039) and Landsat-7 ETM+ satellite image
(path/row, 145/039) to cover the study area. All the information generated here is
interpreted with GCPs, field data, field observation, and in-depth knowledge of the
area and plant communities.
Development of a model framework for natural resource management in the
Indian Himalayan region was done once the methodology was synthesized. Then a
plan was designed for the arrangement of the data for the study. The work-flow for
the methodology is given in Fig. 3.2.
44 S. Nautiyal

3.5 Results and Discussion

3.5.1 Development of Model Framework

The entire regional system is modeled after a collection of decision-making entities

by the local farmer, called agents. The local farmer individually assesses and
monitors his own situation and makes decisions based on a set of rules. The driving
forces are the key factors which influence the activities of the agent to behave in
time, to time. The agent may execute various behaviors according to the system, for
example, changes in the production system in the form of land intensification,
resource collection, consumption, and selling the produces. We have found the
approaches simpler for the mountainous region, as this model consists of behaviors
of the decision maker and relationships between different production systems. The
framework of model is simpler, however, and can exhibit the complexity of the
system. The framework was developed based on the information produced for the
real world and the decision-making process of the decision maker based on
information available to him, from both the points in time and space. An overview
of the framework of the agent model for natural resource management is depicted in
Fig. 3.3.

Environmental Capital
Resources Resources

Subsidy
Topography 1.Agriculture (AG)

Land Climate 2. Animal Monetary

Husbandry (AN)

Investment 3. Medicinal Plants

Conservation Cultivation (MAPs)
6. Other
5. Tourism (T)
Occupation (OC)
4. Forest
Biodiversity Restriction Resources (FR)

Activities Agent/ Actor

Risk Factor

Policy Forest/ NTFPs

1–2–3 ?
Migration
4–5-6

Infrastructure Subsidies ?
Share Ratio
Land intensification

AG AN MAPs T FR OC ct ? Need more land

pa
Im
Risk Factor
Decision /

T1 AG% AN% MAPs% T% FR% OC%

Labour
AG% AN% MAPs% T% FR% OC%
T15

Permanent Seasonal T30 AG% AN% MAPs% T% FR% OC% GDPS

Population/ Seasonal Migration Economic

LAND SCAPE CHANGE Growth

Fig. 3.3 Overview of the framework of the AGENT model for natural resource management
(Nautiyal 2011a)
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 45

3.5.2 Decision Making Behavior in Uncertainty

The data are analyzed to understand that how human behavior is changing under
changing socio-economic and environmental conditions. The agent is trying to
explore the sources of income to sustain his life in the fragile environmental con-
dition. For the current analysis, the period of 1970–80 is the starting period to study
agent behavior and ecosystem functioning of the region. Therefore, in the context of
time (t1), it is important to analyze the system’s functioning and consequently the
behavior of the agent of the area. There are four main activities of the people where
a local economy is centered. The temporal data show the activities of people in the
region (Fig. 3.4). The demographic study at very beginning was helpful to design
the work plan for further study. The working population for an agriculture sector is
straight for all the periods. This is because every household has agriculture land and
women, particularly, contribute to this sector throughout the year. Due to strict
policies, tourism is no longer in the region. However, the involvement in animal
husbandry is declining and interest in other occupations (such as daily wage labor
and service) is increasing. Household behavior and projections are gaining more
importance. This holds not only for the projections, but also the decision-making
behavior for the scenario development. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in
micro-oriented interdisciplinary research, which proves that household processes
have a large influence on economical and ecological processes (Nelissen 1991;
Klevmarken 1983; Rao et al. 2005; Bisht et al. 2006).

3.5.3 Land-Use Intensification and Productivity

In the region, the rainfed agriculture on steep terraces is the predominant form of
land use. Most the population is involved in agriculture. Average per capita land

1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
19970-1980 1980-1990 1990-2000

Settled Agriculture Tourism Pastoralism Other Occupation

Fig. 3.4 Activities of people at different points of time in the region

46 S. Nautiyal

holding ranges from 0.15 to 0.19 ha. The magnitude of land-use change in the
region comes from two types: (a) where traditional land use is totally changed and
farmers have introduced modern crops such as tomato and bell pepper cultivation to
fetch more economic benefit; (b) where traditional land race-based cultivation is
being replaced by the high yielding varieties of paddy and wheat and other cash
crops. But the former is restricted to valleys of low and middle elevational zone and
so far not adopted by the people of high elevational zone. The land use change trend
was analyzed from 1970 to present. It is very difficult to analyze the land-use
change pattern before 1970 due to some flaw in the methodology, and more par-
ticularly, only using the conventional methods. Therefore, we assumed that during
1970 the land-use was optimum under each crop of the area and that it started
changing thereafter. Based on the study, we found that the traditional land-use
system is changing very fast in the region and intensifying because the introduced
crops/high yielding crop varieties fetch more economic benefit. From the period of
1970–80 and 1980–90, the land-use under many traditional crops was reduced
between 15 and 60%. However, this trend continued, and in the year 2000, the
decline in land-use under traditional crops increased between 50 and 96% (data not
presented). Meanwhile, the productivity per capita per year from a hectare of
agricultural land has increased 286 kg (1970–80) to 394 kg (1980–90) to 579 kg
(1990–2000) (Fig. 3.5).
In the Himalayan region, the agriculture production is directly linked to sur-
rounding ecosystems; therefore, equilibrium should be maintained between agri-
cultural production systems and surrounding natural ecosystems for evaluation of
sustainability (Lefroy et al. 2000; von Wiren-Lehr 2001). An extension of agri-
cultural land-use into forestland, coupled with a variety of factors such as fragile
land-use policies, lack of awareness among the people, ecosystem degradation
arising from traditional practices of litter collection, for maintaining agricultural soil
fertility and unsustainable harvesting and overexploitation of the resources could be
a threat to forest biodiversity and ecosystem services on one hand and sustainability
of traditional farming on the other (Singh et al. 1984; Pilbeam et al. 2000).

700
y = 146.23x + 127.35
600 2
R = 0.9763
500

400

300

200

100 Crop productivity (Kg/capita/yr)

0
1970-80 1980-90 1990-2000

Fig. 3.5 The per capita per year productivity from agricultural land at different points of time
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 47

3.5.4 Resource Collection and Dependency

The scenario development is showing an indication of a threat to sustainable

land-use development in the region. To obtain good monetary output from the
agriculture sector, the farmer is changing the land-use and promoting the crops
having good market value. Due to this the fodder (crop by product), yield has been
decreased up to 35%, and in view of that, the pressure on forests for fodder
collection and leaf litter for manure preparation is increased. A similar trend was
proved in the study done by Semwal et al. (2004) in a watershed of the Central
Himalayas. The perseverance of a farmer to secure the optimum output per capita
per year has led to a collection of leaf litter from the forest increasing 222 kg/year
(t3) from 100 kg/year (t1). The different forest resource collection from the forest at
different points of time is depicted in Fig. 3.6.

3.5.5 Options to Secure the Livelihood in Mountains

In the four major activities (agriculture, animal husbandry, forest resource collec-
tion and tourism), there are six options such as agriculture (AG), animal husbandry
(AH), medicinal plants cultivation (MAPs), non-timber forest products collection
(NTFPs), tourism (T), and other occupations (Ot) such as daily wage labour, ser-
vice, etc., for the agent to sustain the livelihood in the region (Fig. 3.7). The system
analysis showed that at starting point (t1), the maximum share in income among the
sources of the agent or decision maker was coming from animal husbandry (40%)
followed by tourism (35.2%), agriculture (14%), NTFPs collection (10%), other
occupation (0.6%) and the least was from medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation
(0.2%). However, due to a variety of factors, such as implementation of NRMm
(conservation policies), a ban on NTFPs collection, a ban of tourism, restriction of
grazing, socio-economic and cultural changes, migration, and overall scenario

250

200
Kg/capita/yr

150

100

50

0
1970-80 1980-90 1990-2000
For leaf litter House construction For fencing
Agricultural tools Wooden utensils

Fig. 3.6 The resource collection from the forests for agriculture and domestic needs
48 S. Nautiyal

2
70 (AG) Agriculture (y=23x-12) R =0.9672
2
(AH) Animal Hus-10.5x+50) R =0.9932
2
(MAPs) Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Cultivation (y=0.65-0.4667) R =0.998
60 2
(NTFPs) Non Timber Forest Products (y=4x+6.6667) R =0.9231
Percentage (%) in total incom

2
(T) Tourism (y=-17.6x+54.933) R =0.9578
50 2
(Ot) Other Occupation (y=0.2x+0.4667) R =0.75

40

30

20

10

0
1970-80 1980-90 1990-2000

AG AH MAPs NTFPs T Ot

Fig. 3.7 Share of different sector in household income for last three decades at intervals of a
decade

development, etc., at the point of t3 the agriculture sector is contributing more than
half (61%) in the total income coming from the different sources, followed by
animal husbandry (19%), forest resources (18%) and the least from other occupa-
tions (1%).
Meanwhile, to replenish the loss from the tourism and animal husbandry, the
agent or decision maker is trying to acclimate himself in the changing environ-
mental condition. Besides, with an emphasis on increasing the productivity of
agricultural crops, his interest towards medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation is
also increasing and consequently, he increased the share ratio from 0.2 to 1.3% in
the medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation sector.
These are low volume and high value crops, but the current scenario holds the
hurdle to expand the area under cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants
(Maikhuri et al. 1998; Nautiyal et al. 1998). Due to a variety of factors such as
policies, exploitation by middlemen traders, and banning imports on high value
crops, the decision maker is encouraged to cultivate cash crops in large land area
(Midmore et al. 1996; Semwal et al. 2004) and making hurdle to expand area of low
volume high value such as medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation in a moun-
tainous region. The increasing area of cultivation of potatoes, amaranth, kidney
beans, etc., in the region is driven by the socio-cultural change from subsistence to
market economy facilitated by improvements in accessibility and supplies of staple
food grains to the local market (Maikhuri et al. 1996; Semwal et al. 2004).
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 49

3.5.6 Change in Land-Use Land Cover

The overall system analysis concluded that the study of spatial and temporal dis-
tribution of land-use and land-cover change is important. This is important to
understand the change in human behaviour due to variety of factors and conse-
quences to this how land landscape is changing. For landscape change analysis data
from remote sensing is helpful to monitor the current state and changes to the
land-use land-cover in the fragile Himalayan environment. Using the satellite data
available, we have developed the land-use land-cover map and studied the land-use
cover change detection in a part of Himalaya. In this endeavor, the study was done
in the two-cropping season starting in 1972–2002, at a decade interval. For the
present study, the land-use cover map of the area for the period of October 1979 and
October 2002 is depicted in Fig. 3.8a, b. The classification was done while fol-
lowing the supervised and decision tree classification methods. Based on satellite
data interpretation and visual observation, we found that most of the agricultural
expansion occurred in forest/open land adjacent to agricultural land, followed by
reserve forests. The forests’ cover shows decline in the area of different forest types
(Fig. 3.9). The trend of expansion in agricultural lands and narrowing the forest
cover is a common trend in the Himalayas of India (Virgo and Subba 1994; Thapa
and Weber 1995; Sen et al. 2002; Semwal et al. 2004) and other mountainous
regions in developing countries (Fox et al. 1995; Midmore et al. 1996; Jianchu et al.
2005; Thongmanivong et al. 2005). Concentration of agricultural expansion in
higher altitudes of a watershed of Central Himalaya, where ecological conditions
are more favorable for the most profitable cash crops (Sen et al. 2002), indicates
that expansion is driven largely by farmers’ tendency for maximization of income
and expansion occurred largely in forestland on moderate slopes where traditional
terracing was feasible and institutional arrangements of forest protection provided in
forest policy were weak (Semwal et al. 2004).
Based on the current analysis, the sustainable land-use development to support
the livelihood of the local farmer and conservation options in the Himalayan region
should be given prime importance. Sustainable land-use is crucial not only for the
sustainable livelihood of the Himalayan/mountain people, but also the numerous
other people living in the adjoining Indo-Gangetic plains, as accelerated erosion due
to inappropriate land-use in the Himalayas partly contributes to devastating floods
in the plains (Ives and Messerli 1989; Saxena et al. 2001; Semwal et al. 2004).
Efforts have been made to analyze changes in broad land-use/land-cover types in
the Himalayas (Virgo and Subba 1994; Thapa and Weber 1995; Schweik et al.
1997; Jackson et al. 1998; Rao and Pant 2001; Gautam et al. 2002). Yet, knowledge
on changes in spatial patterns of agricultural land-use, driving factors, and their
implications within the context of sustainable development is limited (Thapa 1996;
Hurni 2000; Sankhayan et al. 2003). Therefore, the in-depth study for sustainable
land-use development will be very helpful in designing and developing the
strategies for sustainable development of Himalayan agriculture and natural
resources (Nautiyal et al. 2005).
 50

(a) (b)

Legend Legend
Agriculture Agriculture
Forest Forest
Alpine pastures Alpine pastures
Community land Community land
s
Shrubs with few tree Shrubs with Few trees
Snow Snow
Glaciers Glaciers

Fig. 3.8 a, b show the land-use land-cover map of the study area for the period of 1979 and 2002, respectively
S. Nautiyal
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 51

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
Agriculture Forests Cover Shrubs with Community Alpine Glaciers
few trees land

26-Oct-72 26-Oct-79 22-Oct-92 23-Oct-02

Fig. 3.9 Percent distribution of land use land cover at different points of time in study region of
Himalaya

3.5.7 Testing the Efficiency of Some Known Natural

Resource Management Models (NRMm) for Their
Applicability in Mountain Regions

This is an important objective of the study, because we have verified the existing
natural resource management model (NRMm) in the region. Over the last few
decades, there have been several models for conservation and management of the
resources. The network of protected areas such as the biosphere reserve or national
parks are the example of the few NRMm where the conservation policies have been
executed for maintaining the ecosystem’s health, but questioned with a variety of
problems, and the most widespread one commonly termed as resource-people
conflicts. We have verified the model in an economic and ecological point of view
to see the impact of grazing on alpine pasture while arguing whether grazing is
good or bad for a pasture ecosystem. In the rural ecosystem, the animal husbandry
sector provides subsidiary income to local people after the agriculture land use. But
unfortunately, the animal husbandry sector is a badly affected sector due to the
implementation of a natural resource management model, however unintentionally.
The animal husbandry system, which was strong during 1970–75 and contributed to
the sustenance of the local people, started declining after the implementation of
conservation policies. Therefore, the economic consequences of the implementation
of NRMm are showing a negative trend in contributing to the economic support of
the livelihood of the local farmer from this sector. Meanwhile, it is important to
analyze the ecological perspective of the implementation of NRMm. In this
endeavor, a study based on satellite data is done on the extraction of vegetation
cover in different alpine pastures of Central Himalaya to verify the efficiency of the
natural resource management model for the analysis of the ecosystem’s health. This
study was undertaken to view the impact livestock grazing in a core zone and buffer
52 S. Nautiyal

zone of the alpine pastures of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) and the
Valley of Flowers National Park (VOF). The core zone of NDBR and VOF were
strictly banned for grazing since 1982. The vegetation cover maps were developed
for the alpine pastures of whole NDBR region when there were no boundaries of
core and buffer zones and for core and buffer zones separately after implementation
of NRMm in 1979 and 2002. The importance of this study is the subject of whether
the livestock grazing should be open or not in protected areas (core zone of pro-
tected areas) of the region. However, the vegetation map for 2002 developed by us
for the pastures of buffer and core zones of the reserves shows that the habitat of
bushes/thorny bushes is getting more expansion in their establishment in the core
zone of NDBR and VOF in comparison to buffer zones of NDBR, area before
implementation of NRM in the region (data not presented*).
We have concluded that in economical and ecological view points, the existing
NRMm are not suitable for the region. Many researchers working in the region
stated that the diversity of any area is depends on the degree of protection given to
it. If an area is protected for the name of conservation, then there are always the
chances for low density and diversity of the species. The low species richness and
low density is the result of the high regeneration potential and well-developed
canopy of several dominant species after giving strict protection to any natural
environment (Negi and Nautiyal 2005). For the past two decades, though, there
have been several reports about weeds choking the plant diversity of the VOF, and
researchers blame the weed Polygonum polystachyum (Kala 2002). Remote sensing
techniques, including visual observation and image interpretation, are useful for
providing valuable information in a short amount of time for large areas (Sandstrom
et al. 2003). Many studies indicated that livestock grazing in alpine pastures
maintain the diversity of the ecosystems/landscape (Singh and Kaur 1983; Naithani
et al. 1992). However, policy makers think that the pastoral practices are respon-
sible for ecosystem degradation (Chakravarty-Kaul 1998). Therefore, the scientific
studies will be very helpful in understanding the complexity of the system (Kala
2004) and designing and developing the effective conservation program for the
conservation and management of alpine ecosystem. The Hjortso et al. (2006) have
pointed out that the conservation and management would be effective and feasible if
system function and structure related to the restriction and non-restriction are
perceived in a comprehensive holistic way, integrating social and biological rela-
tions and dependencies.

3.6 Conclusion

Through the in-depth field investigation and remote sensing image analysis, the
paper indicated that the sustainable resource development and utilisation of any area
depends on the socioeconomic condition of the inhabitants of that region. In order
to evaluate the sustainable resource management and economic development, a
novel agent model has been designed based on the complex interaction between
3 Interactions Between Humans and Ecosystems in Himalayas … 53

human and ecosystem in a part of Himalayas of India. In this system approach there
is a lot of opportunity for the researchers/scientists from different disciplines to
come on one ground for the interdisciplinary work. This is also important to
maintain and store the information from different aspect in one place and reduce the
risk of segregation/fragmentation. This modeling approach will have the main
advantages in terms of (i): to simplify the complex human ecosystem interactions
while analyzing and evaluating the basic approaches of complexity; (ii): flexibility
in selection of individual objective for the systems analysis and making the
avenues/platform to link other objectives of the system from very simple to very
complex, depending on availability of data and approach of the study; (iii): helpful
in making the bridge among the research groups, policy makers and local people at
different phase of the development.
For the last several decades, many programs have been implemented for the
conservation of biodiversity while giving less importance for the reciprocal rela-
tionship between humans and adjacent ecosystems. The conservation and man-
agement of the ecosystems/landscape and development of the local economy are
interwoven. The complexity of the system is a major hurdle in achieving the goal
—“conservation and compensation.” However, the long-term study of the repre-
sentative sites of the rural ecosystems and landscape is key factor in understanding
the system functioning and designing the appropriate strategies for sustainable
development of the region. Conservation and economic security are important at the
same spatial and temporal dimension.
The following points are suggested based on this study:
1. rather than a strict ban for conservation of the resources, the appropriate design
and framework should be developed for sustainable utilization of the resources.
This should be based on the scientific study undertaken in any area. The
increment in resource collection to sustain the livelihood of the local people and
the expansion of the other species over the native herbaceous vegetation in the
alpine pasture is an example of the “conservation” approach of most of the
developmental models in the Himalayan region. However, the sustainable
management of the resources and development would be possible at same time
if the way chalk out for better economic development from the better ecological
performance (Xu et al. 2006).
2. There are always gaps between the three-dimensional approaches of the sus-
tainable development (such as ecological, economical, and social perspective of
the region). Therefore, designing and development of the model framework and
the interdisciplinary study, while inviting experts from every field for devel-
oping the appropriate strategies, is equally important (Fig. 3.10).
3. If income of the local people is secure while providing incentives to use the
resources such as grazing and other non-vegetation related activities under the
parameter of environmental conservation, then the chances of conservation and
management of the ecosystems is possible.
54 S. Nautiyal

Case studies pertaining to different sectors in Himalayan/ Causes and consequences of scenario development in
Mountainous condition the fragile Himalayan environment
Scientific part

Use of remote sensing imagery and GIS to analyse the land use and cover change in the
region and to predict the future scenario of landscape change

Land use study to support conservation option

for natural resource management and sustainable
development in Himalaya

Sustainable land use

development plan for
Technical part

Himalayan/ mountainous
condition

Extension/ capacity building and

information sharing among the interest Experts (Remote sensing, GIS,
groups Engineers, Botanist, Forest
Awareness through researchers/ ecologist, Social Scientists and
interests groups for NGOs) opinion to provide
conservation and management scientific and technical tools for
of land use in Himalayan/ resource management,
mountainous condition. Field conservation and redevelopment
demonstration/ experimentation in Himalayan/ Mountainous
sites and monitoring condition

Fig. 3.10 Sustainable land-use development strategies for natural resource management in the
Indian Himalayan region (Nautiyal 2011b)

4. The probability for unsustainable land-use and overexploitation of the resources

maximizes several times, which leads to severe environmental degradation in
the Himalayan region.

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Chapter 4
Ecosystem Services and Agriculture
in Punjab, India

Lalit Kumar and Harpinder Sandhu

4.1 Introduction

Agriculture accounts for 38% of total land-use across the globe (MEA 2005;
Sandhu et al. 2015, 2016). Agricultural ecosystems provide humans with food,
fibre, and bioenergy etc. which are essential to human well-being. These systems
rely on ecosystem services (ES) provided by natural ecosystems like pollination,
biological pest control, maintenance of soil structure and fertility, nutrient cycling
and hydrological services (Swinton et al. 2007; Wratten et al. 2013; Sandhu et al.
2015). Agroecosystems also produce a variety of ES such as regulation of soil and
water quality, carbon sequestration, support for biodiversity and cultural services
(Dale and Polasky 2007). Agroecosystems are thus both providers and consumers
of ecosystem services. Depending on management practices, agriculture can also be
the source of numerous disservices, including loss of forest, nutrient runoff, sedi-
mentation of waterways, greenhouse gas emissions, and pesticide poisoning of
humans (Zhang et al. 2007).

4.1.1 Global Food Security, Environment and South Asia

Human population is expected to grow from over 7 billion today to over 9 billion by
2050 (UN 2016). Food demand, especially for processed food, meat, dairy, and fish is
expected to grow even faster because of growing urbanization and rising incomes.

L. Kumar (&)
Department of Business Economics, Bhim Rao Ambedkar College,
Delhi University, Delhi, India
e-mail: [email protected]
H. Sandhu
School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 59

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_4
60 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

There are huge challenges for the sustainability of food production and the envi-
ronment to reduce poverty among 800 million people facing hunger and lacking
adequate access to food (FAO 2013). More land will be required to grow food crops
which are facing competition from conversion to bio fuels to meet increasing energy
needs and rapid urbanization. The best lands available for food grain production
make up only 12.6% of global land area (16.5 million km2). Providing adequate food
(cereals, oilseeds, etc.) security to the undernourished and reduce poverty at current
level would require another 43.7 million km2 of marginal lands (33.5% of global land
area) to be brought under cultivation which would further add to environmental
degradation. Tilman et al. (2001) predicts that feeding a population of 9 billion using
current methods could result in converting another 0.5 billion hectares of natural
habitat to agricultural production, primarily in the developing world. It will also
result in doubling or tripling of nitrogen and phosphorous inputs, a twofold increase
in water consumption and a threefold increase in pesticide use (Tilman et al. 2011).
A serious limiting factor is expected to be water availability, as 70% of the
freshwater used is already devoted to agriculture (Rosegrant et al. 2002). Scenarios
prepared by the MEA thus suggest that agricultural production in the future must
focus more explicitly on ecologically sustainable management systems (MEA
2005). The countries of the South Asian region (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) apart from their geographical proximity are home to
a large section of impoverished population. Almost two thirds (more than 500
million) of undernourished people live in developing countries of Asia, majority in
South Asia. This region is characterised by high population, most of which is living
at the subsistence level of less than two dollars per day (UNEP 2012).
Share of agricultural sector is falling in the gross domestic product but the popu-
lation dependent on it remain stubbornly high. Agriculture sector is characterised by
growing number of landless labourers, small and marginal farmers, and the scope for
intensive agriculture is exhausted (Bhalla et al. 1999; Evenson and Gollin 2003;
Mathur et al. 2006). Simultaneously, the region has also become a major producer of
grain/cereals and have made huge stride in increasing agriculture production as
demonstrated by Green revolution in Indo-Gangetic plains using technological
breakthroughs in the agriculture sector (Aggarwal et al. 2000). Green revolution (high
yielding varieties, intensive use of input, mechanisation etc.) has transformed Asian
agriculture in the last five decades. The technological changes introduced are essen-
tially land-augmenting or land-saving. A big achievement is the involvement of small
farm holders in making success of incorporating the new technologies. Asia account
for nearly 87% of the small farms with an operational size below 2 ha in the world (out
of a total 525 million farms). The importance of the small farm sector in Asia is that it
produces 80% of the food consumed in the developing world and feeds one-third of the
global population (FAO 2011). The focus has now shifted from extension of culti-
vation to newer areas to increasing the yield per unit of land available.
This chapter focuses on agroecosystems and how they contribute to food pro-
duction and provide livelihood to millions of farmers and their families. We take an
example of Punjab agriculture and apply ES concept. First, agriculture and its key
components in the state of Punjab are discussed. We then elaborate ES produced by
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 61

agriculture in Punjab. We also discuss and analyze the impacts of current agri-
culture practices on various ES.

4.2 State of Punjab, India: A Brief Introduction

Punjab is a small state occupying 1.5% of the India’s total geographical area. The
state supports 2.4% of the country’s population with a population density of 484
persons per sq. km. The climate is typically semi-arid and subtropical. Land use in
the state is shared by agriculture, forests, water bodies, built up areas, barren and
uncultured land. It is a part of the Indo-Gangetic plains formed by alluvial deposits
by its two major rivers, the Sutlej and Beas which flows in the central part of the state
and Ravi and Ghaggar which touches its northern and southern borders, respectively.
This river pattern divides the state into three geographical areas popularly known as
‘Majha’ (North of Beas), ‘Malwa’ (South of Sutlej) and ‘Doaba’ (between Sutlej and
Beas). On the basis of geomorphology the state can be divided into hills, inter-
montane valleys, piedmont plains, alluvial plains, sand dunes, flood plains, wetlands
and salt affected areas. Out of total geographical area of 5036 thousand ha, the net
cultivated area in the state is 4158 thousand ha while forests cover less than 6%.
Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab and it contributes around 40% to
Punjab’s GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) compared to around 20% at national
level (Bajwa 2002; Directorate of Economics and Statistics 2016).

4.2.1 Trends in Food Grains Production

In Punjab, from 1980–81 to 2010–11, the total food grain production increased by
129 per, with rice production recording (235% growth) and wheat production
(106% growth) during the same period. The proportion of cropped area allocated to
food crops increased from 50% in 1960–61 to 88.88% during 2010–11 (Table 4.1).
Enhanced productivity and increased area under food crops (rice and wheat) in
Punjab has resulted in food production increasing from 3162 thousand tons in
1960–61 to 27,867 thousand tons in 2010–11 (Table 4.2). The production of rice
increased from 229 to 16,174 thousand tons and that of wheat increased from 1742
to 16,472 thousand tons over the same period. Rice and wheat accounted for about
62% of the food production in 1960–61, which increased to 98% in 2010–11
(Dhillon et al. 2010).
The cropping pattern in the Punjab has witnessed a seen a major shift in favor of
rice-wheat rotation. Agriculture is dominated by rice and wheat crops which now
cover over three-quarters of the cropped area and account for 85% of the gross
value of crop output. Rice and wheat crops have replaced the traditional crops such
as maize, coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds (Table 4.3). It is also being increas-
ingly grown on all the incremental/marginal land being converted to agriculture.
62 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

Table 4.1 Changes in land use pattern and cropping intensity in Punjab (area in thousand
hectares)
Particular 1960–61 1970–71 1980–81 1990–91 2000–01 2010–11
Net sown area 3757 4053 4191 4218 4250 4158
Total cropped area 4732 5678 6763 7502 7941 7882
Area under forest 35 123 216 222 280 294
Barren and – 208 96 83 28 24
uncultivable land
Cropping intensity (%) 126 140 161 177 186 191
Source Statistical abstracts of Punjab, Government of Punjab, various issues (2016)

Table 4.2 Production under rice, wheat and other crops in Punjab (000 tonnes)
Year Rice Wheat Maize Pulses Total food grain Oilseeds
1960 229 1742 371 709 3162 121
1970 668 5145 861 308 7305 233
1980 3233 7677 612 204 11,921 187
1990 6506 12,159 335 111 19,223 109
2000 9154 15,551 461 44 25,324 88
2010 10,837 16,472 491 20 27,867 71
Source Statistical abstracts of Punjab, Government of Punjab, various issues (2016)

Table 4.3 Share of various crops in total gross cropped area in Punjab (%)
Year Rice Wheat Pulses Cotton Oilseeds Maize Sugarcane
1970–71 6.9 40.5 7.3 3.7 5.2 9.8 2.3
1980–81 17.5 41.6 5.0 7.4 3.5 5.6 1.0
1990–91 26.9 43.6 1.9 8.5 1.4 2.5 1.3
2000–01 33.2 43.2 0.7 4.9 1.1 2.1 1.5
2010–11 35.6 44.5 0.3 6.3 0.7 1.7 0.9
Source Statistical abstracts of Punjab, Government of Punjab, various issues (2016)

At present, only American cotton covers about 6% of the gross cropped area in
Punjab and all the other crops cover area each with less than 2% of the total cropped
area. There is a sharp decline in the proportion of area allocated to pulses from 13%
in 1960–61 to 0.30% in 2010–11.

4.2.2 Changes in Land Use Pattern in Punjab

After Green Revolution, barren and uncultivable land, land under non-agricultural
use and fallow land were gradually brought under cultivation due to increase in
productivity and rising profitability in farming (Bhullar et al. 2006). The net area
sown (NAS) increased from 3757 thousand ha in 1960–61 to 4250 thousand ha in
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 63

2000–01 (Table 4.1). Since 2000–01, the NAS in the state has declined by about 92
thousand ha, which is largely due to large scale urbanization. There was an increase
in the area under forests from 35 to 294 thousand ha during 1960–61 to 2010–11,
but the proportion of area under forests is still very small at less than 6% of the
geographical area of the state. There was also a simultaneous increase in the total
cropped area in Punjab from 4732 to 7882 thousand ha during this period. It implies
the increasing intensification of land cultivation as the farmers started growing more
than one crop from the same piece of land. Thus, the cropping intensity in Punjab
increased from just 126% in 1960–61 to 190% in 2010–11. Currently, Punjab
agriculture is characterized by double cropped agriculture system and is one of the
most intensive agricultural systems of the country.

4.2.3 Agriculture Growth and Productivity

Assured irrigation, high use of fertilizers, use of high yielding seeds, higher
input-use and mechanization are the major reasons for higher productivity growth
of food grains in Punjab. There are 434 thousand tractors at present and there is one
tractor for every 9.58 ha of net area sown. Almost 98% of the cultivated area is
under assured irrigation and 71% of area is irrigated through tube-wells by pumping
the ground water resources. The total fertilizer use in the state is 1911 thousand
nutrient tons which translates into 460 kg nutrient/ha of net area sown as compared
to 144 kg/ha at all India level. Fertilizer use per ha of Gross Cropped Area is
highest in India at 243 (kg/ha) (Table 4.4). Almost entire area under the rice and
wheat crops is under high yielding varieties. Assured irrigation coupled with high
use of fertilizers and high yielding seeds are the major reasons for higher growth.
Green Revolution introduced in the mid-1960s had a major impact on raising
yield and output of rice and wheat. By 2000–01, the area under High Yield Variety
(HYV) of rice and wheat had touched 95% of total cropped area. At first, the
increased input use translated into an increase in productivity of the food crops
(Table 4.5). As the inputs use increased exponentially the productivity of rice and
wheat more than tripled during 1966–67 to 2010–11. At the same time, there was
also significant improvement in case of pulses and oilseeds. Over the period, the
productivity of maize and other cereals has also shown an increase from 1383 to
3693 kg/ha and from 848 to 3652 kg/ha, respectively (Table 4.5).

4.2.4 Distribution of Operational Land Holding in Punjab

Two-thirds of the state’s population lives in rural areas and mostly relies on agri-
culture for its livelihood. The data on operational land holdings since 1970–71
indicates that the number and proportion of small and marginal holdings are
64 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

Table 4.4 Some input use indicators in Punjab agriculture

Indicators 1970 2010
Area under HYV seeds (% of total cropped area) 69 98
Gross cropped area (ha) 4732 7882
Gross irrigated area as % of gross cropped area 75 98
Area irrigated by canal (% of total irrigated area) 44.7 25.9
Area irrigated by tube wells (% of total irrigated area) 55.1 72.6
Fertilizer consumption (NPK) (000 nutrient tons) 213 1911
Number of tractors 45,535 367,107
Source Statistical abstracts of Punjab, Government of Punjab, various issues (2016)

Table 4.5 Average productivity of food grains in Punjab (kg/ha)

Decade Rice Wheat Maize Other cereals Oilseeds
1960–70 1000 1240 1384 815 769
1970–80 2155 2305 1555 1176 912
1980–90 3145 3283 1467 883 902
1990–2000 3433 3920 1602 1107 821
2001–02 3517 4532 1585 1043 893
2004–05 3917 4221 1786 893 887
2006–07 3868 4210 2762 1045 904
2009–10 4010 4307 3693 900 850
Source Compiled from various issues of Punjab statistical abstract, Government of Punjab (2016)

decreasing in Punjab. The number of marginal holdings (with less than one hectare
land) in 1970–71 was 517,568 (37.36% of total holdings); this declined to 122,706
(12.31% of total holdings) in 2000–01. Similarly, the number of small holdings
(with 1–2 ha of land) declined from 260,083 (18.91% of total holdings) in 1970–71
to 173,071 (17.35% of total holdings) in 2000–01 (Table 4.6). As agriculture in
post-green revolution has become dependent on capital-intensive technology, it
requires large investment both in fixed as well as working capital. Therefore,
marginal and small holdings are fast losing their viability.
Planning Commission of India estimates that 16% of the state population
was below poverty line in the mid-1980s. The proportion of marginal farmers
below the poverty line increased to 34.07% by 1990–91. The agrarian situation
toward the later part of 1980s and the entire period of 1990s showed evidence of a
steady deterioration in the situation of small and marginal farmers.
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 65

Table 4.6 Distribution of operational land holding in Punjab

Size class (ha) 1970–71 1980–81 1990–91 2000–01
Marginal (0–1) % of total 37.36 19.21 26.50 12.31
Small (1–2) % of total 18.91 19.41 18.24 17.35
Medium (2–4) % of total 20.44 27.99 25.85 32.91
Large (4–10) % of total 18.02 26.20 23.40 30.18
Extra large (>10) % of total 5.00 7.19 6.01 7.25
Source Compiled from various issues of Punjab statistical abstract, Government of Punjab (2016)

4.2.5 Decomposition of Agricultural Growth in Punjab

The annual growth in aggregate value of crop output was 5.94% in the initial green
revolution period (1967–80), with the contribution of area under cultivation being
38% and aggregate crop yield effect was 40.9% during this period. The decom-
position of changes in the production of rice, wheat and total food grains in Punjab
shows that the contributions of area towards overall food production in Punjab have
increased over time and the contributions of yield and the interactions between area
and yield together have played a relatively less important role. While the incre-
mental yield increase (along with interaction with area) played more significant role
in enhancing rice production during 1960–61 to 1980–81, area played more
important role during 1980–81 to 2000–01, and the yield emerged again as an
important contributor during the last decade (Table 4.7).
As new technology spread during the post-green revolution period from 1981 to
1990, the effect of crop yield has doubled to that of area. Moreover, during the
stagnation period post-1990s, growth was small and largely contributed by area
expansion (59%); the effect of yield decreased to less than one-third indicating
technology fatigue. This is indicative of the fact that future growth in agriculture
with the present crop patterns and technology will come largely from the area
expansion which is limited due to water constraints and already high levels of
cropping intensity of 190%.

4.2.6 Stagnation in Agricultural Growth

Agricultural growth rate in Punjab has slowed down from 5.0% in 1980s to 2.4% in
1990s and to 1.9% in 2000s (Johl 1986, 2002). The yield of rice has almost
stagnated in Punjab, going up only by 0.02% annually in the 1990s and wheat has
slowed significantly from 2.96% annual gain in 1980s to 1.96% in the 1990s
compared to all India average of 3.2%. Overall, the crop sector grew by 1.3% per
annum in the 1990’s, less than 1% in the 2000’s as compared to 4.8% per annum in
the eighties. In the last five years, the production of food grains in Punjab has
increased by only 2% as against 8.6% rise in its population. As a result contribution
66 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

Table 4.7 Decomposition of agricultural growth in Punjab

Year Agriculture growth (%) Constituent of agricultural growth
Area effect (%) Land productivity effect (%)
1967–1981 5.94 37.54 62.46
1981–1991 5.16 28.92 71.17
1991–2001 0.83 59.04 40.96
Source Compiled from Singh and Sidhu (2004)

0.9

0.8
D.I.

0.7

0.6

0.5
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Year

Fig. 4.1 Diversification index (D.I.) in Punjab. Source Compiled from various issues of Punjab
statistical abstract, Government of Punjab (2016)

of agriculture sector to the state’s GDP has declined from 46.13% in 1993–94 to
37.07% in 2004–05. For wheat the highest yield of 4532 kg/ha was obtained during
the year 2000–2001 (Table 4.5). Thereafter, it has fluctuated between 4210 and
4367 kg/ha.

4.2.7 Declining Crop Diversity in Punjab

As the area under rice and wheat has increased after green revolution, the crop
variety has declined drastically (Singh and Sidhu 2004). The combined area under
rice and wheat crops which was less than 40% during late-1960s and has touched
recently to more than 80%. The Diversification Index (DI) for the state declined
from 0.707 in 1970–71 to 0.591 in 2001–02 (Fig. 4.1). This has been at the expense
of area under other Rabi crops especially gram, barley, rapeseed, mustard and
sunflower. Area under total pulses has also reduced sharply. Area under cotton has
been fluctuating around 5–6% of total gross copped area of Punjab. In place of
hardened and time tested broad range of traditional varieties which were naturally
suited to the climatic conditions of Punjab, farmers have adopted a narrow range of
High Yield Varieties. The area under input intensive HYVs of wheat has increased
from 69% in 1970–71 to 100% in 2000–01. This highlights the fact that rice and
wheat have continued to grow in terms of area and production at the cost of other
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 67

crops, with the diversity in the output mix decreasing continuously over time—
signaling a decline in genetic diversity, which is an important ecosystem service.

4.2.8 Loss in Biodiversity of Indigenous Crops Varieties

Before green revolution, 41 varieties of wheat, 37 varieties of rice, four varieties of

maize, three varieties of bajra, 16 varieties of sugarcane, 19 species/varieties of
pulses, 9 species/varieties of oil seeds and 10 varieties of cotton were grown in
Punjab and propagated through pure line selection by farmers. However, currently
the number of varieties in use by farmers has decreased to 13 varieties of wheat, 8
varieties of rice, 4 varieties of Basmati rice and 4 varieties of pulses (Johl and Ray
2002). Punjab Agricultural University has found that more than 87% of the area
under wheat is currently using a single high yielding variety PBW 343 (released in
1995). Similarly, high yielding rice varieties of only PR series-106, 108, 111, 113,
116, 118 are grown throughout the state in every season. Thus, food production is
dependent on the narrow and alien genetic base and the natural ecologically adapted
bio diverse agricultural base is virtually lost.

4.2.9 Total Factor Productivity (TFP)

and Agricultural Growth

The analysis of total factor productivity (TFP) growth of major crops in Punjab
shows that the technological gains of early years of green revolution have exhausted
their potential (Table 4.8). Agriculture has been experiencing diminishing returns to
input use and a significant proportion of the gross cropped area has been facing
stagnation or negative growth in TFP. The share of TFP in total output has also been
declining and negative in some cases, which implies that the growth in output is
more because of the increased use of inputs rather than the technology factor. Singh
and Hossain (2002) showed that growth in total factor productivity (TFP) for rice
was negative (−1.77% per annum) during the period 1990–91 to 1997–98, with the
component of technical change occurring at a very slow pace (0.89% per annum). In
the case of wheat, although TFP growth was positive (1.24% per annum), the growth
in technical change was slow (1.01% per annum) during the period 1990–91 to
1997–99. For both rice and wheat, environmental degradation (sustainability) was
found to contribute negatively to TFP, with the negative contribution being much
larger in paddy (−5.04% per annum) than in wheat (−1.58% per annum). Kumar
(2002) showed that TFP growth in Punjab has been negligible in the 1990s (0.05%
per annum) as compared to the 1980s (1.55% per annum). Deceleration in TFP in the
Punjab was mainly due to intensive input use and to the increasing occurrence of
weeds, insects and disease in the continuous mono cropping of food grains.
68 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

As food grain productivity declines, decomposition of the impact of various

factors on TFP growth show that area extension accounted for about 45% of the
TFP growth, public research (36%), literacy (10%), infrastructure (8%), and
urbanization (1.5%).

4.3 Ecosystem Services in Punjab Agriculture

Agricultural ecosystems rely on variety of supporting ecosystem services to provide

food, fibre and bio-energy, pharmaceuticals as well as a range of accompanying but
non-marketed ecosystem services (Box 4.1). ES from agriculture include regulation
of water and climate systems, aesthetic and cultural services, as well as enhanced
supporting services (such as soil fertility). They are a major contributor to agri-
cultural productivity; leading to increases in agricultural crop yield and
thereby contributing towards food security. At the same time, agriculture produces
more than just crops. Current agricultural practices have environmental impacts that
affect a wide range of ecosystem services, including water quality, pollination,
nutrient cycling, soil retention, carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation.
Thus there is a strong linkage between ES, agriculture and food security.
The following section looks at the trends of the key ES, corresponding drivers of
change and their impacts on agricultural practices in Punjab:
• Water quantity and quality.
• Soil structure and fertility.
• Nutrient cycling.

4.4 Water Quantity and Quality in Punjab

4.4.1 Water Use and Availability Scenario in Punjab

In Punjab, almost 97% of the cultivated area is under assured irrigation with nearly
80% of the water resources being used for agricultural production. Water is a major
input under the Green Revolution strategy which has created an increasing demand
for irrigation. In 1950–51, 25–30% of the cropped area in Punjab was irrigated

Table 4.8 Total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Punjab (per cent per year)
Period Output growth Input growth TFP growth
Early green revolution (1970–1985) 4.72 1.10 3.62
Late green revolution (1970–1985) −0.92 −0.12 −0.79
Overall green revolution (1970–2000) 1.67 0.44 1.23
Source Singh and Hossain (2002)
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 69

Provisioning services
These include food and services for
human consumption, ranging from
food, fibre, fire wood, livestock,
raw materials, genetic resources,
ornamental resources and medicinal
resources.

Regulating services
These include ecological processes
such as gas regulation, climate
regulation, disturbance regulation,
water regulation, water supply,
erosion control and sediment
retention.

Cultural services
Agriculture provides cultural
services such as aesthetics,
recreation through conserving field-
boundary vegetation or by planting
native trees.

Supporting services
Supporting ecosystem services are
pollination, biological control,
carbon accumulation,
mineralization of plant nutrients,
soil formation, nitrogen fixation.

Box 4.1 Four types of ecosystem services in agricultural ecosystems (Photos by H. Sandhu)

against 17.11% at the national level which increased to about 90% in 1983–84 as
compared to 28.61% at national level. The Green Revolution increased the need for
irrigation water at two levels. Firstly, the shifts from millets, pulses and oilseeds to
wheat and rice cycle increased the need of water throughout the year. Secondly, the
new hybrid varieties of wheat and rice also increased the intensity of irrigation.
High yielding varieties of wheat and rice needed more irrigation than traditional
varieties. In 1970–71, the area under canal irrigation was 12.86 lakh ha which rose
to 16.6 lakh ha in 1990–91. It fell to 9.62 lakh ha in 2000–01 At present, gross
70 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

water requirements for the state are estimated at 6.15 M ha-m (million hectare per
annum), against the current availability of only 3.66 M ha-m, comprising
1.52 M ha-m of surface water and 2.14 M ha-m of groundwater resources.
Out of the total water availability, 0.35 M ha m is lost during
conveyance/transportation and only 1.45 m ha m is available at the outlet that
irrigates about 1.0 million hectares of land. The remaining 3.24 million hectare of
land is irrigated with the use of groundwater. The total sustainable availability of
groundwater is 1.68 M ha-m. Therefore, the total water availability including
surface as well as groundwater is 3.13 M ha-m. The current crop production pattern
dominated by wheat-rice crop rotation requires 4.37 M ha-m of crop irrigation
water per annum (Government of Punjab 2011). This implies a gap of 1.24 M ha-m
between demand and supply which is met through overutilization of groundwater
resources.

4.4.2 Ground Water Status in Punjab

According to the Central Ground Water Board, the annual water discharge in
Punjab is 23.78 billion cubic meters and the net water availability is 21.44 billion
cubic meters. The withdrawal of groundwater for irrigation purpose is 31.16 billion
cubic meters annually, which is 145% of the availability. This is causing fast
decline in the water table which has been falling at the rate of 50–55 cm per annum.
In 1973, the area where the water level was below 10 meters stood at 3%. In 2008 it
was estimated to be more than 75%. The proportion of area irrigated through
groundwater resources in Punjab increased from 41.04% in 1960–61 to 71.77% in
2006–07. Such proportion increased from 70.96 to 88.71% in the Central Zone of
Punjab which has been most severely affected (Statistical Abstract of Punjab,
various issues)1. The dominance of rice-wheat crop rotation has converted the
Punjab state from a water-surplus to a water-scarce state. At present, gross water
requirements for the state are estimated at 6.15 M ha-m, against the current
availability of only 3.66 M ha-m, comprising 1.52 M ha-m of surface water and
2.14 M ha-m of groundwater resources. It indicates a total deficit of about
2.49 M ha-m of water—a case of severe water imbalance in the state.

4.4.3 Surface Irrigation Status in Punjab

The area irrigated by canals expanded from 1292 thousand ha in 1970–71 to 1669
thousand ha in 1990–91 and then declined to 1116 thousand ha in 2010–11. On the

1
Office the Statistical Adviser, Economic and Statistical Organisation, Government of Punjab.
Statistical abstract of Punjab, various issues, Chandigarh.
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 71

other hand, the area irrigated by tube wells increased from 1591 thousand ha in
1970–71 to 2954 thousand ha in 2010–11. While the canals accounted for almost
45% of the irrigated area in 1970–71, such proportion is just 27% in 2010–11.
Almost 73% of the cultivated area is currently being irrigated through groundwater,
which has serious implications for the sustainability of the groundwater resources in
Punjab. The number of tube wells increased from 192 thousand in 1970–71 to 1382
thousand in 2010–11. The tubewell density i.e. the number of tube wells per
thousand ha was just 32 which increased to 67 in 1980–81 and further to 209 in
2004–05. On an average there are 28 tube wells per sq. km. of net sown area in
Punjab alone. At the same time the growth in irrigated area fell to negative 0.02%
after 2000’s. At present, 11.01 lakh hectares are under canal irrigation which is
around 36% of the total irrigated area in the state. The state has 86% cropped area
and 98% of this is under irrigation that uses nearly 84% of the state’s water
resources. Out of this, rice consumes 34%, wheat 30% and other crops 36%. The
area under canal irrigation is declining every year because of decreasing carrying
capacity of canals and less water coming from the rivers of Sutlej, Beas and Ravi
which fell from 17.17 million acres feet (MAF) in 1990 to around 14 MAF at
present.

4.4.4 Water Demand and Supply Status in Punjab

In order to increase the food grain production in Punjab, the area under food grain
drastically increased from 3.06 million hectares in 1960–61 to 6.51 million hec-
tares, a growth of 112%. The area under rice increased at a growth of 1147% during
the given period. It increased from 0.23 million hectares in 1960–61 to 2.83 million
hectares in 2010–11. This increase in area under rice has in turn increased the water
requirements in the state for irrigation and also increased its contribution in the state
water demand. The contribution of rice in total water demand has increased from
5% in 1960–61 to 38% in 2010–11. Thus the water demand has increased to 4.8
million hectares meter in 2010–11. With supply more or less static around 3.13
million hectares meter, the state is witnessing a water deficit of 1.63 million hec-
tares meter per annum.
The data in Table 4.9 clearly shows the correlation between the increase in area
under rice and wheat and the growing water deficit in the state. The water deficit has
grown from 0.66 M-ha-m in early 1980’s to 1.67 M-ha-m by 2010. This increasing
deficit is being met by overdrawing water from the ground which is depleting at an
alarming rate. As per the findings of Soil Science Department of Punjab,
Agricultural University, Ludhiana, the level of ground water is going down by 50–
55 cm in Punjab every year since 1993–94. If this situation continues it will lead to
the level of water going further down by more than 70 feet in the 50% region of
Punjab, 100 feet in the 14% and more than 130 feet in 2% area of Punjab by 2013.
In 1964, the water level was at 5 feet in the 23% region of the state, 5–10 feet in the
72 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

Table 4.9 Water demand and supply (M-ha-m)

Year 1960–61 1970–71 1980–81 1990–91 2001–01 2010–11
Demand 2.7 3.12 3.79 4.43 4.74 4.80
Supply 3.13 3.12 3.13 3.13 3.13 3.13
Deficit 0.43 – −0.66 −1.3 −1.61 −1.67
Area under food grain production (000 ha)
Rice 0.23 0.39 1.18 2.02 2.61 2.83
Wheat 1.40 2.3 2.81 3.27 3.41 3.51
Total 3.06 3.93 4.85 5.68 6.28 6.51
Source Estimated by author

Table 4.10 Pattern of annual average rainfall in Punjab (in mm)

Year 1970 1980 1990 2000 2004 2008 2009 2010 2013 2014
Rainfall 672 739 754 391 392 529 384 472 619 385
Source Indian Meteorological Department, 2016

20% region; 10–20 feet in 11% of the region and the remaining 42% area of Punjab
had the water level of 25 feet.
The increased demand of water, reduction in canal capacity due to siltation and
the easy credit facilities for tubewell installation with state subsidy, besides liberal
facilities for electrification of tube wells have led to over exploitation of ground
water for irrigation purpose. The centrifugal pumps are becoming redundant and
being replaced with submersible pumps especially in central Punjab due to depletion
of underground water table. The availability of river water has come down because
the annual average rainfall in the region has gone down substantially (Table 4.10).
The World Watch Institute has warned that if the water is used at this rate, the
whole ground water in Punjab shall be finished by 2025. Climatic changes and
decline in rain fall has further added to water problem of the state in the form of
inadequate recharging of ground water. The annual rain fall which was 672.3 mm
in 1970 rose to 754.6 mm in 1990. It has since been falling rapidly and declined to
391.9 mm in 2000. In the new century, it has remained below the mark of 400 mm
and stood at 375.5 mm in 2004 and at 384 mm in 2009. Scientific studies in Punjab
have indicated that the current use and withdrawal of water resource can sustain
1.6 mha of land under rice and 1.2 mha areas should be brought under other crops
for sustaining rice productivity and maintaining the ecological balance.

4.4.5 Waterlogging and Salinization in Punjab

Water logging causes depletion of oxygen and increase of carbon dioxide in the
root zone of crops which causes loss of plant nutrients and the loss of useful
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 73

microorganisms at the expense of the growth of harmful ones. It also causes

chemical degradation due to accumulation of salts at the soil surface leading to an
ecological imbalance. All these factors result in reduced or near zero productivity.
The twin problems of waterlogging and salinization in South-west Punjab are
broadly due to the digressional location of the area along with the lack of proper
drainage system. The area has low and erratic rainfall of 100–400 mm per year
(Hira et al. 1998). The ground water is brackish with high EC (2–12.6 d sm−1) and
RSC (3–35.1 meq−1). While groundwater is declining at an alarming rate in high
yielding fresh groundwater regions in northern and central districts, the
south-western parts of Punjab are facing problems of severe water logging and
salinization.
The South-Western districts comprises 34% area of Punjab and out of 17.2 lakh
hectare areas of the zone, 6.3 lakh hectare areas has a rising water logging problem.
Excessive utilization of water mainly for rice in south west Punjab and inadequate
drainage system are the major causes of water logging. Water logging has desta-
bilized water cycle of the area by adding more water than its natural drainage
potential. This has led to desertification and salinization of the land. The water table
of this area is rising at the rate of 0.5–1 m per year. The cotton is very sensitive crop
to water logging and cannot tolerant excess water in its root zone. The original
cotton/bajra/maize-wheat/gram system has been replaced by rice-wheat crop rota-
tion by leveling of extensive sand dunes and conversion of these to irrigated fields.
Changing cropping pattern, aridity, rise in water level, use of poor quality irrigation
water and canal seepage in both the Rajasthan feeder and Sirhind canal have
compounded the problem critically.
With the rise of water table in the South-Western Punjab, the farmers have now
taken to rice cultivation. Cotton has been replaced by rice and as rice cultivation
needs more water, the farmers are demanding more canal water because the
underground water in this area is brackish, which is unfit for the irrigation purposes.
Water logging has ruined the fertility of land and a marginal type of well water
gives 200–400 kg of salt per hectare during one season. The increased water log-
ging has not only affected the cotton crop of this region but the stagnation of water
for long time has increased the humidity of the environment. It has increased
insect/pest in the environment which is proving resistant to recommended insecti-
cide sprays.

4.5 Soil Structure and Fertility

Maintenance of soil fertility is essential to sustain agricultural production. A healthy

soil provides for the following ecosystem function to agriculture: ensure proper
retention and release of water and nutrients, promote and sustain root growth,
maintain soil habitat, respond to management and resist degradation. While
intensification may increase soil fertility in the short run, many researchers
have identified numerous ways that intensification causes soil degradation.
74 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

The introduction of machinery compacts soil reducing its capacity to absorb

rainwater, thus speeding up runoff and resulting in erosion. This is also known as
“mining” of the soil’s organic matter and nutrients because they are removed rather
than renewed with use. Further, the “green revolution” model of intensive agricul-
ture is highly water intensive and requires increased use of chemical fertilizers and
pesticides. The increased irrigation necessary for high-yield plant varieties causes
soil salinization and waterlogging. Also the application of chemical fertilizers can
cause excesses of soil nitrogen. In Punjab, high inputs of nitrogen fertilizers increase
pesticide use. Nitrogen encourages growth of weeds better adapted to high levels of
nitrogen. In addition, nitrogen can lead to greater damage from animal pests, because
plants become more nutritious for herbivores as nitrogen level increases.
The soils of Punjab are low in Nitrogen (N) content, low to medium in
Phosphorus (P) and medium to high in Potassium (K) (Department of Agriculture,
Punjab) (Table 4.11). The rice wheat cropping pattern in Punjab has resulted in a
break in the re-cycling of nutrient in two ways. First, the HYV led to reduction of
organic material available for recycling into soil which increased the grain yield at
the cost of straw. The traditional rice varieties had four to five times as much straw
as grain. High yielding rice produces a one to one ratio of grain to straw. The
scarcity of straw reduced biomass availability for fodder and mulch. This resulted in
a break in nutrient re-cycling. Secondly, it demanded higher nutrients which caused
toxic chemicals in the soil and micronutrient deficiencies. Rice wheat sequence that
yields 7 tons/ha of rice and 5 tons/ha of wheat removes more than 300 kg N, 30 kg
P and 300 kg of K per hectare per annum from the soil. Consequently, partial factor
productivity of NPK application in Punjab has dropped from 80.9 in 1966–67 to
16.0 in 2003–04.

4.5.1 Soil Organic Carbon (SOC)

SOC is taken as an index of plant available Nitrogen (N) since it is related with N
supplying capacity of soil (Table 4.11). SOC has a significant effect on all soil
properties related to its fertility potential. Organic carbon content has declined to
low levels because of very low or limited application of organic manures and
non-recycling of crop residues. Loss in organic carbon means wasteful extra

Table 4.11 Trends in available organic carbon content in soils of Punjab (1981–2001)
(percentage sample)
Year Soil organic carbon (N) Phosphorus (P) Potassium (K)
High Median Low High Median Low High Median Low
1981–91 0 20 80 48 29 23 08 45 46
1991–2001 5 25 70 62 33 15 09 51 40
Current status 12 32 57 36 18 46 08 – 93
Source Benbi and Brar (2009)
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 75

application of chemical fertilizers, loss in soil biological activity and poor soil
moisture retention.

4.5.2 Destruction of Soil Fertility

Soil fertility declines are well recorded for Punjab. Numerous long-term experi-
ments have shown a declining trend in productivity even with higher application of
N, P, and K fertilizers and the use of modern intensive farming.
More nutrients have been removed than added through fertilizers to the fields
and farmers are applying more fertilizers to get the same yield than they were
getting with less fertilizer 20–30 years ago. Micro-nutrient deficiencies have started
appearing with the adoption and spread of intensive agriculture. Zinc deficiency has
become most widespread in the entire region. The average organic content of the
soil of the state has gone down from 0.5 from early green revolution period to 0.2%
at present. Analysis by Punjab Agriculture University during 1981–1992 reported
that 78% soils of Punjab were low (<0.4% SOC) in organic carbon, 21% medium
(0.4–0.75% SOC) and 0.5% high (>75% SOC) in soil organic carbon. In 1950–
1960, the soil of Punjab was deficient only in nitrogen, but with the adoption of the
new agricultural strategy, it is short of all other micro and macro nutrients like
Potassium, Zinc and Phosphorous. During the eighties, the deficiency of
Manganese and Sulfur were also seen. In the era of nineties, the soil became poor in
Copper and other nutrients.
A comprehensive study by Benbi and Brar (2009) on the level of SOC in Punjab
has shown, unexpectedly that intensive agriculture has resulted in improvement in
soil organic carbon (SOC) status. As a weighted average for the whole state, SOC
increased from 2.9 g kg−1 in 1981/82 to 4.0 g kg−1 in 2005/06, an increase of 38%.
Increased productivity of rice and wheat resulted in enhanced Carbon sequestration
in the plough layer by 0.8 t/ha per ton of increased grain production. Soil pH
declined by 0.8 pH units from 8.5 in 1981/82 to 7.7 in 2005/06. This pH decline has
positive implications for availability of phosphorus and micronutrients such as Zn,
Fe and Mn. The status of available P in soils increased from 19.9 kg ha−1 in
1981/82 to 29.2 kg ha−1 during 2005/06. The status of plant-available K in soil
remained almost unaltered and averaged 106 and 123 mg kg−1 soil in 1981/82 and
2005/06, respectively. The analysis showed that intensive cultivation of a
rice-wheat system unexpectedly resulted in improved C sequestration, a favorable
pH environment and improvement of the soil salinity.
Certain management practices such as conservation tillage, no-till practices can
help address these issues of detrimental impacts of the current soil management
practices (Abrol and Sangar 2006). Conservation or no-till allows planting of new
crop in the residues of previous year crop. It can minimise surface run-off and help
build soil structure by increasing soil organic matter.
76 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

4.5.3 Nutrient Cycling

Nutrient management is the most important factor in sustainable crop productivity

as the nutrients account for at least 35% of plant growth and yield. Studies shows
that rice-wheat production system at 8–9 tons/ha production level remove about
625–675 kg/ha of NPK annualy.
The addition of nutrients through chemicals and fertilizers does not match the
crop removal resulting in nutrient mining of soils. Energy use is high in intensive
cereal production systems. Of the total energy used for crop production, fertilizer and
chemical energy inputs comprise 47% for wheat and 43% for rice (Khan et al. 2009).
About 60% of this is due to nitrogen (N) fertilizers alone. Wheat and rice are the
most nutrient exhaustive crops of the state removing 80% of N, P and K, 80% of S
and 77% of Zn of the total removal of nutrients per year. Based on nutrient
requirements for each crop based on their productivity levels, it was estimated that
the addition of N through chemical fertilizers was higher than removal since
1980–81 and this positive difference between addition and removal has been
increasing over years resulting into positive N balance. In many areas of the state, the
application of nitrogen is higher than the recommended doses especially for wheat
and rice crops. This has led to unsustainable rise in fertilizer use ratio of 35:9:1 as
compared to recommended usage ratio of 4:2:1 (Yadvinder-Singh et al. 2005).

4.6 Trade-Offs in ES in Agriculture

4.6.1 Yield Gap of Productivity in Punjab

Potential yield can be interpreted as the upper limit that can be achieved by the
current varieties in the given production system. A review of data from experi-
ments, long-term field trials and simulation studies has shown potential yields of
rice-wheat in the optimal rice-wheat planting system to be around 18.29 tons/ha
in Punjab. The actual productivity data for Punjab were correlated with the
nutrient consumption data and has revealed a good linear correlation (R2 = 0.78).
The simple linear regression analysis shows the following result:
Y = 16.709X + 143.35 where Y is wheat yield (kg/ha) and X is fertilizer con-
sumption (kg/ha) (Majumdar et al. 2013). This large yield gaps in Punjab are due to
inappropriate nutrient management and wheat yield response ranged from 500–
4750 kg ha−1, 67–2806 kg ha−1 and 0–2222 kg ha−1 for N, P and K respectively,
which is related to the soil nutrient supplying capacity. Khurana et al. (2008)
working on irrigated wheat at 56 sites in six main wheat producing regions of
Punjab also highlighted the variability in soil fertility across farmers’ field sites.
Fertilizer use efficiency in rice is only 30–35% whose overuse/misuse causes
environmental and ecosystem deterioration (Yadvinder-Singh et al. 2004). Due to
high field to field variability, the possibility of over or under-application of nutrients
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 77

are very high with its economic and environmental consequences. This leads to
inefficient use of added nutrients, as application rates do not consider the spatial
variability in nutrient requirements among the fields. Zinc and other micronutrients
are not applied in adequate amounts to prevent increasing deficiencies of these
nutrients. Sanyal et al. (2010) also pointed out the lack of potassium application as
one of reasons for yield stagnation in the rice-wheat system in the state.
Fertilizer (N) use constitutes the major component of the total fertilizer use
pattern. Even under the best practices, not more than two third of the N added as a
fertilizer can be accounted for as being utilized by crop plants or to be present in the
soil. Field experts have recommended application of fertilizer (N) at 120 kg N/ha
for rice-wheat cropping pattern in Punjab but in practice more than
200–300 kg N/ha are used in the fields in efforts to overcome the low fertilizer N
use efficiency (35–40%) (Yadvinder-Singh et al. 2009). Nitrate content in ground
water is continuously increasing and it has been linked to the inefficient fertilizer N
use in the rice-wheat system. To obtain the projected rice yield of 8.0 Mt/ha by the
year 2025 in Punjab, it would become necessary to apply 280 kg N/ha at 33%
fertilizer N recovery efficiency (Cassman and Pingali 1995).
There has been a built-up of nitrogen in the Punjab soils over time as the
proportion of area with low levels nitrogenous contents declined from 78 to 32%
over time. Punjab has the highest per hectare usage of fertilizers (NPK) at
237.05 kg/ha in 2009–10, as against the all India average of 135.27 kg/ha in the
same year. High usage of nitrogenous fertilizers with relative under-utilization of
other fertilizers and micronutrients has increased imbalance of micro nutrient in the
Punjab soils.

4.6.2 Emergence of New Pest and Diseases

On an average, rice farmers in Punjab overuse pesticides by more than 30% and
over application of nitrogen fertilizer is partially responsible for the overuse of
pesticides. An increase in the cropping intensity, use of fertilizers and intensive
irrigation has changed the ecological balance in favour of weeds and it has become
difficult to control weeds manually. Before Green Revolution, indigenous varieties
were resistant to local pests and diseases. If the crop was affected by certain dis-
eases, it affected only some parts of the crop while others had the resistance to
survive. Crop rotations also helped in pest control. Many pests were specific to
particular plants. Planting different crops in different seasons and different years
reduced the pest population. The rice crop was considered to be comparatively free
from insects/pests before the Green Revolution. The rice cultivation in Punjab is
now affected by near about 4 insects and 12 diseases. The rice leaf folder was first
recorded in 1964 and now it present in all rice growing areas of the Punjab. The
yellow stem borer, white backed plant hopper, green leaf hopper, rice thrips are the
new pests-insects created by the Green Revolution. Among the diseases to which
78 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

the rice cultivation is affected is brown spot, false smut and sheath rot. The new
high yielding dwarf seed varieties of wheat have turned minor diseases such as
Karnal Bunt into epidemic form. Other diseases like Leaf Rust, Loose Smut, and
Stripe Rust has affected the new wheat varieties such as PV 18, Kalyan 227 etc. The
weeds have also created a serious threat to paddy-wheat rotation in the Punjab.
Problem of Leptochloa chinensis (chini ghaas) and Ischameum rugosum (kanaki),
which were earlier hard to see in rice crop, can be seen everywhere in rice crop
(Mahajan et al. 2009). Also broad leaf weeds (Gharilla) have also started appearing
in rice and cannot be killed with the common used herbicide (butachlor).
The use of insecticide and pesticides has increased from 624 tons during 1960–61
to 6900 tons in 2003–04. The per hectare use of chemical pesticides has increased
from 0.132 to 0.873 kg during the same period. The use of weedicides has also
increased and Punjab accounts for 60% of the total weedicides consumption in India.
More than 90% growers of rice and wheat use weedicides. The indiscriminate use of
pesticides has led to plants developing resistance to pesticides and insecticides. Food
grains have found to be contaminated with DDT and HCH residues 4 ppm which is
above the recommended maximum residue limit of 0.1 ppm. In 2005 Punjab
Pollution Control Board study pointed to a cancer-pesticide link. Samples collected
from villages in Punjab had pesticide content in the blood which included aldrin
(80%), DDT (50%) and endosulfin (24%) among others. Diseases ranged from
cancer, lymphoma, genetic changes to brain toxicity and birth defects (Times of
India, August 17, 2011). At 90 cancer patients for every 1 lakh population in Punjab,
it’s more than the national of 80 per lakh. The Malwa region of the state—known as
the cancer belt—has the highest average of 136 cancer patients per 1 lakh people,
according to data provided by Punjab government. Data over the last five years has
shown that, on an average, 18 people die of cancer each day. The excessive use of
chemical fertilizer like urea, DPK, NPK, etc. and pesticides (insecticides and
weedicides) in Punjab have resulted in the disorders of endocrine glands e.g., thy-
roid, parathyroid, pituitary, kidneys and adrenals (Kheti Virasat Mission 2016).

4.6.3 Loss of Soil Fertility Due to Rice Residue/Straw

Burning and Environmental Damage

Crop residues are an important component of soil fertility management. They are
currently burnt, especially rice residues leading to degradation of natural resources
especially soil. Rice residues can be converted to high-value manure of a better
quality than farmyard manure, and their use, along with chemical fertilisers, can
help sustain or even increase yield (Sidhu et al. 1998). The residues of rice crop
from one hectare land on composting give about 3 tons of manure as rich in
nutrients as farmyard manure.
Crop residues are good sources of plant nutrients and are important components
for the stability of agricultural ecosystems. In Punjab where mechanical harvesting
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 79

is practiced, a large quantity of crop residues are left in the field which can be
recycled for nutrient supply. Farmers remove wheat straw for feeding the animals
but rice straw due to its high lignin and silica and low protein content is not suitable
for this purpose (Pathak et al. 2006). Short turn-around time available for rice
residues disposal interferes with tillage and seeding operations for subsequent
wheat crop. This compels farmer towards burning the rice residue. Crop residues
retention in the soil improves soil physical (e.g., structure, infiltration rate, plant
available water capacity), chemical (e.g., nutrient cycling), and biological (e.g.,
Carbon sequestration). The critical level of Carbon input requirement for main-
taining SOC at the required level has been calculated as 2.47 t/ha/year for
rice-based systems (Srinivasarao et al. 2013). A rice wheat sequence that yield 7
tons/ha of rice and 4 tons/ha wheat removes more than 300 kg N, 30 kg P and
300 kg K/ha from the soil. About 25% of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), 50% of
sulphur (S), and 75% of potassium (K) uptake by cereal crops are retained in crop
residues, making them valuable nutrient sources. One ton of wheat residue contains
4–5 kg N, 0.7–0.9 kg P, and 9–11 kg K (Yadvinder-Singh et al. 2005). N, P and K
amounts in rice straw is 6.2 kg N, 1.1 kg P and 18.9 kg K per ton of straw.
Besides NPK, one ton of rice and wheat residues contain about 9–11 kg S, 100 g
Zn, 777 g Fe and 745 g Mn. Crop residue play an important role in the cycling of
nutrients despite the dominant role of chemical fertilizers in crop production.
Considering 90% of rice straw and 30% of wheat straw are surplus in Punjab, the
amount of NPK recycled annually would be about 0.54 Mt. This compares well
with the 1.91 Mt/year of fertilizer consumption in Punjab.
Burning of wheat and rice straw has also contributes to loss of soil fertility apart
from causing air pollution. For every 4 tons of rice or wheat grain, about 6 tons of
straw is produced. Punjab produces around 22 million tonnes of rice straw and 17
million tonnes of wheat straw, annually. The rice crop residue is burnt in the fields
instead of its recycling into the soil by mulching it (Jain et al. 2014). This raises the
temperature of the soil in the top 3 inches to such a high degree that
Carbon-Nitrogen equilibrium in soil changes rapidly. The carbon as CO2 is lost to
atmosphere, while nitrogen is converted to nitrate. Presently, total rice straw uti-
lization in Punjab for different purposes constitutes less than 2% of the 22 million
tons produced annually (Yadvinder-Singh et al. 2010). Mishra et al. (2001), while
studying the effect of simulated burning condition of crop residues, reported that
complete burning of rice straw resulted in 100, 20.1, 19.8, and 80% losses of
nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulphur (S), respectively. The
corresponding nutrient losses due to burning of wheat straw were 100, 22.2, 21.8,
and 75%, respectively. Besides, nutrient loss, burning of rice straw also results in
air pollution. One ton of straw on burning releases 3 kg particulate matter, 60 kg
CO, 1460 kg CO2, 199 kg ash and 2 kg SO2. The oxide of nitrogen and Sulphur is
a potent source of acid rain and its burning produces about 24 million tons of CO2
in a short span of 15–20 days. Moreover, agriculture experts also maintain that fire
in the fields kills friendly pests and bacteria which decrease the fertility of soil.
80 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

4.7 Options for Ecosystem Based Management

in Agriculture

Ecosystem based management has emerged over the last two decades as a dominant
approach to manage natural resources, biodiversity and associated ES. Traditionally
sectoral approaches have been applied for the management of natural resources. For
example, agriculture land use is managed separately from river bodies, ground-
water, forests, urban areas etc. Such approaches often result in conflicts between
end users in each sector and are often inadequate in managing natural resources.
Therefore, ecosystem based management recognises that all species including
animal, plants and human beings are interdependent on each other. It considers that
social and economic systems are part of wider ecosystem and optimum interactions
between biophysical processes is required for a healthy and functional ecosystem.
Long term sustainability of agriculture in Punjab depends on healthy and
functional ecosystems that are managed in an integrated manner. Management of
natural resources and biodiversity, which forms the base of current agriculture
require changes at policy level to manage landscape as a single ecosystem. There is
need to develop an integrated ecosystem based management plan where agriculture
sector is not examined individually but a part of wider ecosystem along with forest,
water, health sectors. There are several options that are necessary to manage and
improve natural resources in the State and in the region so as agriculture sector
continues to deliver healthy and nutritional food for all. Some of the policy and
practice measures are discussed below.

4.7.1 Crop Diversification

The current rice and wheat rotation system that dominates the agriculture and
depletes soil health and groundwater needs to make way for some alternative
cropping systems so that the crop diversification can be achieved. Diversification
index has decreased significantly over the last 50 years resulting in massive neg-
ative impacts on the soil, water and biodiversity. There is growing realisation to
change the current rice-wheat rotation. However, more effort is required to provide
alternative crops that require less water, help conserve soil and are less susceptible
to pests. This requires increased investment in research and development for the
improvement of crops, water-use efficiency and nutrient use efficiency.

4.7.2 Biodiversity Policy

Agriculture area dominates the landscape of Punjab. There is very little

non-agriculture land available to conserve biodiversity. Moreover, the links
4 Ecosystem Services and Agriculture in Punjab, India 81

between biodiversity in non-farm areas and improvement of agricultural production

are clear. For example, pollinators in the margins of farmland and native biodi-
versity habitats results in better seed set and enhance production of crops. There is
need to raise awareness amongst the farming community about the benefits of
non-farm biodiversity. A comprehensive state or region wise biodiversity policy
that promotes Functional Agricultural Biodiversity (FAB, Wratten et al. 2013) is
required to support sustainability in agriculture.

4.7.3 Alternative Agriculture Practices

Global research indicates that there are several alternative agriculture management
practices, which are capable of increasing production by protecting natural
resources and the environment (Wratten et al. 2013). Some alternative approaches
are organic agriculture, conservation agriculture, precision agriculture, agroecology
etc. There is need to develop and standardize these practices for Punjab agriculture
by working in partnership with farming and scientific community. These inter-
ventions will require investments in R&D sector by developing private and public
partnerships so that private sector can also contribute towards the sustainable
agriculture.

4.7.4 Market Support

There has been much research on the crop diversification side of managing natural
resources in agriculture. However, any uptake of new crops by farming community
will require market support either by public sector, private sector or by a combi-
nation of both.

4.8 Summary

Agroecosystems such as agriculture can provide large amount of ES and can

contribute towards food production. However, intensive agriculture such as con-
tinuous rice-wheat rotation with high inputs has shown negative impacts on natural
resources such as water, biodiversity and soil health as observed in case study of
Punjab, India (Shergill 2007). Trade-offs between food production and ES such as
soil health, groundwater availability, quality, biodiversity are alarming in this
region (Chand 1999; Punjab State Council for Science & Technology 2007).
Continuous degradation of natural resources has potential to negatively impact the
livelihood of millions of farmers who depend directly on agriculture especially in
82 L. Kumar and H. Sandhu

Punjab (Rao 2003; Ghuman 2008; Chand et al. 2011). Therefore, a comprehensive
policy response is required to safeguard the livelihoods and protection of natural
resources so that agroecosystems can continue to supply ES in addition to food
production.

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Chapter 5
Desert Ecosystem Management:
A Sustainable and Wise Use

Aleem Ahmed Khan, Tahira Ruby, Nargis Naz and Muhammad Rafay

5.1 World Population

The world population depicts an estimated total figure of living humans on Earth
7.136 billion by the United States Census Bureau (UN 2013). The highest rate of
growth was observed above 1.8% per year during the 1950s that is peaked at 2.2%
in 1963, and then declined to below 1.1% by 2012. Total annual births were highest
in the late 1980s at about 138 million, and are now expected to remain essentially
constant at level of 134 million, while death rate is 56 million per year, and are
expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040. Current UN projections
showed a continued increase in population in the near future that expected to reach
between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050 (BBC News 2011; Time 2011). Some ana-
lysts have questioned the sustainability of further world population growth, high-
lighting the growing pressures on the environment, global food supplies, and
energy resources (Ozzie 2012).
During the 20th century, the global population saw its greatest increase in known
history, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion in 2000. A number of
factors are contributing in this increase, including the reduction in mortality rate by
improved sanitation, medical advances, and a massive increase in agricultural
productivity attributed to the Green Revolution. A number of scientists have argued
that the current global population expansion and accompanying increase in resource

A.A. Khan
Department of Zoology, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan 32200, Pakistan
T. Ruby (&)
N. Naz
Department of Life Sciences, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur,
Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan
e-mail: [email protected]
M. Rafay
Department of Forestry, Range and Wildlife Management, The Islamia University
of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 85

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_5
86 A.A. Khan et al.

consumption threatens the world’s ecosystem, as well as straining humanity’s

ability to feed itself (BBC News 2007). The Inter Academy Panel Statement on
Population Growth, which was ratified by 58 member national academies in 1994,
called the growth in human numbers “unprecedented”, and stated that many
environmental problems, such as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide,
global warming, and pollution, were aggravated by the population expansion.
Indeed, some analysts claim that overpopulation’s most serious impact is its effect
on the environment (UN 2013).

5.2 Indian Sub-continent

There are about 1.7 billion people inhabited in the Indian sub-continent.
Geographically, the Indian subcontinent is a peninsular region in south-central
Asia, delineated by the Himalayas in north, the Hindu Kush in west, and the
Arakanese in east, and extending southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian
Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast. Most of this region
rests on the Indian Plate and is isolated from the rest of Asia by mountain barriers.
The Indian Plate includes most of South Asia, forming a land mass which extends
from the Himalayas into a portion of basin under the Indian Ocean, including parts
of South China and Eastern Indonesia, as well as Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges,
and extending up to but not including Ladakh, Kohistan, the Hindu Kush range and
Balochistan. Using a more expansive definition—counting India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives as the constituent countries—
the Indian subcontinent covers about 4.4 million km2, which is 10% of the Asian
continent or 3.3% of the world’s land surface area. Overall, it accounts for about
45% of Asia’s population (or over 25% of the world’s population) and is home to a
vast array of peoples (Encyclopedia 2006, 2009).

5.3 Deserts in Indian Sub-continent

Deserts are characterised by the moisture content of the air, which is near zero in
most of the deserts, with light rains often evaporated in the dry air before reaching
the ground. Rainstorms sometimes come as violent cloudbursts and that may bring
as much as 25 cm (10 in.) of rain in a single hour which is the only rain, the desert
gets all year (Arshad and Akbar 2002; Akhter and Arshad 2006). The ground heats
the air so much that air raises in waves and these shimmering waves confuse the
eye, causing travelers to see distorted images called mirages. In some deserts,
temperatures rise so high that people are at risk of dehydration and even death. At
night, these areas cool quickly because they lack the insulation provided by
humidity and clouds. Temperatures can drop to 4 °C or lower (Akhter and Arshad
2006).
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 87

Many deserts have no drainage to a river, lake, or ocean. Rainwater, including

water from flash floods, collects in large depressions called basins. The shallow lakes
that form in basins eventually evaporate, leaving playas, or salt-surfaced lake beds.
Playas, also called sinks, pans, or salt flats, can be hundreds of kilometers wide. Rain
is usually the main source of water in a desert, but it falls very rarely. Many desert
dwellers rely on groundwater, stored in aquifers below the surface. Groundwater
comes from rain or other precipitation, like snow or hail. It seeps into the ground,
where it can remain for thousands of years (Wariss et al. 2013; Akram et al. 1997).

5.3.1 Thar

The Thar desert spans an area of approximately 200,000 km2 and covers large area
of both Pakistan and India. It is the seventh largest desert on planet and third largest
in Asia. The Thar district is mostly desert and consist of barren tracts of sand dunes
covered with thorny bushes (Fig. 5.1). The ridges are irregular and roughly parallel,
that they often enclosed sheltered valleys, above which they rise to a height of up to
46 m. These valleys are moist enough to permit cultivation and when not cultivated
they yield luxuriant crops of rank grass (Fig. 5.2). But the extraordinary salinity of

Fig. 5.1 Deserts as symbol

of life in Thar

Fig. 5.2 Desert as productive

rangeland
88 A.A. Khan et al.

the subsoil and consequent shortage of potable water, renders many tracts quite
uninhabitable (Bakliwal and Wadhawan 2003).
The rain is the main source of water in Tharparkar arid region in Sindh Province,
Pakistan. It is very erratic and the annual rainfall varies from 0 to 300 mm. Rainfall
in the Thar desert is low—typically between 120 and 240 mm per year—and
summer temperatures in July can reach 53 °C (Singhvi and Kar 2004). December,
January and February are the coldest months (Cooke et al. 1993). All life activities
including agriculture and livestock are dependent on rainfall. The failure of mon-
soon would mean no agricultural crop and no fodder for the livestock. The main
crops of Thar are bajra and guwar. In good rainy years, the lentils, melons and
sesame are also grown as mixed crop with the main crop of bajra and guwar. The
only hills in the district are at Nagarparkar on the northern edge of the Rann of
Kutch which belongs to quite a different geological series. It consists of granite
rocks, probably an outlying mass of the crystalline rocks of the Aravalli range. The
Aravalli series belongs to Archaen system which constitutes the oldest rocks of the
earth crust (Sharma and Kankane 2012).

5.3.1.1 Flora and Fauna

Hydrologically the Thar desert is divided into three main parts viz. humid region,
plain lands and integrated stream network (Raman 1997). Approximately 42 fam-
ilies belonged to 82 genera and 125 species of flora were documented in the region.
Similarly, 68 species of class Mammalia, 350 species of Aves, 51 species of
Reptiles and 08 species of Amphibians were recorded (Sharma and Kankane 2012).

5.3.2 Kharan

The Kharan Desert is located in Northeast of Balochistan. The desert is in the center
of a large empty basin also called the ‘Sandy Desert’. It covers an area of about
48,051 km2 and covered with sand dunes, scrub vegetation and weathered rocks
(Roberts 2005). The desert consists of moving sand dunes reaching heights from 15
to 30 m with an underlay of pebble floor. The altitude of this desert moves from
about 1000 m in the north to approximately 250 m in the southwest. The average
rainfall is about 100 mm annually.
The Desert is characterized by very low rainfall, high summer temperature, high
velocity winds, poor soils, very sparse vegetation and a low diversity of plant
species. The organisms tolerate temperatures as high as 51 °C in summer while
winter is generally mild, however, temperature occasionally goes down as low as
−10 °C at certain locations (Raziq 2009; IUCN ).
The largest dry lake of Balochistan is located in this desert called Hamun-i-
Mashkel. The 85 km long and 35 km wide area of this lake is filled with sun
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 89

cracked clay, salthy marshes, moving sand dunes and oxidized pebbles. This part is
known for its sudden sand storms and constant mirage (Hagler 2009; IUCN 2000).

5.3.2.1 Flora and Fauna (Kharan Desert)

On the basis of phyto-geography and topographical features, the desert can be

distinguished into four habitat types, i.e. mountain/hills, gravel plains, sandy plains
and seasonal stream beds. A total of 26 plant species, belonging to 12 families were
recorded from the desert (Nawaz et al. 2011). Among faunal diversity, rodents are
the most abundant group of mammals along with fox and jackals (Baig et al. 2006).
Approximately, sixty species of Herpatile were reported from the area (Khan 1999).

5.3.3 Cholistan

Cholistan desert, locally known as Rohi sprawls covers an area of 16,000 km2. It
adjoins the Thar Desert extending over to Sindh and into India. The dry bed of
Hakra River runs through the area, along which many settlements of the Indus
Valley Civilisation have been found which is one of the oldest civilizations of the
Aryan settlers in the Indian subcontinent. The Cholistan desert extends over an area
of 26,000 km2, in the southern part of the Punjab, Pakistan (Wariss et al. 2013).
On the basis of topography i.e., parent material, soil and vegetation, it is divided
into two geomorphic regions. The northern region (Lesser Cholistan, Fig. 5.3)
bordering the canal-irrigated areas cover about 7770 km2 while the southern region
(Greater Cholistan) a wind sorted sandy part comprises 18,130 km2. Vegetation
cover is comparatively better in eastern region (200 mm rainfall zone) than the
hyper arid southern region (100 mm rainfall zone). The soil topography and
chemical composition is playing an important role in plant distribution in the area.
The association of certain plant species to certain soils at different places is very
common (Wariss et al. 2013; Rafay et al. 2013).

Fig. 5.3 Sandy plains

representing moisture
conditioning thereby
encouring vegetation growth
90 A.A. Khan et al.

5.3.3.1 Flora and Fauna

Four types of habitat viz., sand dunes, sandy plains, compact soils with gravels and
saline areas are mainly found in the region (Hameed et al. 2002). Regarding floral
species, a total of 38 families, 106 genera and 154 species were documented from
the whole desert. Among Dicots, 33 families with 79 genera and 115 species are
dominated, while monocots include 4 families having 26 genera and 38 species
(Wariss et al. 2013). The lesser part is comparatively more diverse dominated by
several species of shrubs and perennial grasses while Greater part has poor diversity
with sparse vegetation (Akhter and Arshad 2006). Among vertebrate fauna
approximately 14 species of class Mammalia, 19 species of Aves and 10 species of
Amphibian and Reptiles were reported (Chaudhary et al. 2004).

5.3.4 Thal

The Thal desert is located in northeastern Pakistan between the Indus and Jhelum
rivers near the Pothohar Plateau. Its total length from north to south is 190 miles
with maximum breadth 70 and minimum 20 miles. The climatic conditions are
tropical and has sporadic annual rainfall of 250 mm. Strong gusty winds cause sand
storms in summer. Temperatures soar high with summer temperatures going up to
50 °C (Chaudhary et al. 2013).
This region is divided into six districts viz. Bhakkar, Khushab, Mianwali,
Jhang, Layyah, and Muzaffargarh. Geographically, it resembles the deserts
of Cholistan and Thar. Main towns of Thal are Murshid Abad Shareef, Roda
Thai, Mankera, Hyderabad Thai, Dullewala, Mehmood Shaheed, Shah Wala, Shahi
Shumali, Piplan, Kundian, Kot Aazam, Sarai Muhajir, Jiasal, Rangpur, Adhi Kot,
Jandanaala, Mari Shah Sakhira, Noorpur Thai, Kapahi, Goharwala (Shaheen et al.
2014).

5.3.4.1 Flora and Fauna

The floristic diversity of Thal desert include a total of 38 families with 116 genera
and 248 species (Shaheen et al. 2014). The most dominating family was Poaceae,
contributed 52 species to the total desert flora including some economically
important grass species (Chaudhary et al. 2013). The avian diversity of this desert
comprises 55 species and 42 genera belonging to 28 families (Mahboob et al.
2013). The Punjab urial and chinkara are a key wildlife species of the area.
Blackbucks were also seen in limited numbers. Four major species viz. one horned
rhinoceros, Asiatic cheetah, wild ass, lion, swamp deer and tiger were also
observed. Seventeen species of reptiles belonged to thirteen genera were recorded
(Khan et al. 1972).
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 91

5.3.5 Indus Valley Plains

The Indus Valley Desert is a desert eco-region of northern Pakistan. It covers an

area of 19,500 km2 in northwestern Punjab Province, lying between the Chenab
and Indus rivers. The Indus Valley Desert is drier and less hospitable than the
Northwestern thorn scrub forests that surround it with temperatures ranging from
freezing in winter to extremely hot (more than 45 °C) in summer with only 600–
800 mm of rainfall per year. Annual rainfall averages from 640 to 760 mm, slightly
more than the Thar Desert.
The mountainous region of valley receives precipitation largely in the form of
snow. A large amount of the Indus’ water is provided by melting snows and
glaciers of the Karakoram, Hindu Kush, and Himalayan mountains. The monsoon
rains (July to September) provide the rest of the flow (Fig. 5.4). The climate of the
Indus valley ranges from that of the dry semidesert areas of Sindh and lower Punjab
to the severe high mountain climate of Kohistān, Hunza, Gilgit, Ladākh, and
western Tibet (Sinha 2000).

5.3.5.1 Flora and Fauna

The vegetation is greatly influenced by extreme climatic regime. The desert thorn
scrub vegetation is characterized by isolated clumps of Prosopis spp., Salvadora
oleoides and Caparis spp., and taller thorn-scrub forests of Acacia spp., Tamarix
spp., Albizzia lebbek, and Morus alba. This desert ecoregion is not high in rich-
ness or endemism, but it does harbor a few large vertebrates that can serve as focal
species for conservation. The fauna include wolf Canis lupus, hyena Hyaena
hyaena, caracal Felis caracal, leopard Panthera pardus, and Punjab urial Ovis
orientalis punjabensis. The overall mammal fauna consists of thirty-two species,
but none are endemic to this eco-region.

Fig. 5.4 A view of vibrant

desert profile after monsoon
showing clumps of
dominating grasses and
shrubs
92 A.A. Khan et al.

5.4 Functions of Desert

Deserts are important unit of nature and their existence is necessary for mankind
and other species. Degradation and deterioration towards deserts threatens quality
of life, modern economy and global imbalance in ecosystem. Despite their barren
appearance, deserts are teemed with unique and beautiful flora, peculiar fauna
which play critical role in healthy functioning of ecosystem, providing goods and
services to human life, supporting human economy, supporting life quality and
aesthetic lure to human beings.
Deserts are valuable assets as being one of nature’s best avenues from the
landscape point of view that may include moving sand-dunes, towering bare peaks,
plateau-topped rock formations, and smoothly polished ravines. They provide a
deep insight into understanding of some ecological phenomenon undergoing in
deserts. Local modification of climate and soil around shrubs create and maintain
biologically distinct micro-ecosystems. Deserts contribute to national security. The
military often uses deserts to test missiles, new airplanes and for training of soldiers.
They are the source of outdoor recreation, renewable energy, clean air, water and
site station for research.

5.4.1 Deserts Affect Non-desert Climate

It is rather paradoxical that while anthropogenic warming of the global atmosphere

already warms and dries deserts, deserts habitually cool the adjacent global
atmosphere—a state that is also projected to further intensify, due to global
warming. This is due to the desert albedo (the direct reflection of solar radiation by
the earth’s surface back to outer space). In contrast to the intuition that views the
long hours of intense solar radiation reaching the bright desert surface through the
dry atmosphere as a cause of enhanced warming, the actual effect of deserts is that
of cooling the global atmosphere (Charney 2006). The typical desert albedo is 20–
35 per cent of solar radiation reflected back to space, much higher than the 15% of
the savannah and the 5% of the rain forest (Verstraete and Pinty 2000).
Global warming is projected to increase desert albedo, through reducing desert
vegetation cover, which will further amplify the effect of cooling the non-desert
atmosphere and drying adjacent non-desert drylands. The same logic applies also in
the opposite direction. “Greening the desert” by restricting grazing or by irrigation
would reduce the albedo of the Sahara desert and enhance precipitation over the
Sahel; it will also decrease the cooling effect of the desert on the global temperature,
thus contributing to anthropogenic global warming (Noble and Gitay 1998).
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 93

5.4.2 Role of Deserts to Mitigate Future Global Warming

if Deserts Are Not So Much Dry

If some desert regions do become significantly moist under global warming, they
have the potential to function as a globally significant sink that could tangibly
mitigate global warming (Lioubimtseva and Jonathan 2004). On the other hand,
those deserts that become drier, with their vegetation only weakly responding to
CO2 enrichment, will not become a significant sink. These deserts are also not
likely to act as a significant source driven by land degradation, because the turnover
rate of the large desert sink of inorganic soil carbon is too slow to generate sig-
nificant CO2 emissions. Also, although the turnover of soil organic carbon is fast
and land degradation in deserts might increase CO2 emissions (as the carbon in
eroded soil is oxidized), the pool of soil organic carbon that might be affected by
land degradation is too small to make this a significant contribution to global
atmospheric CO2. Between-ecosystem comparison, the scenario of further desert
warming and reduced precipitation, the ratio of soil organic carbon to soil inorganic
carbon in deserts will be reduced. Soils of deserts sequester carbon in inorganic and
organic compounds. It is the organic carbon that is most readily sequestered—
rainfall allowing—with rates of accumulation of 5–10 g cm−2 year−1 under
best-practice rain-fed farming in arid-semiarid regions (Lal 2002).

5.5 Management of Deserts

5.5.1 Management of Surface and Groundwater Resources

in Cholistan Desert of Pakistan for Drinking
and Farm Production

The main sources of water in Cholistan desert are rain and groundwater. The
rainwater is collected in tobas (ponds) and Kunds for drinking and domestic use for
a maximum of 3–4 months. The ground water is obtained through dug wells and
tubewells. Therefore, people are used to migrate towards canal irrigated areas
alongwith their livestock till next rainy season when water from small ponds is
exhausted (Akram et al. 1997).

5.5.2 Range Management as a Discipline in Desert

The principles of range management cover the entire spectrum of Range Science
i.e. philosophy, site physiology, soil science, biology of range plants and livestock
(Qureshi et al. 1993). They include:
94 A.A. Khan et al.

• Principles related to Man

• Principles related to Range site
• Principles related to Range vegetation
• Principles related to Range livestock.
Objectives of Range management include:
Ancestral profession, sacred, memorial, way of life, status symbol, recreation,
sanctuary, landscaping, soil and water conservation, research, demonstration,
political motives and commercial enterprise.

5.5.3 Thal Desert Range Area Management

It includes planned grazing, deffered rotational, close use with long rest period,
grazing interval not less than half month, two years protection to reseeded area,
providing limited irrigation on selected favourable sites where possible, reseeding
in favourable sites, hay-making on reseeded areas and on irrigated areas, planting of
fodder trees on selected sites, stock water development and digging of shallow
wells (Qureshi et al. 1993).

5.5.4 Thar Desert Range Area Management

It includes grazing according to carrying capacity, mixing sand in clayey flat by

their ploughing across summer winds, provide limited irrigation in selected
favourable sites, planting of fodder trees, stock water development: shallow wells,
ponds, ponds with adjacent wells, windmills etc. (Qureshi et al. 1993; Rafay 2012).

5.5.5 Cholistan Desert Range Area Management

It includes grazing at suitable stocking rate, artificial reseeding of grasses on

selected favourable sites, hay-making, cropland for fodder production, forest lands
to be opened for grazing, planting of fodder trees, water conservation on selected
favourable sites and stock water development (Qureshi et al. 1993).
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 95

Fig. 5.5 An overview of

nomadic life in desert

5.5.6 Dry Land Environmental Management of Balochistan

Deserts ‘Kharan and Chagai’

The major issues of the district are: loss of vegetative covers in the watersheds and
rangelands due to overgrazing, and use of wood for fuel by the local and nomadic
population (Fig. 5.5) is the major concern of this area (IUCN 2000). Soil loss and
reduction in fertility due to wind and water erosion and limited water availability
and its poor quality for domestic, agricultural and other requirements also effect the
economy of this area.
Few general management approaches include: sustainable land use planning and
management practices by village and pastoral communities and development of
national and regional policies.
The specific recommendations include: establishing the impacts of climate
variability and change on the fragile economy of dryland households and farming
systems, establishing pilot areas to help conduct case studies for identifying the
typology of primary measures undertaken at household and community level to
adapt to variable and changing climate, working with selected households and
partners to evaluate the potential for rainwater harvesting and conservation tech-
nologies as an adaptive measure to water scarcity, demonstrating and characterizing
effective rainwater harvesting methods for crops and pastures.

5.6 Desertification Control for Sustainable Land Use

Desertification, a process of gradual land degradation afflicting many arid,

semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas around the world, can lead to environmental
deterioration, natural resources depletion, agricultural losses or food shortages and
substantial hardships for affected populations (Hare 1977). Deserts all over the
world are known to be increasing at the expense of agricultural land and this is most
96 A.A. Khan et al.

severe in arid and semi-arid regions. The desertification leads to agricultural pro-
ductivity losses and increases poverty. It also causes significant reductions in car-
bon storage in soils, contributing to global warming, and loss of biodiversity. It
triggers soil erosion because of the loss of vegetative ground cover exacerbating
water erosion and flash floods, accelerating siltation of rivers and reservoirs (Kassas
1977).
In developing world, the key driving force behind desertification is a nexus of
poverty, rapid population growth, and inadequate progress in increasing agricultural
productivity. With slow agricultural and economic growth, the pressure on natural
resources in dryland areas seems destined to worsen. Given either no or low and
erratic rainfall, the scope for absorbing all these additional workers in agriculture
whilst maintaining or increasing per capita incomes and food supplies will be
difficult in years to come and is going to be a dream to be realized (Rozanov 1981).
A profound change in local and international behaviour should be made to address
the livelihood needs of dryland populations and reversal of desertification process
on war footings through short term goals and long term initiatives with a political
will and commitment.

5.6.1 Range Livestock Improvement

It includes few expensive operations which increase the system potential and help
overcome any unexpected catastrophe e.g. improve quality of herd by artificial
insemination, importing better quality animals, arrangements of emergency feed
during periods of femines, use of supplementary feed to accelerate the growth rate
of animals, arranging necessary veterinary aid for protection against epidemics and
arranging transport of animals out of the drought stricken range to market for quick
disposal.

5.6.2 Range Vegetation (Vegetation Is a Basic Resource

Which Supports Livestock) Improvement

It includes protection of vegetation against grazing, browsing, cutting lopping etc.

is done by erecting fences, constructing stone walls, establishing live hedges and
support of law enforcing authorities. Selection of suitable livestock species by
keeping in mind the grazing behavior, present and desired vegetation composition,
slope of the area, type of soil, climate and market etc. Suitable grazing seasons are
determined by keeping in view the growth cycles of major range forage species and
avoiding grazing during extreme climate conditions. Seasons of grazing with
5 Desert Ecosystem Management: A Sustainable and Wise Use 97

frequency and intensity of grazing can thus be manipulated to maintain a desired

floristic composition of range vegetation. Season of grazing has strong influence on
nutritive value, palatability and digestibility of forage species (Qureshi et al. 1993).
In addition artificial reseeding of local high yielding and palatable grasses for
summer and winter, artificial reseeding of legumes, water spreading, water con-
servation and fertilization of extensive range areas. Intensive forage production with
irrigation and fertilization in a restricted cultivated area is promoted. Breeding
techniques are introduced to develop new forage crop varieties.

5.6.3 Pastoralism

Along with range resources, the agricultural farms also utilized by livestock but the
importance of crops varies according to the status of small owner-pastoralists. After
the monsoon, when sufficient forage is available, the livestock move to desert
rangelands for grazing (Akhter and Arshad 2006). Their livestock comprising
mainly buffaloes, cattle, some sheep and goats restricted to the irrigated fields where
feed resources comprise a variable proportion of crop residues, fodders and
peri-irrigation grazing areas. The seasonal movement of livestock and people to the
desert and subsequently again towards irrigated margins was frequently observed
phenomenon. With the onset of monsoons in July/August when the tobas
(Fig. 5.6) are filled with water, the nomads start moving towards desert. The ani-
mals move with the transhumant livestock from one toba to the next and subse-
quently to the wells and/or kunds. However, they remain at the wells or kunds when
the transhumant livestock retreat to the irrigated margins.

Fig. 5.6 Post-monsoon

desert water reservoir, locally
called Toba
98 A.A. Khan et al.

5.7 Concluding Remarks

Key deserts explored in Indian sub-continent performs several ecological functions

and play an important role to support livelihoods of millions of its inhabitants.
Deserts are fragile ecosystems that are vulnerable to climate change. Any change in
climate will be further detrimental to the vast biodiversity of deserts. Therefore,
there is need to implement ecosystem based management to protect desert biodi-
versity and other natural resources. This can be achieved by sustainable use of
deserts for human activities by implementing strategies to harvest and use water
more efficiently, sustainable crop production, grazing for livestock and integrated
desert ecosystem management.

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Chapter 6
Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value
and Management

Madhu Verma, Rohit Singh and Dhaval Negandhi

6.1 The Status of Forests in the South Asia

South Asia is a land of diversity. A 4.7 million square kilometer strong region with
a GPD of $2.35 trillion and a population count of 1.7 billion individuals in 2013
(World Bank 2014), South Asia is a region not to be missed in any ways. A few
kilometers of travelling might change everything from culture to languages to
economics to ecology. Probably this is the reason why South Asian countries attract
so many tourists, over 10 million international tourists in 2012 (World Bank 2014),
from round the globe that come to explore the variations. Another notable feature
about the countries of this region is rapid social and economic change. The dilemma
between conservation and/or development is arguably more pronounced here that in
most parts of the globe. In the world where the already developed nations are
pushing for conservation, this developing region is struggling to meet out its
development imperatives. Development having its own implications on the ecol-
ogy, the more these countries develop, the more likelihood of negative impacts it
would have on the ecology of the region.
South Asia covers about 10 per cent land area of the Asian continent but
accounts for more than 40 per cent of its population. The figure suggests the extent
of population pressure per unit area and scarcity of resources among the population.
Agriculture is the major land use i.e., 2.6 million square kilometers (World Bank
2014) in this region and accounts for more than half of the total land use. Climatic
differences, dependency on rain for irrigation and degrading soil conditions are
among the major limiting factors to the agricultural productivity. Uneven and
erratic rainfall patterns in recent past have further exacerbated the problem. Forests

M. Verma (&)
R. Singh
D. Negandhi

Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 101

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_6
102 M. Verma et al.

Fig. 6.1 Land use of South Asia. Source Modified FAO (2012)

Table 6.1 Main forest types in South Asia

Country/Type of forests Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan Maldives Sri Lanka

Tropical wet evergreen forests

Tropical semi evergreen forests
Tropical moist deciduous forests
Tropical dry deciduous forests
Tropical thorn forest
Littoral and Swamp forests
Subtropical broadleaved hill forests
Subtropical pine forests
Subtropical dry evergreen forests
Montane wet temperate forests
Himalayan moist temperate forests
Himalayan dry temperate forests
Alpine and Subalpine forests

Source Various APFSOS II country papers

occupying 0.8 million square kilometers (FAO 2012) accounts for 19 per cent of
the land use in South Asia, next only to agriculture. The land use pattern of the
region is broadly depicted in Fig. 6.1.
The forests of South Asia are no different to variations. The diversity among
forests can be judged from the fact that nearly all major types of forests can be
found in this region (Table 6.1).
Forests in this region not only have ecological significance, but also critical
socio-economic functions. They provide various economic goods and resources in
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 103

Fig. 6.2 Forest cover in South Asia 2005. Source FAO (2012)

Table 6.2 Extent of Forest in South Asia in 2010

Country Forest area Forest area (% of Forest area (hectare)
(’000 hectare) geographical area) per 1000 persons
Bangladesh 1442 11 9
Bhutan 3249 69 4750
India 68,434 23 58
Maldives 1 3 3
Nepal 3636 25 126
Pakistan 1687 2 10
Sri Lanka 1860 29 93
South Asia 80,309 19 51
Source FAO (2012)

addition to ensuring flow of intangible benefits through ecosystem services such as

timber, fuel and fiber, clean air, climate control, water purification, and carbon
sequestration among several others. The forests are also livelihood sources for a
large number of communities that depend upon them. Considering the high
socioeconomic dependence of people in this region, there has been considerable
decentralization in the management of forests in South Asia, albeit, significant
national variations do exist. The map shows the forest cover in South Asia
(Fig. 6.2).
104 M. Verma et al.

Table 6.3 Changes in forest area over time

Country/Region 1990–2000 2000–2005 2005–2010
ha (’000)/year % ha (’000)/year % ha (’000)/year %
Bangladesh −3 −0.18 −3 −0.18 −3 −0.18
Bhutan 11 0.34 11 0.34 11 0.34
India 145 0.22 464 0.70 145 0.21
Maldives 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Nepal −92 −2.09 −53 −1.39 0 0.0
Pakistan −41 −1.76 −43 −2.11 −43 −2.37
Sri Lanka −27 −1.20 30 −1.47 −15 −0.77
South Asia −7 −0.01 347 0.44 96 0.12
Source FAO (2012)

Table 6.4 Growing stock volume (million m3 over bark) and growing stock in (m3)
Country Growing stock in forests per ha Per ha growing stock
1990 2000 2005 in 2010 (m3)
Bangladesh 72 71 70 48
Bhutan 535 592 650 200
India 4363 4662 5489 80
Nepal 856 694 647 178
Pakistan 261 211 160 95
Sri Lanka 57 47 39 21
Source FAO (2012)

India, being the largest nation on land area, accounts for more than 85% of the
total forests of South Asia. However, when it comes to the total percentage of
geographical area under forests, India stands forth behind Bhutan, Sri Lanka and
Nepal (Table 6.2). In terms of highest per capita forest in South Asia, Bhutan has
close to 5 ha of forest per capita as compared to Maldives which has about 3 ha of
forest per 1000 persons. Table 6.3 shows the changes in the forest area over the
years. This is an interesting gradient as it reflects how the countries have fared over
the dilemma of conservation versus development in the region.
But, the change in the forest area is not the only parameter to judge the efforts of
the countries on conservation. The lack of good management practices, increasing
human pressure from fuel wood collection and grazing added up by fires, pests and
diseases may result in degradation of the quality of forests. The change in growing
stock in these countries over time can be seen in Table 6.4. On the ownership of
forest lands, it can be seen that the majority share of the forests in this region is
owned by the Government (Fig. 6.3). India which has the majority of land under
forest in South Asia has 86 per cent forests owned by the Government.
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 105

Fig. 6.3 Ownership of forests in South Asia. Source FAO (2012)

6.2 Important Functions (Services) of Forests

Forests are critical resources of a country in terms of their social, environmental and
economical benefits (Table 6.5). They not only provide a variety of goods such as
fuel wood, timber, pulpwood, fodder, non-wood forest produce and act as basic
sources of raw materials for industries and other commercial activities but also
provide an array of ecosystem services which are pre-requisite for ensuring human
well-being (and the sustenance of other life forms) on this planet (Fig. 6.4). The
benefits of these ecosystem services such as provisioning of clean air, recharge of
groundwater and its purification, carbon sequestration and many more are not
limited to the area under forest cover but often extend well beyond. Depending on
the ecosystem service, the service shed of these services may be regional, national
or even global.
Following the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment framework (MEA 2005), the
ecosystem services from forests may be categorized into the following types:

6.2.1 Provisioning Services

Forests of South Asia bear a lot of products which are mostly harvested by the
forest communities as part of their livelihood activities (see case study of man-
groves: a livelihood option for the coastal communities of Bangladesh in Sect. 6.3).
The food products include fruits and vegetables found inside the forests. The col-
lection of non-wood forest produce is a practice which includes products such as
honey and silk. Collection of fuel wood is a common practice, which is used for
cooking and other purposes by the households dependent on the forests. Other than
these, South Asia’s biodiversity richness means that a lot of medicinal plants exits
in the forests which are used as biochemical, pharmaceuticals and natural medicines
(see case study on bioprospecting and conservation of genetic resources in
 106

Table 6.5 State of world’s forest (FAO 2012)

Country/Area Employment Gross Value Added Food Security Energy Shelter
Total for the formal Total for the formal Number of people using Primary energy People in homes made
and informal sector and informal sector wood fuel to cook supply from wood partly from forest
products
South Asia (’000) (% of total (US$ (% of total (million) (% of total (MTOE) (% of (million) (% of total
labour force) million) GDP) population) TPES) population
Bangldesh 734 1 2011 1.7 59 39 7 23 0.3 0.2
Bhutan 318 85 273 15.6 0.2 36 1 92 0.1 15
India 4751 1 36,511 2.0 625 50 96 13 191 15
Maldives – – – – 0.04 14 0 1 0.1 45
Nepal 125 1 212 1.2 19 64 3 31 8 25
Pakistan 380 0.6 1560 0.8 101 57 12 14 59 33
Sri Lanka 47 0.5 1298 2.2 14 69 1 13 – –
6355 1 41,864 1.9 820 51 121 14 259 16
M. Verma et al.
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 107

Fig. 6.4 Ecosystem services and the constituents of human well-being. Source MEA (2005)

Sect. 6.3). Forests are also responsible for water provisioning services where they
act as watersheds. Another service provided by forest is the water purification
which is crucial for the people living in vicinity and using streams originating from
forests for drinking water.

6.2.2 Regulating Services

Forests ensure flow of a range of intangible regulating services. They help main-
taining the air quality by allowing deposition of affluents from the air. The regu-
lations on industrial emissions are less stringent in this region and forests play a
major role in maintaining a healthy breathing environment for the people saving
them from respiratory and other disorders. Forests also help in the regulation of a
number of diseases in the human population by controlling the abundance of dis-
ease vectors and human pathogens. Besides these, forests play a vital role in climate
regulation by sequestering carbon. Water regulation is an important aspect looking
at the demographics of the region. Forests mitigate flooding in downstream
inhabited areas (see case study of Uttarakhand disaster in Sect. 6.3). Within South
Asia, Bangladesh is the major sufferer of floods followed by India and Pakistan. The
forests in these countries have however helped in abating the magnitude of these
108 M. Verma et al.

natural disasters. In the absence of regulating functions of forest, floods are likely to
wash over these areas and severely impact not only agriculture and soil quality but
also human lives in case of unfortunate disasters. Most of the people dependent on
forest do not use any commercial products for water purification. The streams
flowing with fresh water are sources of drinking water, thus the water purification
done by forests is highly critical to the human health in the region. Pollination, gene
pool protection and biological control are other ecosystem services that have high
relevance in the region (see case studies on farmer’s willingness to pay for rice
landraces in Nepal and economics of biodiversity conservation in coffee growing
region of India in Sect. 6.3). Another important feature of forests is the protection of
mainland from the high impacts of cyclones, tsunami and other catastrophic events.
The coastal ecosystem like mangroves and coral reefs are responsible for dramat-
ically reducing the severity of such events. In contrast, the high-altitude forests are
responsible for the prevention of landslides in the valleys of the mountainous areas
in the region. The negative impacts of deforestation in such high-altitude areas can
be much more pronounced and severe than in other parts of the region, indicating
the role of forests in such areas of high ecological and socioeconomic vulnerability.

6.2.3 Cultural Services

South Asia is bestowed with rich cultural heritage and forests are an intricate part of
the culture in the region. Be it the spiritual aspect, recreation, heritage or the
aesthetic values people derive from it, a range of cultural services emanate from
forests in South Asia (see case study of relationship between environmental status
and gross national happiness index in Bhutan in Sect. 6.3). Sacred groves and
sacred hills are a notable feature of this region. The religious institutions inside the
forest areas have high spiritual values to not only the people of forest community
but for people throughout a country or the region and hence such places attract high
pilgrimage throughout the year. Some of such institution are centuries old which
also have high heritage values (see case study on biodiversity values, status and
strategies for the conservation of sacred groves in Indian in Sect. 6.3).
Recreation is another ecosystem service that forests provide. People are now
willing to spend more on the leisure activities in such forest areas (see case study of
Sukkomajri—a case of forest and watershed protection in India in Sect. 6.3).
Considering biodiversity richness in terms of both flora and fauna, tourism in
predominantly forest areas is thriving in the region. For example, to get a glimpse of
tigers of India and Bangladesh, the tourist are attracted not just from South Asia but
from across the globe. Forest also offers opportunities to preserve and use
indigenous knowledge that has been an important part of the communities inside
the forest areas and in vicinity. The importance of indigenous knowledge for
medicinal plants, adaptation to climate change, biomimicry and other fields is being
increasingly recognized by the modern day science.
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 109

6.2.4 Supporting Services

Apart from provisioning, regulating and cultural services, forests ensure basic
functions such as soil formation, nutrient cycling and primary production that are
fundamental for the flow of other ecosystem services. The production of atmo-
spheric oxygen, nutrient composition of the soil, provisioning of habitats are some
of the vital ecosystem services from forests that support humankind as well as other
life forms on this planet.

6.3 Influential Cases of Ecosystem Services and Human

Wellbeing Linkage

6.3.1 Uttarakhand Disaster

Uttarakhand Disaster is an example of how conversion/diversion of mountain

ecosystem can lead to the extreme and catastrophic events. The rapid expansion of
hydro-power projects, ever increasing tourism, mainly religious, which has pro-
moted the expansion of road network and establishment of unplanned hotels, shops
and multistory housings in ecologically sensitive zones are primarily the human
activities which propelled the magnitude of disaster. About 5000 people died in
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India due to floods in 2013. Ministry of
Environment later issued a statement that the National Ganga River Basin Authority
had notified 130 km stretch from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi as an ecosensitive zone on
December 18, 2012. The notification, thus, prohibited activities such as setting up
of hydroelectric power plants of more than 25 MW, extraction of river water for
new industrial purposes, mining except for domestic needs, stone quarrying,
deforestation, burning of solid waste.

6.3.2 Bioprospecting and the Conservation of Genetic

Resources

Bioprospecting has been touted as a source of finance for biodiversity conservation

(Rausser and Small 2000). The bioprospecting value of the “marginal unit” of
genetic resources is likely to be vanishingly small, creating essentially no conser-
vation incentive. Scientific models channel research effort toward leads for which
the expected productivity of discoveries is highest. Leads of unusual promise then
command information rents, associated with their role in reducing the costs of
search. When genetic materials are abundant, information rents are virtually
unaffected by increases in the profitability of product discovery and decline as
technology improvements lower search costs. Under plausible conditions, the
110 M. Verma et al.

Table 6.6 Bioprospecting values in several ecosystems in south Asia as a function of density of
endemic species (Rausser and Small 2000)
Biodiversity Forest area Density, Hit Incremental Simpson et al.
“Hot Spots” (1000 ha) endemic probability value ($/ha) scarcity rent
species/1000 ha (/1000 ha) ($/ha)
Southwestern Sri Lanka 70 7.14 8.57E^04 7463 16.84
Western Ghats of India 800 2.03 2.44E^05 2026 4.77
Eastern Himalayas 5300 0.42 5.04E^06 332 0.98

bioprospecting value of certain genetic resources could be large enough to support

market‐based conservation of biodiversity (Rausser and Small 2000). Table 6.6
summarises bioprospecting values in several ecosystems in south Asia.

6.3.3 Household Characteristics and Forest Dependency

in Nepal

In resource dependent rural areas of developing countries, common property

resource management has been considered as one of the most viable options for
combining poverty reduction, enhancement of local level economic development
and biodiversity conservation (Adhikari and Lovett 2004). The collection and
extraction activities in common forests (forests that are used by local communities
living in or in vicinity of the forests for their sustenance) are correlated with
household socio-economic attributes. But equity of resource distribution is
important parameter for the overall development. Households belonging to higher
caste derive more resources than the lower caste. Appropriate cost-benefit sharing
arrangements, together with empowerment of resource users, technical assistance to
develop and strengthen local organizational capacities, and support equitable and
sustainable management efforts are examples of other essential elements (Adhikari
and Lovett 2004). Empowerment of resource users refers to mechanisms that allow
direct involvement of vulnerable and marginalized groups in common forests
activities in terms of representation of these groups in the decision making authority
as well as representation of their interest in forest management regimes.

6.3.4 The Economics of Biodiversity Conservation in Coffee

Growing Region of India

In the context of a tropical ecosystem in India, where coffee is the one of the main
competitors for land use, the opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation in terms
of coffee benefits foregone can be quite high (Ninan and Sathyapalan 2003). In a
study conducted in a coffee growing region of India, it was found that even after
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 111

including external costs due to wildlife damages and defensive expenditures to

protect against wildlife, the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return from
coffee for all land holding groups were quite high (Ninan and Sathyapalan 2003).
The external costs accounted for between 7 and 15% of the total discounted costs of
coffee cultivation, and smaller holdings proportionately incurred higher external
costs as compared to larger holdings. High transaction costs incurred by the
growers to claim compensation for wildlife damages and thus the local commu-
nities were also willing to pay in terms of time for participatory biodiversity con-
servation but preferred a decentralized government institution for the purpose.

6.3.5 Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Rice Landraces

Conservation in Nepal

Crop genetic resources constitute an important aspect of biodiversity conservation,

both because of their direct value to the farmers and due to their indirect global
value. Contingent valuation has been used to document the economic value of crop
genetic resources based on the farmers’ willingness to pay for conservation. The
average mean willingness to pay was USD 4.18 for in situ and USD 2.20 for ex situ
conservation per annum (Poudel and Johnson 2009). Landholding size, household
size, education level, socio-economic status, sex of respondent, number of crop
landraces grown, and knowledge on biodiversity influences the willingness to pay
for in situ conservation, whereas only landholding size and household size influ-
ences the willingness to pay for ex situ conservation. Economic valuation of crop
genetic resources can be seen as a tool to provide assistance to the policy makers in
setting conservation priorities (Poudel and Johnson 2009).

6.3.6 Mangrove: A Livelihood Option for the Coastal

Community of Bangladesh

Mangrove ecosystem provides both goods and services for coastal community,
helps to improve livelihood options and protect them from natural disaster by
providing variety of environmental support (Sarker 2010). Besides livelihood,
mangrove forests play an important role in maintaining healthy coastal environ-
ment. It serves as a protection for a myriad of juvenile aquatic species, functioning
as a habitat for a variety of terrestrial fauna and a source of nutrients that helps to
sustain many complex food chains. Up to 80% of the fish catch is directly or
indirectly dependent on mangroves of Sundarbans (Sarker 2010).
112 M. Verma et al.

6.3.7 Biodiversity Value, Status and Strategies

for the Conservation of Sacred Groves in India

The people of Manipur, a state in northeast India, follow ancestral worship and
animism in the form of deity worship, with the central focus on worship in forest
patches. The beliefs and taboos associated with the Sylvan deities (Umanglais) in
the forest patches are restricted to any sort of disturbance of flora and fauna
(Khumbongmayum et al. 2005). These social boundaries help to conserve the entire
organism as a whole, which stand the concept of sacred groves. Well-preserved
sacred groves are store houses of valuable medicinal and other plants having high
economic value, and serve as a refuge to threatened species. 96% of the species
existent are being used as medicine for the treatment of various ailments. A few of
the medicinal plants which have disappeared from the locality are now confined
only to the groves. Therefore, conservation measures of sacred groves need to be
formulated considering the factor of degradation and the basic necessities of the
local people. Until and unless a viable option is provided to the local people
(especially those who habitat nearby the adjoining areas) for sustaining their eco-
nomic condition, no step for conservation of biodiversity will be successful
(Khumbongmayum et al. 2005).

6.3.8 Relation Between Environmental Status and Gross

National Happiness in Bhutan

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan is in the midst of transformation as it moves

from an isolated past to a modern nation-state and participant in the global com-
munity. Its development path embraces the concept of “Gross National Happiness,”
a philosophy and policy instrument that seeks to promote human development and
manage environmental conservation within a sustainable strategy guided by
Buddhist ethics (Zurick 2006). Several concerns challenge the model of GNH. The
goal of cultural preservation requires the resolution of ethnic conflicts, including
those involving the Nepali residents and refugees. Economic development based on
natural resource extraction will require effective enforcement of regulations
embedded in the conservation policies; such enforcement currently suffers from a
lack of manpower and the geo-graphical conditions of isolation that obtain
throughout much of the country (Zurick 2006).
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 113

6.4 Role of Forests in Supporting Livelihoods

and Economy in the Region

The ecosystem services emanating from forests greatly contribute to human

well-being in South Asia. While a large number of metrics have been developed in
an attempt to estimate well-being, an approach used by the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment has been used here due to its close linkage with ecosystem services
approach. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessments suggests 4 constituents of
human well-being as shown in Fig. 6.4. These constituents include security, basic
material for good life, health and good social relations which aggregately contribute
to freedom of choice and action. The contribution of forest ecosystem services to
each of these constituents of well-being is briefly discussed below in the South
Asian context (MEA 2005).

6.4.1 Security

Mangroves forests are found in coastal areas of Bangladesh, India, Maldives,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka pivotal role in protecting the human settlements from
natural disasters like Cyclones and Tsunami. Cities like Kolkata in India are
safeguarded by the mangrove covers at Sundarbans (see case studies on mangroves
protected villages and reduced death toll during Indian super cyclone and Valuation
of storm protection as an ecosystem function of mangrove in Sect. 6.5). Existence
of forest helps allaying the extent of floods and helps considerably in its avoidance,
a significant problem in countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The high
altitude forests existing in the Himalayan Range also help in the prevention of
landslides in the area which can be catastrophic for the human settlements in the
valleys. Thus, the role of forests in South Asia in reducing vulnerability to human
existence is very significant. The role of forests is not only restricted to reducing the
vulnerabilities but also in sustenance of life. The Himalayan range acts as a source
of rivers which provides irrigation and drinking water to countries such as Pakistan
and India and contributes to food, water and income security in the region (see case
study of economic valuation of forests of Himachal Pradesh, India in Sect. 6.5).
Since a major portion of agriculture in this region is dependent on rain for irrigation,
forests act as sources of livelihood during crop failure and the non-agricultural
season and thus act as a safety net. Timber and other building materials obtained
from forests are used in building homes for the local community and tribes living
inside and in vicinity to forest areas in the region.
A large population of South Asia is employed in agriculture, forestry and allied
activities. While precise estimate of the magnitude of employment in forestry sector
is difficult to obtain for South Asia, FAO states the following statistics on forests in
South Asia.
114 M. Verma et al.

6.4.2 Basic Material for Good Life

A large number of people in South Asia derive livelihood from forests, be it the
collection of non-wood forest produces or extraction of timber. A large number of
people are also involved in silviculture and associated forestry practices. Further
there is significant number of people involved in various related industries from
extraction to processing the wood as well as crafting to furniture making.

6.4.3 Health

The South Asian forests provide numerous services which are directly associated
with the human health. This includes provisioning of fresh water for drinking,
disease regulation or medicinal resources provided by forest.

6.4.4 Good Social Relations

Provisioning and regulating services provided by the forests have indirect effects on
the social relations while they directly impact the material well-being of the people.
These further improve the socioeconomic conditions of people where communities
are formed, where people respect each other and develop social cohesion. Forest
ecosystem services also include recreation services availed by the people.

6.4.5 Freedom of Choice and Action

This last component refers to the ability of individuals to take control of what
happens to them and what they achieve. It is strongly mediated by other con-
stituents of well-being as well as other factors e.g. education and socioeconomic
conditions. For example, in many of the affluent countries with strong institutions,
individuals can maintain freedom of choice and action even in the light of degra-
dation forest ecosystem services. This however would not be possible for a poor
dependent on forests for livelihoods living in a country with weak institutional
structure (see case study of household characteristics and forest dependency in
Nepal in Sect. 6.3). Similarly, reduction in provisioning of drinking water or fuel
wood due to deforestation in many of the South Asian countries is known to have
increase the time needed to collect some necessities, which in turn reduces time
available for education, employment and others. The linkages between changes in
ecosystem services and freedom of choice and action is however an understudied
topic. This component is also a precondition for achieving other components of
well-being, particularly with respect to equity and fairness. Significance of valua-
tion of forest ecosystem services as a management tool.
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 115

Forests provide numerous ecological services which are critical to human

existence. Many of the physical goods produced are tangible and thus have an
economic value in the market since they are tradable. However, few goods and most
of the non-tangible services provided by forests such as the oxygen we breathe, and
which are perhaps even more important than the tangible goods provided by the
forest, often do not have an economic value attached as they are not traded in
market. This results in their undervaluation and poor management. Undervaluation
has not only led to their overuse, but also misuse and abuse, as policy-makers and
citizens do not get important signals that reflect their importance and scarcity.
Absence of any measure that reflect the economic value for these services from
forests, various ecological services provided by forest are considered as free gifts of
nature. The current National Accounting System of countries across the globe in
general, and those in South Asia in particular reflects only the marketed value of
few visible services supplied by forests. The economic value added by intangible
services from forests as well as the consequences of degradation over time are
completely ignored by the current system of national accounts. Lack of information
on the value of forest ecosystem services is further reflected in terms of low bud-
getary allocations to the forestry sector in countries across South Asia.
With recent advances in forest database management and developments in the
techniques of forest resource valuation it is now possible to demonstrate the
immense contribution of forests to the growth and well-being of a country (see case
study on the value of ecosystem services in Bhutan in Sect. 6.5). The Government
of various countries of South Asia, in recognition of this have launched several
processes to arrive at a better valuation of the various ecosystem services that our
forests provide. This includes the calculation of Net Present Value (NPV) of using
forest land for non-forestry purposes in India (see case study in Sect. 6.5), The
Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), among various others.
A holistic and rigorous valuation of forests in this region in specific will high-
light the importance of this natural resource which is otherwise treated as
non-exhaustive resource and is severely exploited. Economic valuation also has the
potential to increase awareness about the importance of forests in the well-being of
human kind and ensure continued and sustainable productivity of this resource (see
case study on willingness-to-pay for a national park in India in Sect. 6.5).

6.5 Case Studies on Valuation of Ecosystem Services

6.5.1 Mangroves Protected Villages and Reduced Death Toll

During Indian Super Cyclone

Protection against coastal disasters has been identified as an important service of

mangrove ecosystems. The impact of mangroves on human deaths during a 1999
super cyclone that struck Orissa, India was assessed and was found that villages
with wider mangroves between them and the coast experienced significantly fewer
116 M. Verma et al.

deaths than ones with narrower or no mangroves (Das and Vincent 2009). Around
10,000 people were killed in the cyclone with 70% of them drowned. During this
time due to increased anthropogenic activities the Mangrove area was reduced from
30,766 to 17,900 ha. Still the study shows how the mangrove cover of 17,900 ha
was responsible in saving almost 265 lives (about 1.72 life in each village; 154
villages in total) during the super cyclone (Das and Vincent 2009). The statistical
value of life came out to be US$190,000 (approx) so the total value for all the lives
saves because of the presence of mangroves comes out to be US$50 million (Das
and Vincent 2009).

6.5.2 Valuation of Storm Protection as an Ecosystem

Function of Mangrove

The ecosystem services provided by mangroves are often ignored in the ongoing
process of mangrove conversion. Services provided by the Bhitarkanika mangrove
ecosystem in India and estimated cyclone damage avoided in three selected vil-
lages, taking the cyclone of 1999 as a reference point (Badola and Hussain 2005).
The loss was assessed on the socio-economic status of the villages, the cyclone
damage to houses, livestock, fisheries, trees and other assets owned by the people,
and the level and duration of flooding. The loss incurred per household was greatest
(US$153.74) in the village that was not sheltered by mangroves but had an
embankment, followed by the village that was neither in the shadow of mangroves
or the embankment (US$44.02) and the village that was protected by mangrove
forests (US$33.31). The local people are aware of and appreciated the functions
performed by the mangrove forests in protecting their lives and property from
cyclones, and are willing to cooperate with the forest department in mangrove
restoration (Badola and Hussain 2005).

6.5.3 The Value of Ecosystem Services in Bhutan

The total estimated value of the overall contribution of ecosystem services in

Bhutan to human well-being is estimated to be US$15.5 billion/year (NU760
billion/year), significantly greater than the gross domestic product (GDP) of US$3.5
billion/year. 53% of the total benefits from Bhutan’s ecosystem services accrue to
people outside Bhutan (Kubiszewski et al. 2013). The remaining benefits accrue to
people inside the country—15% at the national level, and 32% at the local level.
Bhutan’s combined per capita annual benefits are estimated at US
$15,400/capita/year. Of this US$5000 is from goods and services captured in GDP
and US$10,400 is from ecosystem services. These can be regarded as
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 117

underestimates as it does not include other sources of benefits to people, including

social and cultural values (Kubiszewski et al. 2013).

6.5.4 Willingness-to-Pay for a National Park in India

Contingent valuation method has been used to estimate the willingness to pay for
the maintenance of a National Park in India i.e. Borivli National Park (BNP).
Despite India being a developing country with medium to low income levels, it has
been seen that people are willing to pay for preserving environmental amenities.
Households are willing to pay exclusively for BNP, on average, Rs. 7.5, per month,
for the next five years. Extrapolating to the city of Bombay, this amounts to a
substantial US$325,575 (approx) each month for the next five years, or a present
discounted value of in excess of US$16.28 million, which suggests a strong interest
in environmental conservation (Hadker et al. 1997).

6.5.5 Economic Valuation of Forests of Himachal Pradesh,

India

Total Economic Values for the forests of Himachal Pradesh, a State of India, are
assessed in terms of services like direct consumptive benefits like timber, fodder,
fuelwood, NTFPs; direct non-consumptive benefits like ecotourism & recreational
and indirect benefits like watershed functions, carbon sinks, micro-climate, biodi-
versity, employment etc. (Verma 2000). The economic value of multiple contri-
butions of forests to the economy should be given due weightage in allocation of
funds. The actual forest cover in Himachal, covering an area of 14,346 km2,
generates economic value at the tune of US$12,100/ha and if the entire area under
legal forests is used as denominator, the value reduces to Rs. US$4705/ha. The
maximum per hectare value is generated by watershed function followed by carbon
sink, biodiversity, ecotourism (all non-marketed values).The total economic value
is 2.61 times the value of the growing stock, 980 times the total expenditure
incurred in the forestry sector of Himachal Pradesh and 2607 times the revenue
realized by the forests annually. This comparison proves gross underestimation of
forestry sector’s contribution in the economy of the state. When the GSDP of the
state is corrected for Total Economic Value calculated through the current study the
contribution of forestry sector increases from 5.26% of GSDP to 92.40% of
GSDP. The total economic value of Himachal Pradesh’s forests so estimated was
approximately equal to US$21 million annually. Based on these estimates, in 2002,
a special purpose vehicle called Compensation for Loss of Ecological Value
(CLEV) was introduced in the state (Verma 2000).
118 M. Verma et al.

6.5.6 Net Present Value of Forest Diversion in India

An agency seeking to use forest land for non-forestry purpose has to pay a charge called
as Net Present Value to compensate for the loss of ecosystem services due to diversion
of forests. In a recent study conducted to recalculate loss of ecosystem services due to
forest diverted classifies forests into 14 Forest Type Groups and 4 Forest Canopy Cover
Density Class. The array offorest goods and services valued in the study include timber,
bamboo, fodder, fuelwood, NWFP, gene-pool conservation, carbon sequestration,
carbon storage, soil conservation, water recharge, pollination and seed dispersal, and
water purification. To estimate the duration for which the Net Present Value of losses
need to be estimated, rotation period of dominant tree species was used. Further, it is
found that about 50% of the total economic value of forests is accrued at the local level
with 34% and 16% at the state and national level respectively. However, currently there
is no mechanism to compensate stakeholders at local and regional level that incur losses
due to forest diversion. To make NPV more site-specific, the study further suggests a
premium on applicable NPV rates based on add-on factors of protected areas, hill
talukas and forested wetlands (Verma et al. 2013).

6.6 Role of Forested Mountains in Provisioning of Water

Downstream

The Himalayan Range in South Asia stretches from Afghanistan to Bhutan and has
some of the highest peaks in the world such as Mount Everest and K2. The range is
home to the world’s highest peaks: the Eight-thousanders (peaks over 8000 m above
sea level), including Mount Everest and runs from West-northeast to east-southeast in
the shape of an arc extending over 2400 km. The wide variety of flora and fauna exists
throughout the rage and differs according to the change in rainfall, altitude and soil
conditions. The amount of yearly rainfall increases from west to east along the
southern front of the range. It is also a home for diverse ecosystems and the services of
these ecosystems is the source of life for not only for the mountainous population but
also by the people living downstream. It has the third largest deposit of snow and ice
after the Arctic and Antarctica. The Himalayan range encompasses about 15,000
glaciers, which store about 12,000 km3 (3000 cubic miles) of fresh water. Its glaciers
include the Gangotri and Yamunotri (Uttarakhand) and Khumbu glaciers (Mount
Everest region), and Zemu (Sikkim) (IPCC 2007).
A number of perennial rivers originate from the Himalayas. Three of the world’s
major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, rise in the
Himalayas. While the Indus, and the Tsangpo-Brahmaputra rise near Mount Kailash,
the Ganges rises in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Their combined drainage basin is
home to some 600 million people. This gives a fair idea on the water services provided
by the Mountain ecosystem providing water not just for drinking but for irrigation and
all other purposes. It won’t be wrong to declare these rivers as the lifeline for the cities,
6 Forest Ecosystem: Functions, Value and Management 119

towns and villages downstream, considering the criticality of drinking water supplied
and increasing water scarcity in the region. Absence of these glaciers and the water
services would likely lead to drought conditions in large part of India and Bangladesh.
Moreover the rivers originating from the Hindu Kush Himlayas are also the main source
of water for irrigation in the countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Looking at the
dependency on these rivers, it can be deduced that these rivers are ensuring food and
water security of the major chunk of South Asia (see case study of food and water
security provided by Hindu Kush Himalayan region in Sect. 6.7). Hence the need to
preserve this ecosystem becomes all the more important.
But due to the ever increasing anthropogenic pressure and the climate change,
the mountain ecosystems in South Asia have been impacted in an unprecedented
manner leading to increased vulnerability of these ecosystems. Though a number of
organizations are working on the conservation of these ecosystems, huge efforts are
required to deal with these problems. Some of these could include participatory
natural resource management and transboundary cooperation for rejuvenation and
long-term sustenance of these ecosystems.

6.7 Case Studies on Mountain Ecosystem

6.7.1 Sukhomajri—A Case of Forest and Watershed

Protection in India

Sukhomajri is a village in the erosion prone Shivalik hills near Chandigarh in north
Indian state of Haryana where there was a severe problem of erosion in the upstream
catchment area leading to silting up of the downstream Sukhna Lake, a major recre-
ation attraction for residents of Chandigarh (Kerr 2002). In 1977 four tanks were built
to conserve rainwater. This increased water storage and provided protective irrigation
to the rainfed crops, increasing yields. This became an incentive to the villagers to stop
grazing and initiate afforestation and watershed protection in the catchment, to reduce
erosion and prevent sedimentation of their tanks. As many of the grazers did not own
land and thus would not benefit directly from the water and increased yields, an
innovative step was taken—of splitting water ownership from land ownership. The
water stored was made the property of all villagers—equally shared by both land
holders and landless, thus the landed bought water beyond their share from the
landless folks. The project gave increased yields in agriculture, protected forest cover,
and reduced erosion in the Sukhna lake (Kerr 2002).
120 M. Verma et al.

6.7.2 Food and Water Security Provided by Hindu Kush

Himalayan Region

With limited land resources, inadequate energy supply, and growing water stress, South
Asia faces the challenge of providing enough water and energy to grow enough food for
the burgeoning population. Rice and wheat are the staple foods in South Asia; about
50% of dietary energy comes from these two crops. But these crops require huge
amounts of water—about 1000 tonnes to produce 1 tonne of grain. Their production
depends on the availability of water in the dry season and on irrigation facilities, which
depend on water from the Hindu Kush Himalayas. In Pakistan, food, water, and energy
security depends heavily on the state of the Indus River. The Indus irrigation system, the
world’s largest contiguous irrigation system, irrigates about 14.3 million hectares of
farmland, representing about 76% of the cultivated area in Pakistan; it enables the
production of more than 80% of the food grains of Pakistan and cash crops, in particular
cotton. Agricultural water withdrawal in Pakistan is 170 billion cubic metres per year.
Similarly, the Ganges River system is the main source of freshwater for half the pop-
ulation of India and Bangladesh and nearly the entire population of Nepal. The Ganges
and Yamuna canal systems irrigate vast areas of India by using surface and groundwater
received from the Himalayas. Almost 60% of India’s irrigated area of 546,820 km2 is in
the Ganges basin. Water use for irrigation in the Ganges basin is about 100 billion cubic
metres per year. The Brahmaputra River supports irrigation, hydropower, and fisheries
for a vast part of Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India. Almost 6000 km2 are irrigated using
1.4 billion cubic metres of water per year. The issues and challenges in the food, water,
and energy sectors are interwoven in many complex ways and cannot be managed
effectively without cross-sectoral integration (Rasul 2014).

6.8 Conclusion

Forest ecosystems in South Asia are important part of landscape and also support
livelihoods of large number of rural populations. However, lack of economic value and
their linkages with human wellbeing restricts decision-makers in recognizing their
significance. In this chapter, we have highlighted the functions, value and management
of forests by citing examples from various case studies spread in Indian sub-continent.
We also address the important role of economic valuation in designing appropriate
policy measures for balancing conservation and economic development in the region.

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Das S, Vincent JR (2009) Mangroves protected villages and reduced death toll during Indian super
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Park: evidence from a contingent valuation. Ecol Econ 21:105–122
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Kerr J (2002) Watershed development, environmental services, and poverty alleviation in India.
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biodiversity value, status and strategies for their conservation. Biodivers Conserv 14:
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August. Durban, South Africa
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Verma M, Negandhi D, Wahal AK, Kumar R (2013) Revision of Rates of NPV applicable for
different class/category of forests. Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India
Verma M (2000) Economic valuation of forests of Himachal Pradesh. In: Himachal Pradesh
Forestry Sector Review. International Institute for Environment & Development, London
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681
Chapter 7
Urban Ecosystems: Functions,
Value and Management

Jürgen H. Breuste, Muhammad Mushahid Anwar, Rab Nawaz

and Mehwish Rani

7.1 Urban Ecosystem Characteristics—What Makes

the Urban Ecosystem Special?

More than 50% of the mankind are living in cities and towns. This number is further
growing. Urbanization is a multidimensional process that manifests itself through
rapidly changing human population densities and changing land cover. The urban
growth is due to a combination of two forces: natural growth and rural to urban
migration. The last is the most important and responsible for the growth of many
cities worldwide. The growth of cities forms large urban landscapes, particularly in
developing countries. Since urbanization is a process operating at multiple scales,
factors influencing environmental change in urban landscapes often originate far
beyond city. Fluctuation in global trade, civil unrest in other countries, health
pandemics, natural disasters, and possibly climate change and political decisions are
e.g. factors driving social–ecological transformations of the urban landscape
(Breuste et al. 2013:83) (Fig. 7.1).
Urban landscapes, often more extended above the administrative borders of a
single city, are complex ecological systems dominated by humans. The urban
ecosystems differ un several respects from natural ecosystems: in their climate, soil,
hydrology, species composition, population dynamics and flow of energy and
matter (Alberti 2009:1).

J.H. Breuste
Department of Geology and Geography, University of Salzburg,
Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
M.M. Anwar (&)
R. Nawaz
M. Rani
Department of Geography, University of Gujrat,
Hafiz Hayat Campus, Jalalpur Jattan Road, Gujrat, Pakistan
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 123

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_7
124 J.H. Breuste et al.

Fig. 7.1 Basic components of the urban ecosystem (Breuste, further developed from Marzluff
et al. 2008:Viii; Breuste et al. 1998, design W. Gruber)

The foremost focus for research has often been on the negative impacts of the
changes of urban ecosystems, particulary for human health and wellbeing, and how
these can most effectively be mitigated by urban planning (Gaston 2010:35).
Urban Ecosystems
• are complex human phenomena,
• are social and biophysical phenomena,
• are a set of strongly interacting systems or spheres,
• are both drivers of, and driven by, ecological processes,
• have generalizable and definable internal structures, functions, and processes
that produce cities’ emergent properties. Many of those internalities are not yet
identified or understood,
• have large impacts on Earth’s ecological processes. Cities have huge ecological
“footprints” caused by their needs for goods, energy and services and their
capacity to import natural resources from, while exporting their emissions and
wastes to, distant regions,
• also have the potential to offer unique opportunities for resource conservation
and environmental impact mitigation (Marzluff et al. 2008:X).
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 125

Fig. 7.2 Example of relationship in a typical study of ecology in the city (left) and ecology of the
city (right) (Breuste, further developed from Marzluff et al. 2008:iX, design W. Gruber)

Fig. 7.3 Relationship between humans and nature. Abiotic (anthropogenic and otherwise) drivers
cause patterns and processes that can be measured. They themselves affect interacting human and
natural drivers by their effects and changes to the urban ecosystem (Breuste, further developed
from Marzluff et al. 2008:X, design W. Gruber)

The relationship in urban ecosystems can be studied as ecology in the city and
ecology of the city (McDonnell et al. 2009) (see Fig. 7.2).
Another option to study relationships in urban ecosystems is to investigate the
relations between drivers, patterns, processes and effects/changes (Niemelä et al.
2011) (Fig. 7.3).
Marten (2001) shows the interaction between social system and ecosystem to a
socio-ecosystem as urban ecosystem (Figs. 7.4 and 7.5)
Physical conditions that influence and determine fauna and flora in urban
ecosystems as climate, soils and hydrology but also the overall steering ‘physical’
intervention of humans by the processes of land use and which create the new urban
morphology. It is the human intervention by using the land for different purposes,
changing the interventions/disturbance quality and quantity frequently and
extends the influencing area which produce the conditions of urban ecosystems.
126 J.H. Breuste et al.

Fig. 7.4 Interaction of social system and ecosystem as urban ecosystem (Breuste, further
developed from Marten 2001, design W. Gruber)

Fig. 7.5 Urban Ecosystem in different spatial scales, with an emphasis on atmospheric
compontents (Breuste, further developed from Gaston et al. 2010:37, design W. Gruber)

With the replacement of the vegetation cover of land by paved surfaces and
buildings the urban surface not only multiplies the former surface but introduces
also instead of biologically working surfaces new surface materials like concrete,
asphalt, stone plates, glass etc. These cover the soils and change their functions,
have e.g. completely different thermal characteristics and influence all hydrological
processes. Additionally the utilization activities introduce new matters, nutrients
and pollutants into the natural system of water cycle and change the air quality.
A new physical world is created—the urban ecosystem. But it is not only a new
physical but also a new ecological one (Breuste 2009, 2011).
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 127

Land uses are particularly diverse, small scaled, intensive and influential not
only on the targeted urban area. They consist of a mosaic of different, often very
small-pieced land use types as basic elements and the key tool for undertaking
applied urban ecological research and urban nature conservation (Breuste 2002).
Urban structural or morphological units and types can be distinguished by their
characteristic pattern of built and open spaces (Pauleit and Breuste 2011). It is the
vegetation cover (as part of the surface cover) which is as component of mostly all
urban land use types responsible for the ecosystem services which is everywhere
needed and has to be extend targeted within urban development (Breuste 2011).
Most meteorological variables like temperature, heat stress, air pollution, wind
etc. are influenced. New physical, biological, chemical characteristics, the urban
heat island phenomenon and the impacts of urban climate on human health are the
result. The urban climate system differs from non-urban/rural conditions in various
aspects. These are high aerodynamic surface roughness (highly three-dimensional
and therefore a very complex surface for all exchange processes with the urban
boundary layer) which influences the vertical turbulence and wind field, different
radiation and heat budget due to the physical properties of construction material like
heat capacity and thermal conductivity and significant source of emissions from
traffic and industrial sites as well as heating and air condition in terms of green-
house gases, pollutants and direct heat release (Breuste 2011) (Figs. 7.6 and 7.7).

Fig. 7.6 Relationships between impervious surface cover and surface runoff, infiltration and
evapotranspiration (Breuste, further developed from Gaston et al. 2010, design W. Gruber)
128 J.H. Breuste et al.

Fig. 7.7 Levels of particulate air pollution in 2016 within large cities over 1.5 Mio inhabitants.
(Breuste, WHO 2016, design W. Gruber)

Land use characteristics explain the major components of the urban water cycle,
together with the particular processes occurring between atmosphere, surface and
subsurface. On the specific infiltration and runoff performance of urban surfaces
latest innovations are presented. The stormwater retention capacities of paved and
unpaved surfaces are specified from an urban water management perspective.
Characteristic values of the particular water balance components on an annual basis
as well as event-based runoff coefficients are outlined for several types of surfaces,
reflecting the interactions between the atmospheric impact by rainfall and the
hydrological phenomena on urban areas.

7.2 Urban Ecosystems Functions and Services—How Does

the Urban Ecosystem System Work and How Can We
Benefit from It?

Ecosystem Services (ES) describe how humans profit from ecosystem functions and
processes without destroying them. The benefit can be economically or related to
live quality (Costanza et al. 1997; DeGroot et al. 2002). The life quality stands in
the centre of the Urban Ecosystem Service concept (UES).
With the publication of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005) the
discussion on ecosystem services was more extended to urban ecosystems.
Typically, urban ecosystem functions humans benefits from range from water and
climate regulation functions over biodiversity and food to aesthetic and recreational
services. According to McDonald (2009) UES are provided at different scales
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 129

within an urban landscape: at the local (e.g. temperature regulation by tree shade,
water and pollutant filtration at a single soil plot or food production in urban
gardens and on agricultural land), at the regional or landscape scale (recreation,
climate regulation, biodiversity) and at the global level (carbon mitigation, con-
tribution to the continental or worldwide gene pool and biodiversity as such)
(Breuste et al. 2013).
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and Costanza et al.
(1997) we can define four categories of UES (Table 7.1):
• Provisioning services (food and timber production, water supply, the provision
of genetic resources),
• Regulating services (regulation of climate extremes such as heavy rainfall and
heat waves, floods and diseases, regulation of water flows, treatment and han-
dling of waste),
• Cultural services (recreation and tourism, provision of aesthetic features, spiri-
tual requirements) and, finally,
• Supporting services (soil formation and processes, pollination or energy, matter
and nutrient fluxes).
Ecosystem properties are the set of ecological conditions, structures and pro-
cesses that determine whether an ecosystem service can be supplied (van
Oudenhoven et al. 2012). Human needs or demands convert a potential into an
ecosystem service, since the services (and goods) are in fact currently valued,
demanded or used. An ecosystem service is that’s why only a service if there is a
human benefit. The stakeholders, providers, users or beneficiaries of ecosystems
and their services can be single persons, groups, or the society as a whole. They
also in turn react upon ecosystems (Bastian et al. 2013) (Fig. 7.8).

Table 7.1 Services and indicators of quality of life related to the dimensions of sustainability
Sustainability Urban ecosystem service Quality of life indicator
dimension
Ecology Air filtration Health (clean air, protection against
Climate regulation respiratory diseases, protection against heat
Noise reduction and cold death)
Rain water drainage Safety
Water supply Drinking water
Waste water treatment Food
Food production
Social sphere Landscape Beauty of the environment
Recreation Recreation and stress reduction
Cultural values Intellectual endowment
Sense of identity Communication
Place to live
Economy Provision of land for economic Accessibility
and commercial activities and Income
housing
Own listing according to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), Santos and Martins (2007),
Breuste et al. (2013)
130 J.H. Breuste et al.

Fig. 7.8 Conceptual framework for the analysis of ecosystem services—the extended EPPS
framework (Bastian et al. 2013)

Urban green areas are the providers of urban ecosystem services (Table 7.2). All
kind of urban green areas can contribute as urban ecosystems (Gilbert 1989) to
ecosystem services (Table 7.3).

7.3 Urban Ecosystem Management—How Can We Make

Urban Ecosystems Better Working?

The main tasks of urban ecosystem management are reduction of harms and
extension of benefits from ecosystem services. This needs to identify harms and
benefits and to target them with management strategies and actions.
In many cities people suffer on:
– polluted drinking water
– polluted food
– polluted air
– noise
– thermal discomfort by high air temperatures in summer
– to less open space and green areas for recreation
– no nature contact
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 131

Table 7.2 Urban green as providers of ecosystem services (own listing according to Niemelä
et al. 2010: 3229–3230)
Group Ecosystem service Service generating unit
Provisioning Timber products Different tree species
services Food: game, berries, mushrooms Different species in land,
fresh-water and sea ecosystems
Fresh water, soil Groundwater infiltration,
suspension and storage
Regulating Regulation of microclimate at the street Vegetation
service and city level, changes in heating costs
Gas cycles, O2 production, CO2 Vegetation, especially forests
consumption
Carbon sequestration and storage Vegetation, especially trees
Habitat provision Biodiversity
Air pollution purification Vegetation covered areas, soil
microorganisms
Noise cushioning in built-up areas and by Protective green areas, thick/wide
transportation channels forest, soft surfaces
Rain water absorption, Balancing storm Vegetation cover, sealed surface,
water peaks soil
Water infiltration Wetlands (vegetation,
microorganisms)
Pollination, Maintaining floral populations, Insects, birds, mammals
food production
Humus production and maintaining Litter, invertebrates,
nutrient content microorganisms
Cultural Recreation of urban dwellers Biodiversity, especially in parks,
services forests and water ecosystems
Psycho-physical and social health benefits Forest nature
Science education, research and teaching Biodiversity

Table 7.3 Types of urban vegetation structures – influenced or created by urban land use (Breuste
et al. 2013)
Vegetation Group Vegetation structure type Main urban Main potential
ecosystem functions
services and
utilization
(A) Vegetation Woods and forests Recreation, BD Timber
remnants of the original production
natural landscape Wetlands Biodiversity Nature
(BD) experience
(B) Vegetation of the Meadows, pastures Agriculture Recreation,
cultural landscapes biodiversity
formed by agriculture Drifts, dry grasslands Agriculture
Arable land Agriculture Recreation,
biodiversity
(continued)
132 J.H. Breuste et al.

Table 7.3 (continued)

Vegetation Group Vegetation structure type Main urban Main potential
ecosystem functions
services and
utilization
(C) Ornamental, Decorative green (flower beds, Decoration Recreation,
horticultural and small lawn patches, bushes, biodiversity
designed urban hedges, etc.)
vegetation spaces Accompanied green along traffic Decoration Recreation,
lines or as addition to fill up the biodiversity
space between apartment blocks
Gardens/parks Recreation, Biodiversity
decoration
Allotment gardens (territorially Recreation Biodiversity
organized in allotment garden
estates)
Urban trees Decoration Biodiversity
(D) Spontaneous urban Spontaneous herbaceous None Biodiversity,
vegetation (areas) vegetation nature
experience,
recreation
Spontaneous bush vegetation None Biodiversity,
nature
experience,
recreation
Spontaneous pre-forest None Biodiversity,
vegetation nature
experience,
recreation

Die pollution of environment (water, air, soils, food etc.) must be solved on
source by cleaning technologies. Urban Ecosystems can only partly support this
(e.g. cleaning capacity for air pollution or water by vegetation, noise reduction by
tree plantations etc.).
It remains the demand for thermal regulation, recreation and nature contact in the
residential areas and in the whole cities as a demand and need which can’t be
technically managed. The urban ecosystem management must target to identify,
managed and secure those urban ecosystems providing:
– food (fruit and vegetable production)
– recreation, including contact to different forms of nature (from forest to garden)
– climate regulation
These services are only provided by “green” and “blue” areas, vegetation and
water bodies. They have to be secured, especially when they are in public hands and
created to a network of green (and blue) infrastructure. The urban management
must target to the services, what is actually only rarely the case, especially not in
many fast growing cities in developing countries.
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 133

The management of services (often regulated and controlled by decisions and

legislation tools) can modify or change the properties and potentials of ecosystems.
Appropriate urban ecosystem management has to bridge the gap between the
present state and future targets for urban ecosystem services. Urban ecosystem
management means treats areas at various scales in such a way that urban eco-
logical services and biological resources are restored and conserved, while appro-
priate human uses are sustained (Schneiders et al. 2012; Bastian et al. 2013).
Mismatches between spatial and temporal scales of ecological process on the one
hand, and social scales of monitoring and decision making on the other have not
only limited our understanding of ecological processes in urban landscapes, they
have also limited the integration of urban ecological knowledge into urban plan-
ning. Human processes and cultures are fundamental for sustainable management of
urban ecosystems, and in urban planning it is becoming more and more evident that
urban management needs to operate at an ecosystem scale rather than within the
traditional boundaries of the city. Urban ecosystems provide important large-scale
probing experiments of the effects of global change on ecosystems, since, for
example, significant warming and increased nitrogen deposition already are
prevalent and because they provide extreme, visible, and measurable examples of
human domination of ecosystem processes.
Urban ecosystem services are still mostly no clear target of urban management.
The approach of “green and blue services” (Westerink et al. 2002) or “sus-
tainable land use governance” (Ravetz 2000) are new integrative concepts of urban
planning and urban governance. Necessary integrative planning means the removal
of sectorial thinking and actions in favour of more holistic concepts of regional and
local regeneration and adaptation (Ravetz 2000). Accordingly, expert-driven formal
planning must be enhanced and accompanied by participatory processes (Elmqvist
et al. 2008; Breuste et al. 2013:103).

7.4 The Sub Continent and Urbanizing World

Asia is urbanizing and there is growing proportion of urban population of its total
population. South Asian economies are passing through transition phase today.
These countries are rapidly transforming into manufacturing and services econo-
mies, leading to urban population growth with every passing day. Countries in
Indian-subcontinent were primarily rural, particularly India, Bangladesh and
Pakistan at the time of independence. Generally it is still a rural region and is
passing through a phase of rapid transition. More and more people are moving daily
from rural to the urban areas in the quest of basic facilities and better life oppor-
tunities including education, health, employment, recreation, transport and many
more. Urban population of South Asia has risen to 30.1% of the total population in
2010, from 15.6% in 1950 (Mathur 2011). According to United Nations (UN 2010)
there are three potential factors, which contribute to the urbanization trend in Asia.
These factors are given as under:
134 J.H. Breuste et al.

i. Net inward migration to urban areas:

Number of people moving from rural to urban areas is higher than number of
people moving from urban to rural areas. As a result there is net inward migration to
urban areas leading to urbanizing Asia. It is a significant factor in most Asian
countries.
ii. Natural urban population growth:
Natural population growth is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. This factor
is rarer, but also contributes to urbanization trend in countries.
iii. Reclassification of settlements:
There is reclassification of rural settlements as urban settlements, increasing
proportion of urban population. As cities grow outwards, urban areas envelop
relatively populous rural areas. As the process of urbanization in South Asian
region is ungoverned, its cost is much higher and is affecting economies in two

Fig. 7.9 Urban transition in sub-continent economies. Source Mathur (2011)

7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 135

Urban Population in Megacities of Indian Sub-

continent (2011 and 2013)
25,000,000
22,826,000
20,877,000 21,622,000
19,530,000 2011
20,000,000 17,307,000 2013
16,600,000
Urban Population

14,630,000 14,399,000
15,000,000 14,113,000 13,600,000

10,000,000 7,994,000 8,206,000

7,350,000 7,749,000

5,000,000

0
Karachi Lahore Mumbai Kolkota New Dehli Hyderabad Dhaka

Fig. 7.10 Urban population in megacities of Indian-continent. Source Demographic World Urban
Areas (2013, designed M.M. Anwar)

Table 7.4 Urban population growth

Country Years
1985–90 1990–95 1995–2000 2000–2005 2005–10
India 3.15 2.88 2.63 2.35 2.39
Pakistan 4.29 3.27 3.26 3.82 3.04
Developing countries 3.75 3.19 2.96 2.68 2.53
Source World urbanization prospects. The 2007 Review regrading Asian countries from 1985 to
2010 (design M.M. Anwar)

ways. Firstly, ‘rural-push’ factor give rise to rural unemployment and increased
poverty. Secondly, urbanization generates exceptional financial and management
challenges in the urban system (Dutt and Noble 2004) (Figs. 7.9 and 7.10;
Tables 7.4 and 7.5).
The rapid development and growth of cities is also common demographic
phenomenon in Pakistan, which resulted to an increased degree of urbanization.
The level of urbanization has increased from 17.4% in 1951 to about 32.5% in 1998
and it reached 36.2% in 2011 (Arif and Hamid 2009; CIA 2013). Karachi is 7th
largest city of the world, with a population of 20,877,000. This rapid urban growth
of megacities causes severe social, economic, ecological and management issues,
which create barriers for sustainable development.
According to the World Bank, South Asia accounts for 46% of the world’s urban
poor on a poverty line of US$ 1.08/day, and 39% if the poverty line is changed to
US$ 2.15/day.2 The relatively high GDP growth registered in recent years by
several South Asian countries does not seem to have been translated into any
136 J.H. Breuste et al.

Table 7.5 Average annual Country Percentage rate of change

rate of population change in
2000–2005 2005–2010
south Asian countries
Total Urban Total Urban
Bangladesh 1.89 3.58 1.67 3.45
Bhutan 2.63 6.60 1.43 4.88
India 1.62 2.35 1.46 2.39
Maldives 1.57 5.62 1.76 5.29
Nepal 2.08 5.27 1.97 4.87
Pakistan 1.82 2.82 1.84 3.04
Sri Lanka 0.43 -0.31 0.47 0.46
Source World urbanization prospects. The 2007 Review
regrading average annual rate of population change in South
Asian countries from 2000 to 2010 (design M.M. Anwar)

noticeable improvement in the quality and quantity of urban infrastructural services

Mathur (2011).
South Asia’s urban population—currently placed at 486 million persons—has
risen steadily at an annual exponential rate of 2.9%. The level of urbanization as
indicated by the proportion of total population living in the urban areas has risen
from 15.6% in 1950 to 30.1% in 2010. Annual increments to urban population have
been of the order of 9–10 million and are expected to increase to 14–15 million in
the next decade. Although South Asia is among the least urbanized of the seven
regions, its urban significance in global urban hierarchy, measured in terms of its
share in world’s total urban population, has progressively risen. Rural-urban
migration has contributed significantly to the process of urbanization in subconti-
nent countries. The pattern of urbanization in South Asia is marked by a growing
number of mega-cities. According to the United Nations, Dhaka’s population which
currently stands at 13.5 million will increase by 31% over the 2010–2020 period,
and that of Karachi by 29%. Mumbai is projected to attain a population of 24
million by 2020 Mathur (2011).
At the moment, India is among the countries of low level of urbanization.
Number of urban agglomeration/town has grown from 1827 in 1901 to 5161 in
2001. Number of population residing in urban areas has increased from 2.58 crores
in 1901 to 28.53 crores in 2001. Only 28% of population was living in urban areas
as per 2001 census (Datta 2006).
Pakistan’s current population is about one-third urban. Much of Pakistan’s
urbanization is driven by migration. In past decades, Indian Muslims and Afghans
fled to Pakistani cities to escape war back home. Today, rural Pakistanis are entering
cities to escape war, insecurity and natural disasters, and also to seek new livelihoods
and better basic services. The large natural increase in Pakistan’s total population also
explains the country’s rising urban population. (Kugelman 2013) (Table 7.6).
Poverty is urbanizing rapidly in the developing world; indeed, some observers
believe that poverty is now mainly an urban problem. This urbanization of poverty—
by which we mean a rising share of the poor living in urban areas—has been viewed
in very different ways by different observers. To some it has been seen as a positive
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 137

Table 7.6 Urban Population a projection

Country Urban population AAGRa Percentage of urban to
In million In percentage total population
2000 2010 2020 2000– 2010– 2000 2010 2020
10 20
Bangladesh 33.21 46.15 62.89 3.29 3.09 23.59 28.07 33.89
Bhutan 0.14 0.25 0.35 5.80 3.36 25.00 35.21 42.68
India 288.43 364.46 463.33 2.34 2.40 27.66 30.01 33.89
Maldives 0.07 0.12 0.19 5.39 4.60 25.93 41.38 52.78
Nepal 3.28 5.56 8.74 5.28 4.52 13.43 18.63 24.78
Pakistan 49.09 66.32 90.2 3.01 3.08 33.14 35.90 39.88
Sri Lanka 2.97 2.92 3.36 −0.17 1.40 15.82 14.31 15.48
Total urban 377.19 485.78 629.06 2.53 2.58 27.42 30.08 34.24
population
Developing 1968.2 2556.47 3188.1 2.62 2.21 40.00 45.08 49.76
countries
Asia 1360.9 1757.31 2168.8 2.56 2.10 36.80 42.17 47.19
a
Average annual growth rate
Source Mathur (2011), urban population projection from 2000 to 2020 (design M.M. Anwar)

POPULATION DENSITY IN MEGACITIES OF

INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT (2013)
POPULATION DENSITY (NO. OF

115,200
PERSONS/SQ.MILE)

82,000

67,300

35,500
31,500 30,400
24,100

KARACHI LAHORE MUMBAI K O L K O T A N E W D E H L IH Y D E R A B A D D H A K A

Fig. 7.11 Population density in megacities of Indian-continent. Source Demographic World

Urban Areas 2013 deigned M.M. Anwar

force in economic development, as economic activity shifts out of agriculture to

more remunerative activities, while to others it has been viewed in a less positive
light—a largely unwelcome forbearer of new poverty problems” At the same time,
the numbers of the urban poor have risen from 113 million in 1993 to 134.8 million
in 2002, an increase of 19% over a ten-year period Mathur (2011) (Fig. 7.11).
138 J.H. Breuste et al.

7.5 The Most Dynamic Megacities on the Indian

Sub-continent—Karachi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Dhaka,
Lahore, New Delhi, Hyderabad

Urbanization is a dramatic form of highly irreversible land transformation. This is a

major change worldwide but it is exceptionally dynamic in Indian Sub-continent. In
2007, world’s urban population reached 3.3 billion and is expected to rise. It has
been estimated that 60% of the world’s total population will be urbanized by 2030.
This rapid urbanization is caused by attraction of opportunities of employment and
economic development (FIG 2010). The largest category of urban agglomerations
is known as ‘Megacity’. According to United Nations (UN 2007), megacities are
municipalities having population more than 10 million. Today, there are 28
megacities worldwide and India has three dynamic megacities including Mumbai,
Delhi, and Kolkata. In 2020, three other cities (Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai)
will become megacities and the country will have largest number of megacities in
the world (Rück 2005) (Fig. 7.12).

7.5.1 Pakistan

Environment sustainability in Pakistan is threatened due to unsustainable pattern of

economic development. Problem connecting to environment are including high
population growth rate, lack of public awareness and education, mismanagement of
water and other natural resources as well as unplanned urban and industrial
expansion. Economic growth is also hampered by environmental degradation and
depletion of natural resource base. The city of Karachi alone contributes 21.7% to

URBAN AREA OF MEGACITIES OF INDIAN SUB-

CONTINENT (2013)
750
URBAN AREA (SQ.MILE)

465

340
310
225 211
125

KARACHI LAHORE MUMBAI KOLKOTA NEW DEHLI HYDERABAD DHAKA

Fig. 7.12 Urban area of megacities of Indian-continent. Source Demographic World Urban Areas
(2013, designed M.M. Anwar)
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 139

Table 7.7 Population distribution in Lahore municipal authority (LMA) (1998–2001)

District Population
1998 2001 growth Sf Percentage of total
population
Lahore 6,318,745 7,041,839 3.399 91.28
Seikhupura (share of LMA*) 499,012 541,682 2.56 07.02
Kasur (share of LMA) 120,838 131,097 2.54 01.70
LMA 6,938,591 7,714,618 3.32 100.00
Source Master Plan for Lahore 2004 regarding population Distribution in Lahore, designed M.M.
Anwar

Table 7.8 Urbanization (1951–1998) in Lahore district

Census year Population Proportion of urban
Lahore district urban Lahore district population (%)
1951 861,279 1,134,757 75.90
1961 1,312,495 1,625,810 80.73
1972 2,189,530 2,587,621 84.62
1981 2,988,486 3,544,942 84.30
1998 5,209,088 6,18,745 82.44
Source Master Plan for Lahore 2004 regarding urbanization in Lahore, designed M.M. Anwar

the total urban population of Pakistan, while the city of Lahore contributes 12.7%.
They along with the biggest seven cities including Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan,
Hyderabad, Gujranwala, Peshawar and Quetta contain 54.6% of Pakistan urban
population (Sattar 2012).
Pakistan’s population in mid 2004 was estimated as 149 million—which is 1.9%
higher than the previous year. According to the Population Census 1998, the
population of Lahore Metropolitan Area (LMA) was 6.94 million which is
estimated to have grown to 7.71 million in 2001. More than 91% of this population
(7.04 million) lives in Lahore City District, 7.0% (0.54 million) in Tehsil
Ferozewala of District Seikhupura and 1.7% in parts of Tehsil Kasur of District
Kasur (Bajawa et al. 2005) (Tables 7.7 and 7.8).

7.5.2 Urbanizing Problem in Lahore

Urbanization phenomenon occurred because of migration (Rural to Urban and

International) and natural increase. Natural increase is another factor which has
also increased the demand for housing in the country. Both these factors (natural
increase and migration) exerted a huge pressure and resultantly the population of
Lahore increases very rapidly. Issues addressed include migration to urban centers,
140 J.H. Breuste et al.

the immediate environmental and health impacts of urban pollution on developing

country cities, and the link between crime and security. Urbanization does not have
only local environmental impacts but also large so-called ‘ecological footprints’
beyond their immediate vicinity. Intensive and extensive exploitation of natural
resources to support urban economy includes excessive extraction of energy
resources (including fuel wood), quarrying and excavation of sand, gravel and
building materials at large scales, and over extraction of water. Other effects can be
felt further afield such as pollution of waterways, long-range air pollution that
impact on human health as well as on vegetation and soils at a considerable distance
(Henderson 2006).
Taha (2010) presented trends in the population growth and urbanization in
Lahore with the growth in the air pollution, water pollution and change in the
forestation recourses in Lahore district. Air pollution has always been a problem in
Lahore. About 2% of total deaths are attributed to air pollution in Lahore.
According to this report 22,700 people die because of increase in urban air pol-
lution. This inferior air quality in Lahore is the effect of vehicular and industrial
emissions. Clean drinking water is scarce in Lahore. Most of the population in
Lahore never drinks clean water.
Species threatened by urbanization also tend to be threatened by agriculture,
recreation, roads and many other human impacts, emphasizing the uniquely far
reaching transformations that accompany urban sprawl (Joshua and Ali 2011)
(Tables 7.9 and 7.10).
Allama Iqbal Town: The feeding station was left in the Asif Block of Allama
Iqbal Town area for a week. Allama Iqbal Town has an area of 387,437 m2 and a
population of 567,000 (Population Census Report 1998). The absence of
graminivorous birds in the area except for a few House Sparrows was possibly
because of the kitchen scraps given to the birds which attracted crows and mynas
which possibly scared away the major avian diversity. The lack of roosting sites in
the form of vegetation, however, was remarkable.
Data Ganj Bakhsh Town (Mall road opposite high court): With a total
Population of 712,000 persons according to the 1998 census and an area of
28,110 m2. Data Ganj Baksh ranks the second highest in congestion i.e. 25.33
persons per m2. It is one of the smallest towns of Lahore, equal in size to Gulberg
Town and larger in size only to Samanabad Town. No birds were observed at the
feeding station till 6:30 a.m., this was strange, as previous studies on estimating
bird Density state that the optimal time to count birds was during the first 4 h after
sunrise. Many House Swifts were observed flying with their mouth open over small
shrubs. This behaviour was also observed in Aziz Bhatti Town and Gulberg Town.
Gulberg Town (Gulberg III): Area wise Gulberg Town and Data Ganj Baksh
Town were similar in size, (28,110 m2) however; a total population of 571,000
persons according to the 1998 determines congestion level, 20.31, which is less
than that at Data Ganj Baksh Town. Contrary to observations at Aziz Bhatti Town,
birds in this area fed on all types of seeds. Many laughing doves and Ring necked
Doves were observed sitting under the table but none on the table. The number of
birds visiting the site decreased in the afternoon. Birds had consumed all types of
Table 7.9 Number of birds visiting the feeding station in the summer season (July 2010–September 2011)
Name of town House Laughing Blue rock Silver Common Common Ring necked Rose ringed Red vented Bank
sparrows dove pigeon bill babbler myna dove parakeet bulbul myna
Aziz Bhatti 169 7 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Town
Nishtar Town 375 5 0 29 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gulberg Town 1266 19 0 0 35 0 0 0 0 0
Wagah Town 217 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Data Gunj 59 18 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Baksh Twon
Allama Iqbal 5 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management

Town
Shalimar Town 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ravi Town 239 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Samnabad Twon 289 13 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source Joshua and Ali (2011, designed M.M. Anwar)
141
 142

Table 7.10 Number of birds visiting the feeding station in the winter season (December 2010–February 2011)
Name of town House Laughing Blue rock silver Common Common Ring necked Rose ringed Red vented Bank
sparrows dove pigeon bill babbler myna dove parakeet bulbul myna
Aziz Bhatti 122 2 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0
Town
Nishtar Town 2164 5 0 0 0 2 4 11 32 0
Gulberg Town 1164 30 0 0 16 0 2 0 0 0
Wagah Town 664 1 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 11
Data Gunj 258 4 0 18 0 5 0 0 7 0
Baksh Twon
Allama Iqbal 12 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Town
Shalimar Town 241 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ravi Town 985 3 35 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Samnabad Twon 310 11 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source Joshua and Ali (2011, designed M.M. Anwar)
J.H. Breuste et al.
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 143

Fig. 7.13 Seeds set out in

different quadrants of the
Feeding station. Source
Joshua and Ali (2011)

seeds however the seed of least preference was again Chick Peas, Mustard Seeds
and Corn. Source: Joshua and Ali (2011) (Fig. 7.13).
Wagah Town (Batapur): Wagah Town was the third largest town of Lahore
with the population congestion of 1.325. This explains the largest diversity of birds
present in the area. The number of birds that visited the feeding station was
however very low especially in the summer. In the winter season, however, the case
was different as the crops were not in the seeding season and the number of insects
available during the summer season had decreased as the season changed. The
number of House Sparrows that foraged at the feeding station in the winter season
increased three fold. Source: Joshua and Ali (2011).

7.5.3 Karachi

It associated with land attributes and human activities expresses a city’s social and
economic functions. Green spaces in the form of species composition, which per-
formance echoes ecological and environmental functions. The green spaces can be
denoted by urban factors, such as public parks, neighborhood parks (Anwar 2006).
Karachi is now among the ten top ranking largest cities in the world. Even at
decreasing average annual growth rate (from 4.15% in 2005 to 3.5% in 2020), the
increase in absolute terms is staggering and will put heavy pressure on the physical,
infrastructure, financial and institutional systems of the city.
A large segment of Karachi’s population, roughly 40%, is afflicted with
poverty. As these impact the environment, ecosystem and growth potential of the
city. Karachi’s population is diversified in terms of ethnicity and economic con-
ditions. Apart from in-migrants from Pakistan’s provinces, a large number of
migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries have
settled in the city. CDGK (City District Government Karachi 2010–11) (Fig. 7.14).
144 J.H. Breuste et al.

Fig. 7.14 Karachi existing land use—2005. Source (CDGK “Current Conditions and Issues”
2010–11)

With expansion of the built-up area and continuous densification the built
environment has been marred by intense congestion, lack of cleanliness, unsanitary
conditions, and poor maintenance of public infrastructure, over construction and
enormous encroachment of foot-paths, streets, roads and public amenity open
spaces. Water quality and water pollution are important environmental concerns.
Most water available in Karachi does not meet the water quality standards of WHO
(CDGK “Current Conditions and Issues” 2010–11).

7.5.4 Urbanizing Problems in Karachi

Air pollution is a serious environmental problem in the Karachi city. Automobile

exhaust, industrial emissions, open burning of garbage, domestic and commercial
fuel sources cause high increase in air. Solid waste from industries (also dumped
outside the factory premises) is burnt in incinerators not always designed for
hazardous waste disposal, like chemicals, pesticides and hospital waste. The Lyari
and Malir rivers, which have been converted into large open sewers, cause severe
marine pollution along the coast and impact the harbor’s marine environment.
Further, solid waste dumping and hazardous industrial sewage aggravates the
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 145

contamination of the Lyari River. Institutional framework for environmental control

is weak and indecisive with overlapping responsibilities (CDGK “Current
Conditions and Issues” 2010–11). Ships discharge pollutants directly into the
marine environment of the harbor. Human consumption of such sea-food may cause
anemia, kidney failure and brain damage.
The polluted marine environment has also damaged the ecological balance
maintained by the mangrove ecosystem that provides a natural habitat for inter-
dependent communities of invertebrate’s fish, shrimps, crabs, birds and reptiles.
Protection of the mangrove ecosystem and minimizing pollutants discharge into the
sea requires immediate corrective measures to preclude the fast degradation of the
marine environment (CDGK “Current Conditions and Issues” 2010–11).
The Karachi’s coastline, with its fine beaches, backwaters, mud flats and
mangroves ecosystem, is a natural asset. Its scenic attraction and potential for
recreation activities provide the basis for select urban development that combines
the natural advantages, social and economic growth while promoting sustainability.
There is considerable scope for development of several activities including
commercial-amusement complexes and waterfront architecture. Coastal develop-
ment is a special area requiring a plan carefully integrated with the overall
metropolitan planning and has to be based on well-defined land use and urban
design principles (CDGK “Current Conditions and Issues” 2010–11).

7.5.5 India

India’s urban population is the second largest in the world, after China. Both,
natural increase and rural to urban migration have contributed towards the urban
growth in India. Component of urban growth has attributed to mainly three com-
ponents and the largest contributor is natural growth 41.7% during 1971–81 and
58.7% during 1981–91. Almost the similar trend has been found by (Pathak and
Mehta 1995) Agriculture, industry, energy production, urban development, grazing,
logging, mining and other land uses relate to human activity or economic function
associated with a specific piece of land. Land use is a product of interactions
between cultural backgrounds, state and physical needs of the society with the
natural potential of land (Karwariya and Goyal 2011).
Often improper urban land use is responsible for various forms of environmental
degradation and ecological disturbance. It is essential to know the natural charac-
teristics, extent and location, its quality, productivity, suitability and limitations of
urban uses for sustainable utilization of the land ecosystems. The need for new
housing, schools, industries, transportation and other civic amenities increases with
increase in population. The sprawling process of expansion is disordered, unplan-
ned, leading often to inefficient and unsustainable urban expansion patterns (Travisi
and Camagni 2005).
In Delhi, India built-up area is 16.86% of the total city area of 1490 km2 during
1997–2008. This area mainly came from agriculture land, waste land, scrub-land,
146 J.H. Breuste et al.

sandy areas and water bodies. In comparison the increment in forest cover of 0.5%
is very small and water bodies are also reduced. To increase the quality of life in an
urban environment, it is essential to preserve and manage natural land use classes
through appropriate urban planning (Manju et al. 2011).
Assessment of Raichur City located in the state of Karnataka, India, revealed
that the city is under imminent threat from the rapid urbanization. As per the present
trend, by 2021, nearly 27% of the agricultural land would be converted to settle-
ments resulting in shortage of the surface and ground water resources which, in
turn, would further impact agriculture (Basawaraja et al. 2011).
The agricultural space is used, connected agricultural land is destroyed, natural
potential of soils is indirectly lost and the endangered animals and plants are
eliminated (Ecological Impacts). Inhabitants of densely built cities have to bear
lower traffic costs. As households and firms suburbanize, radial commuting to the
city centre is more and more replaced by cross-commuting within the urban area.
The time cost of commuting would have increased even more without suburban-
ization (Traffic Impacts). As the number of cars on the road increases, a number of
harmful pollutants are emitted as vehicular exhausts. These pollutants include
carbon monoxide gas, nitric oxide, hydrocarbons and particulates. Urbanization and
anthropogenic stress in Bangalore City has paid a share in discontinuity of the
drainage network due to loss of wetlands (Zutshi et al. 2008).
The eastward expansion of Kolkata due to population growth and influx has
been accommodated at the expense of natural ecosystems, mainly the East Kolkata
Wetlands. Interestingly, the Basic Development Plan (BDP) for the city, completely
disregarding the ecological sensitivity of the EKW, proposes to develop two major
townships, namely the Baishnabghata-Patuli Township, and the East Calcutta
townships in the EKW. The Sundarbans, which is part of the delta of the
Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin shared between India and Bangladesh, is home
to the largest mangrove forest ecosystems in the world, over 1.400 recorded spe-
cies, including the iconic Bengal Tiger, Panthera tigris and several other threatened
species (WWF India 2011).
Unfortunately, the natural recovery of the Navi Mumbai corridor’s mangroves
is not enough to offset the overall loss of Mumbai’s mangroves. Increased urban-
ization also presents new threats: most imminently, the new proposed airport
development in Mumbai presents a great risk, with the potential to destroy much of
this newly re-created habitat. Thus, changes in human resource use can have
consequences for ecosystem degradation as well as for restoration (Fig. 7.15).
In India, most studies on urbanisation focus on megacities like Mumbai, Delhi,
Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore, by mostly focusing on issues related to urban
economy, politics, and environmental pollution. However, it is the urbanisation of
smaller cities and towns, particularly those located in biodiversity rich areas that are
of serious concern to conservation (Fig. 7). Yet, there are no studies that enumerate
the ground realities of urbanization and its impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem in
India (Rajashekariah WWF-India 2011).
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 147

Fig. 7.15 Rapid infrastructure development cutting through forest areas negatively impacts
biodiversity and ecosystem. Source (Rajashekariah 2011)

7.5.6 Bangladesh

Dhaka has gone from being small provincial headquarter to being large connected
economic, physical, and environmental features of Bangladesh. The problems that
society faces because of the growth of Dhaka and a concentration of large number
of human populations is just beginning to be fully recognized as a significant
environmental problem (Khan 2000).
From recent field visit experience in the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra DND
project area, they observed that the housing companies have acquired cheap land in
flood plains and developed residential colonies there, which are very vulnerable to
flooding. Because of the global warming many disasters are raising. As a result each
year the city dwellers suffer acute water logging problems during the rainy season.
In a report on Strategic Environment Assessment of Dhaka, water logging has
been identified as one of the major problems of the City (Saha et al. 2012).
Serious problems of environmental degradation in Sylhet city stemming from
urbanization may be evaluated in the form of land use alterations, inadequate solid
waste management, traffic congestion, water logging, drainage congestion, inade-
quate public water supply, lack of proper sanitation, air pollution, noise pollution,
hill cutting, lowering of groundwater level, etc. (Alam et al. 2006).
148 J.H. Breuste et al.

Table 7.11 Resources, processes and effects of urban ecosystems

Resources Processes Effects
Human Manufacture Negative effects: Pollution—air, water, noise
resources Transportation waste generation—garbage, sewage congestion,
Sunlight Construction overcrowding
Land Migration Positive effects: Products, Value-addition,
Water Population growth Increased knowledge base/education, Access to
minerals Residence/living better services
Electricity Community services
Fuels (education, health etc.)
Finance
Intermediary
products
Recyclable
materials
Source Srinivas (2003)

7.6 Degradation of Functions and Problems

to Use Urban Ecosystem Services

There are complex interactions among social, institutional, economic and envi-
ronmental variables in urban ecosystems. These interactions adversely affect the
functioning of ecosystem and their services to humans diminish. Any disturbance in
urban ecosystem resulting from human activities in urban areas eventually affect
society and human well-being (Alberti 2005) (Table 7.11).
Important urban patterns include urban form and land use intensity, hetero-
geneity and connectivity. These drivers give rise to different mechanisms such as
land cover change, fragmentation, resource use, emissions, etc. Changes in land
cover affect soil quality, primary productivity, biotic diversity, urban runoff, and
sedimentation rates. Urban activities also affect population, communities, and
ecosystem dynamics by altering availability of water, energy and nutrients (Alberti
et al. 2003).

7.7 Major Causes of Ecosystem Degradation

Are Given as Under

Human-induced factors: One of the important factors is population pressure.

Increased urban population results into higher use of resources including fossil fuel
and increased waste generation and environmental pollution. Consequently, there
will be degraded, scarce, or absent ecological services in urban areas (Figs. 7.16
and 7.17).
Economic Factors: Economic growth is the main driver of urbanization. Urban
development causes conflicts which disturb urban habitat and ecosystem.
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 149

Fig. 7.16 Effects of urban patterns on ecosystem function. Source Alberti et al. (2003, designed:
M.M. Anwar)

Fig. 7.17 Relationship between economic conditions and urban environments. Source
McGranahan et al. (2001)

Political Factors: Lack of zoning/growth regulations in urban areas leads to

sprawl, conversion of natural areas into residences and loss of open space.
Industrial Projects: There is discharge of wastes from industrial units in urban
areas. Industrial development also affects urban ecosystem.
150 J.H. Breuste et al.

Transportation: Roads and railways cause degradation of ecosystem due to use

of fossil fuels, emission of exhaust gases and fragmentation.
Urban development: It involves different activities such as digging, material
transport, construction, energy consumption, etc. These activities affect urban
ecosystem (Alberti 2005) in following ways;
• Fragmentation and degradation of natural habitats
• Homogenization of species composition
• Disruption of hydrological systems
• Modification of nutrient cycling and energy flow
Urbanization presents major economic challenges, such as high demand for
low-income urban employment. There is increased pressure on ability of state to
provide basic services such as electricity, housing, healthcare and clean water due
to higher migration rate (Kugelman 2013).
There is tremendous population growth and urban sprawl in megacity of
Karachi. This has increased travelling distances for urban dwellers and increased
use of natural resources (Qureshi 2010). There is reduction in vegetation cover of
the natural resources largely due to residential and commercial developments
(Qureshi et al. 2010).
Sajjad et al. (2009) found that there is increase in the built-up land from 104 to
200 km2, and reduction in the overall green cover from 111 to 75 km2. Urban
development has also covered more than 50 km2 of the open spaces in and around
the city of Karachi. Urbanization has resulted to increased temperature up to 4 °C in
Karachi during 1961–2009 (Fig. 7.18).
Significant reduction in urban green has been found in urbanized areas of
Karachi, particularly after 2000 due to extensive development activities in the

Fig. 7.18 Trend of mean annual temperatures in Karachi (1961–2009). Source Sajjad et al. (2009)
7 Urban Ecosystems: Functions, Value and Management 151

transportation sector. There is rapid increasing trends in respiratory and other

environmentally induced diseases in the mega city. There are increased physical
and social problems in the city due to haphazard and disorganized development
activities (Qureshi et al. 2010).
In Dhaka, more than five million people lack access to a public toilet. The public
health impact is enormous: In Bangladesh, poor sanitation costs over US$ 3.88
billion a year, which is mostly attributed to healthcare costs. It amounts to 6.3% of
the total GDP of the country. About 5.5 million urban poor workers are outdoors in
the city for 5–8 h a day and they would likely not have access to a public toilet.
There are only 47 public toilets with open access in Dhaka, which means that
one-third of population in Dhaka is forced to defecate in open space, along road-
sides, or riverbanks (Intellecap 2011).

7.8 Concluding Remarks

Urban development in South Asian is occurring at faster rate to accommodate

growing population. This is giving rise to megacities. This is giving rise to many
environmental and social issues, which can only be addressed by examining urban a
regions as an ecosystem. Thus ecosystem based management approach can provide
some practical solutions in new and old urban centres. This chapter summarise
some of our current understanding of the regional urban ecosystem and cite
examples from South Asia and offer management options for sustainable cities.
Wittgenstein was sometimes criticized for going beyond the aims and methods of
Austrian school reform. For example, he successfully taught advanced algebra,
geometry, natural history (biology, botany, and geology), and literature. Rosner
describes how he ‘often went on his own way, wanting to find new methods of
teaching and education’ (Hausmann 1982:22)1 Rosner refers not only to
Wittgenstein’s success at teaching advanced subjects, but also to innovations such as
the building and use of a potter’s wheel. One of Wittgenstein’s pedagogical inno-
vations was to begin with interesting and unusual examples (rather than standard or
ordinary ones) not only in mathematics, but also in grammar and other subjects:
Wittgenstein argued that the child should learn the principle of a thing through an inter-
esting, though possibly difficult specific case; even if other standard examples were easier
to learn, there was no point in cluttering up the mind of the child with them unless he

1
According to Bartley, ‘Wittgenstein often poked fun at the reform program’s more vulgar slogans
and projects’ (Bartley 1974:61). It is worth noting that he also made similar comments about
philosophical slogans. For example, Redpath writes: ‘Wittgenstein intimated that the dictum ‘in a
great number of cases it is advisable to put “use of a word” for “meaning of a word”’ is a slogan.
Sometimes the slogan is ridiculed, sometimes it is boosted: in both cases, in his opinion,
wrongly…Slogans are easy and stick in the memory. If the use of the slogan goes, but the slogan
remains, it is ridiculous’ (Redpath 1990:85). Papaneck also notes that Austrian school reform was
‘in the best sense of the word, eclectic…[and] creative in its own right’ (Papaneck 1962:68).
152 J.H. Breuste et al.

understood and could apply the principle behind them. Thus one went from the unusual to
the ordinary rather than – as many had hitherto supposed – from the ordinary to the unusual
(Bartley 1974:79).

Students learned through investigation, and their active participation involved

acquiring knowledge by working or puzzling things out for themselves. Such
practical exercises played an important role in Wittgenstein’s teaching (Monk
1990:193). In other words, the meaning of specific operations was discovered while
their techniques were being acquired (Bartley 1985:98).2

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Chapter 8
The Hydro-Institutional Challenge
of Managing Tanks: A Study of Tanks
in Rural Andhra Pradesh

M. Dinesh Kumar and Neena Rao

8.1 Introduction

Tanks have been an important source of irrigation in India for generations. The
states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have the largest concentration
of irrigation tanks, numbering 1.2 lac (Palanisami et al. 2010), and accounting for
nearly 60% of India’s tank-irrigated area (Karthikeyan 2010). They play the vital
role of harvesting surface runoff during monsoon and then allowing it to be used
later. The predominance of tanks in the Deccan plateau is because of the unique
topographic characteristics of the regions. The areas falling under these regions
offer ideal potential for tank construction and carrying out gravity based irrigation
(ADB 2006).
Tanks are very important from an ecological perspective as they help conserve
soil, water and bio-diversity (Balasubramanian and Selvaraj 2003). Like other
wetlands, tanks play a significant role in supporting food chains by providing an
environment where photosynthesis can occur and recycling of nutrients can take
place (Juliano and Simonovic 1999). In addition, tanks also contributes to
groundwater recharge, flood control and silt capture (Mosse 1999). For instance,
tanks help to lessen the impacts of flooding by absorbing water and reducing the
flood discharge. Further, during periods of flooding, they trap suspended solids and
nutrient load. Thus, the streams passing through will carry lesser amount of sus-
pended solids and nutrients to the rivers than if they flow directly into them (Bassi
et al. 2014).

M.D. Kumar (&)

Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad, India
e-mail: [email protected]
N. Rao
SaciWATERs, Hyderabad, India

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 155

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_8
156 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

Tanks play a vital role of harvesting surface runoff during monsoon and then
allowing it to be used later. Although most of the tanks were essentially constructed
for irrigation purpose, they have been used for providing water for domestic and
livestock consumption. The tank water body is also used for fisheries, and tank bed
as a source of nutrient rich land for cultivation, fodder and soil for brick making.
These uses have high value in terms of household income, nutrition and health for
the poorest of the poor (Kumar et al. 2013). Over the years, the multiple-use
dependence on tanks has only increased. The tank irrigated area has been declining
in India over the years. In undivided Andhra Pradesh, figures are more alarming
with the net area irrigated by tanks reducing to 4.9 lac ha in 2003–04 from 7.47 lac
ha in 1995–96, a decline of 35% (Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India).
The impact of decline in tank systems on the rural communities, who have been
traditionally dependent on these marvelous socially engineered water harnessing
systems, is manifold. This dependence is not only for water for irrigation and
domestic use but also for the forestry, fisheries, brick-making, manure and fodder.
The neglect of tanks has resulted in farmers receiving insufficient quantities of
water from tanks (Palanisami 2006). A study conducted in tank irrigated areas of
Tamil Nadu estimated reduction in crop yield and income for tank dependent
farmers owing to growth of private well irrigation and deterioration in tank per-
formance (Kajisa et al. 2004). Thus, a well- functioning tank system has a signif-
icant bearing on the household income especially for the small farmers who have
limited private resources to invest in wells and pump-sets.
Recent attempts to modernize and rejuvenate existing irrigation tanks have
focused more on physical rehabilitation with little or no emphasis on understanding
of the tank hydrology. Particularly, the way land-use changes in the catchment are
affecting tank inflows and siltation rates etc. have been paid least attention by those
who are involved in tank rehabilitation programmes. The fact is that intensive crop
cultivation, often in the common land through encroachments, and intensive
pumping of groundwater in the upper catchments for irrigation are likely to threaten
the very sustainability of the tank ecology in many areas. Intensive cultivation will
impound a significant share of the catchment runoff; whereas excessive ground-
water pumping in hilly catchments can reduce groundwater outflows into the
streams, which constitute part of the tank inflows, with resultant impact on the
ecological health of the stream.
If it is so, this will have serious implications for tank management programmes.
From a physical systems perspective, if performance of tanks as wetland ecosys-
tems is to be sustained or improved, it will be important to influence the land-use
decisions and groundwater use in the catchment. From an institutional perspective,
the domain of the conventional institutions that are being created to manage the
tanks by governments and NGOs alike will have to expand to bring groundwater
users and catchment cultivators under its fold. This calls for developing entirely
new sets of protocols for tank rehabilitation, including physical strategies for
management of tanks as wetland ecosystems and institutional arrangement for
ensuring their sustainable performance.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 157

8.2 Dominant Theories on Decline of Tanks

A large volume of literature exists on “decline” of tanks in South India. This

“decline” is both in terms of declining relative contribution of tanks in irrigated
area, and reduction in aggregate area under tank irrigation (Sharma 2003).
However, the theory of “decline of tanks” is contested by a few scholars, who
believe that this emerges from a very reductionist approach of viewing tanks as
mere sources of irrigation, and that the criteria for evaluating the performance of
tanks should be more broad, to accommodate their various social, economic and
ecological functions (Kumar 2002; Palanisami et al. 2010). Kumar (2002) for
instance, argue that given the wide range of physical, social, economic and eco-
logical functions which tanks perform, the simplistic criteria for evaluating the
performance of tanks, which look at the irrigated area or the number of users of
drinking water as the indicators, need to change and more complex criteria need to
be evolved.
Nevertheless, various theories have been made as reason for the “decline of
tanks” in South India. Shankari (1991) points out that poor management is pri-
marily responsible for the decline of tanks, as evident in the nonparticipation of
farmers in cleaning channels, encroachment of the tank bed, inadequate repairs,
weed infestation and siltation (Shankari 1991). von Oppen and Rao (1987), based
on a survey of 32 tanks in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, argued that increases
in population density resulted in deforestation in catchment areas leading to soil
erosion and siltation. After, Sekar and Palanisami (2000), tank bed cultivation and
the lack of an administrative structure to provide timely repair and maintenance,
contributed to the decline of tank irrigation. The other reasons provided by scholars
include: agricultural encroachment of supply channels and tank beds, which
reduced the inflows into the tanks (Easter and Palanisami 1986; Mosse 1999); sand
mining of supply channels; rural infrastructure development interfering with the
natural inflows; and unplanned watershed development cutting off the supply to
tanks (ADB 2006; Palanisami 2006); decline in tank storage capacity over the years
due to excessive siltation (Gunnell and Krishnamurthy 2003; Paranjape et al. 2008);
lackadaisical attitude of micro-level institutions managing the tanks, which has
mainly stemmed from the growth of private well irrigation in the tank command
area resulting in disincentive among farmers to manage these open access bodies
(Balasubramanian and Selvaraj 2003; Kajisa et al. 2004; Sakthivadivel et al. 2004;
ADB 2006). A few scholars have also highlighted how the hydraulic interdepen-
dence between tank storage and aquifer recharge is creating disincentive for farmers
to carry out maintenance of tanks, and instead motivating them to privatize these
resources by using them as percolation ponds (Sakurai and Palanisami 2001).
A multi-variate analysis by Balasubramanian and Selvaraj (2003) of the factors
responsible for tank degradation showed that variables such as encroachments in
catchment and water spread area and the increase in canal- and well-irrigation, had
significantly increased the degradation of tanks. The increasing importance given to
modern irrigation systems, larger reservoirs and river valley projects and the spread
158 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

of private irrigation wells, also have a considerable negative impact on traditional

community irrigation systems.
A common view which emerges from the review is that the lack of interest of
command area farmers in the management of tanks (Shankari 1991;
Balasubramaniyam and Selvaraj 2003; Sekar and Palanisami 2000; von Oppen and
Rao 1987), or the erosion of the community management structures, which were
responsible for their management, and the subsequent management take over by the
government, had resulted in their decline (PRADAN 1996; Rao 1998). Some
attributed the loss of community interest in tanks to the advent of groundwater
irrigation which gave farmers superior control over irrigation (Dhawan 1985;
Palanisami and Easter 1991). Some scholars attribute it to the development
approach followed during the British rule centered on modern large irrigation
systems for the decline of tanks (Paranjape et al. 2008).
However, Mosse (1999) challenged the long held view of scholars working on
tanks in South India that collapse of community institutions was the major cause of
decline of tanks. He contends that even in the past, communities did little invest-
ment in the upkeep of tanks. It was the Zamindars and kings who, not only built
most of the tanks, but spent money for their upkeep as well. According to Mosse
(ibid), it was the fall of the institution of overlords that led to the decline of the
tanks.
Shah (2008), while highlighting the cultural and environmental superiority of
traditional knowledge that built and managed tanks, as an irrigation technology,
argued that tanks have not necessarily produced a democratic social order, either in
the past or in the present. According to her, they symbolized an increasingly
extractive statecraft involving coerced labor; the expropriation of surplus by elites;
and the spread of technological choices that could be environmentally unsound and
that often resulted in forced displacement, uncertainty, technological vulnerability,
and social anxiety and violence. Further, tanks as techno-sociological artifacts were
socially embedded in societies and economies that were organized for warfare, and
that sustained sharp social hierarchies, and were often violent to women and people
from lower castes (Shah 2008: p 673).
In nutshell, when viewed together, the work of various scholars seem to suggest
that decline of tanks was due to several events, starting with the takeover of
community and Zamindari (Private) tanks by the state, which led to institutional
erosion, collapse of the system for collection of water charges and lack of main-
tenance leading to deterioration of the physical condition of this irrigation infras-
tructure, and the subsequent gradual loss of community interest in their affairs.
Therefore, the factors responsible for decline of tanks were argued to be
“institutional”.
None of the above theories could fully explain the reasons for degradation of
tank systems and decline in tank irrigated area in South India. In fact, every
argument suffers from weaknesses. For instance, if the argument that advent of
groundwater irrigation had really led to the loss of farmer interest in tanks, is valid,
then it tends to assume that groundwater irrigation is highly equitable and provides
farmers from all segments access to and control over well irrigation. This is far from
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 159

the truth, as pointed out by Kumar (2007). Only a small fraction of the small and
marginal farmers in India even today own wells, and pump sets (Kumar 2007),
where the situation was much worse in the 70s and 80s, when drilling wells was
expensive, and rural electrification was poor.
As pointed out by Narayanamoorthy (2007), it is the small and marginal farmers,
who do not own irrigation wells in the tank commands, who have high stakes in
tank irrigation as their livelihood is heavily dependent on it. If this is the case, one
cannot explain the poor state of affairs with regard to the condition of tanks in areas
such as Kolar (in Karnataka) and Anantapur in AP, where the poor small and
marginal farmers do not own wells, and are often dependent on water purchase
from well owners engaged in water trading. It is also a notable fact that most of the
beneficiaries of tank water for irrigation are small and marginal farmers.

8.3 An Alternative Hypothesis on Tank Degradation

The dominant theories, advanced by many researchers, harp on collapse of tradi-

tional tank institutions as the cause of decline of tank irrigation, be it the institutions
of overloads, or community management structures. Both the theories are also
suggestive of a resounding view that performance of tank as a system is very much
within the control of the farmers in the command areas or the institutions which
manage them. They inadvertently ignore the fact that these institutions existed in a
certain socio-political landscape, which is difficult or even impossible to recreate.
Such views are based on the assumption that simply cleaning supply channels, or
clearing the catchments or repair of the tank embankments (tank bunds), and
de-silting of the distribution network would yield results in terms of improved
storage in tanks and expanded irrigation benefits. They ignore the effect of
endogenous and exogenous physical and socio-economic factors on tank hydrol-
ogy, and the very impact these effects have on the viability of institutions itself.
First: population growth had a significant demand on irrigation water for crop
production in these semi-arid regions, which forced farmers to go for alternative
sources of irrigation, and the search for this alternative was facilitated by advent of
well irrigation, cheap drilling technology, rural electrification and subsidized
electricity for pumping groundwater. This is quite understandable given the fact the
performance of tanks was subject to high variability in accordance with year to year
variation in the occurrence of monsoon rains, as these tanks harnessed water only
from the local catchments. Further, with a manifold increase in rural population and
with increase in number of farmers within the limited command of these tanks, the
actual area which a single farmer could irrigate using tank water became too low for
them to manage their farming enterprise. Well irrigation not only became affordable
and in some cases cheaper, it also provided a superior form of irrigation. Yet, as
noted by Narayanamoorthy (2007) and Paranjape et al. (2008), for the poor small
and marginal farmers, the tanks continued to be an important source of irrigation
and livelihoods.
160 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

Second: the increase in population pressure on private land also meant that
farmers had to expand the net area under cultivation, and sometimes this led to
encroachment of commons, which formed the original catchments of tanks.
Catchment cultivation resulted in a lot of the runoff generated from precipitation
being captured through in situ water harvesting for production of rain-fed crops,
reducing the inflows into the tanks. Intensive well irrigation on the other hand led to
reduced groundwater outflows (base flow) into the upper catchment tanks. Whereas
draw down in water table resulting from excessive withdrawal of groundwater can
potentially lead to greater percolation of water from tanks into the shallow aquifers,
further reducing the storage and irrigation potential of the tanks. It is important to
mention here that as research has shown in the past, in hard rock areas of peninsular
India, the “cone of impression” produced at the bottom of tanks due to percolation
of tank water into the shallow aquifer generally stops further percolation of the
water (Muralidharan and Athavale 1998). This peculiar geo-logical and
geo-hydrological setting ensured storage of water in the tanks in peninsular India.
But, emptying of the aquifer could induce sustained recharge. What is important is
that there is no mechanism to control groundwater abstraction by well irrigators in
the command and catchments, as legal rights to groundwater are attached to
landownership rights.
Reduced irrigation potential of tanks due to the above cited reasons and the
increasing number of tank water users in the command area essentially meant that
the contribution tanks could make in the overall livelihood of individual command
area farmers, including small and marginal farmers, was too small in comparison to
the transaction cost of initiating actions that would improve their performance. In
fact, the transaction cost of initiating actions such as removal of encroachments
from catchments, and regulating the use of groundwater in the command and
catchment would be too high owing to the complicated legal formalities involved,
whereas what a farmer could earn in terms of income from crop outputs that can be
produced from the use of tank water could be quite insignificant. Whereas, many of
the other engineering interventions such as stabilization of tank bund, increasing the
capacity of tank through de-silting and clearing of tank catchments do not result in
incremental benefits that commensurate with the financial investment in most sit-
uations. This significantly reduced the incentive among the members of the farming
community for self-initiated management actions.
While there are a few tank management activities which can provide substantial
private benefits (to the farmers) such as de-silting, i.e., removal of silt and clay from
the tank bed, as the use of it in the field gives direct income benefit to them in terms
of higher crop yields for two to three years consecutively (Kumar et al. 2011;
Paranjape et al. 2008), often the communities lack the wherewithal to take it
up. This also explains why the communities come forward to take up tank man-
agement activities in situations where there is external support to cover the trans-
action cost, and the cost of undertaking physical activities.
While the tank potential for meeting the demands for economic activities has
been gradually declining in many areas due to the problems described above,
improved availability of good quality water from public water supply schemes
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 161

within the close vicinity of their dwellings has, to a great extent, reduced the
dependence of village communities on traditional sources of water such as tanks
and ponds for domestic water supplies. Instead, they now they now depend on these
tanks for livestock drinking and washing. This has reduced the village communi-
ties’ incentive and motivation to protect tank water quality for ensuring potability.
Simultaneously, the tanks and ponds have become the natural sink for agricultural
runoff containing fertilizer and pesticide residues from upper catchments. This is
particularly the case for cascade tanks, wherein the upper catchments of some tanks
consist of the command area of the tanks located upstream. Presence of nitrates in
agricultural runoff had caused eutrophication of tanks and ponds, more so in the
case of high rainfall areas, affecting fish populations in these wetlands.
While it is extremely difficult to say which process has resulted in what outcome,
the growing awareness of public health impacts of poor water quality, and recog-
nition that traditional water bodies have increasingly become polluted had also
forced the government to think about formal water supply for villages. Here again,
it is not just that the communities have lost interest in protection of tank water
quality. There could be situations where there are no alternative sources of water
supply in the village. Even in such cases, when the communities desire to protect
the tanks from pollution, there is hardly anything which it can do to stop it. Here,
both the polluters and those who suffer the damage caused by pollution are in most
cases the same. But, there is a lack of institutional capability to address this issue.
All these factors might have ultimately led to tank degradation in terms of water
availability and water quality wherever it has happened. Or in other words,
attributing the decline of tanks to one causal factor, i.e., erosion of community
institutions or collapse of traditional village institution of “Zamindari” system
would be mere over-simplification of a complex physical, socio-economic, cultural,
environmental and institutional change. Again, what has really led to decline of
tanks in a particular situation is very much case-specific, depending on how the
physical, socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and institutions factors have
played out in that particular case. But, in sum, we would like make the proposition
that technological, socio-economic, institutional and cultural changes happening in
the societies within which the tanks are embedded, have resulted in major physical
(hydrological and environmental) changes in the tank ecology, which had changed
the incentive structures for tank management.
The schemes of minor irrigation departments, NGOs and donor communities in
rehabilitation of tanks have their accent on engineering works viz., bund stabi-
lization, construction of weir and repair of sluices, catchment forest clearance and
channel de-silting, and institutional development, comprising formation of water
user associations and their training for capacity building. They do not pay much
attention to the hydrological characteristics of tanks, which are chosen for reha-
bilitation. Hence they produce poor results, in terms of improving the overall tank
performance.
If changes happening in the rural society on the technological, socio-economic,
cultural and institutional front are bringing about irreversible trends in tank ecology
through changes in hydrology and water environment, then programmes and
162 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

projects to improve the condition and performance of tanks that are based on simple
engineering interventions such as de-silting, catchment clearing (removal of trees),
and supply and distribution channel cleaning (silt removal) are unlikely to lead to
any beneficial outcomes. Or in other words, if the rehabilitation programme has
to be successful, there should be sufficient incentive among the potential tank users
to take up the rehabilitation work.

8.4 Research Objectives, Approach and Methodology

The specific objectives of the study were as follows: (1) analyze the impact of well
development and groundwater intensive use in the tank catchment and commands
on tank performance in terms of irrigated area; (2) analyze the impact of catchment
cultivation practices on tank performance in terms of area irrigated; (3) identify the
physical, socio-economic, institutional and environmental factors that result in good
overall performance of tanks; and, (4) evolve the criteria for selection of tanks for
rehabilitation, and work out the broad management strategies for sustaining and
improving the performance of the selected tanks.
The study involved an eclectic approach. It used analyses of primary data col-
lected from selected performing and non-performing tanks, which were both
quantitative and qualitative in nature (for six selected systems) along with sec-
ondary data collected from the state minor irrigation department on tank and well
irrigation and land use in catchments (on a time scale) at different scales (state,
district, block and individual tanks) for addressing the key research questions. The
tanks were selected in such a way that the hydrological and socio-economic
environments are not uniform.

8.5 Case Study Regions and Data Sources

A total of six tanks from three districts of the state of Andhra Pradesh were chosen
for the study, with two tanks from each district. The locations were chosen in such a
way that each one represent a unique situation vis-à-vis the changes in historical
performance of tanks. The districts are Vijayanagaram, Nizamabad, and Kurnool.
Each one falls in a different river basin. Vijayanagaram falls in the drainage area of
one of the east flowing rivers, north of Godavari river basin, which is a water rich
river basin. Nizamabad falls in the drainage area of Godavari river basin, which
again is a water-rich river basin. The area of Kurnool, which was chosen for the
tank case studies, falls in the drainage area of Krishna river basin, which is a
water-scarce river basin. Hence, each one represents one hydrological regime.
In Nizamabad district, as the district level data show, the area under tank irri-
gation, in terms of net tank irrigated area, had undergone dramatic reduction, over
the past three and a half decades. In Vijayanagaram district, the area under tank
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 163

irrigation had undergone some declining trend during the same period, but not as
much as that of Nizamabad. In Kurnool district, no major reduction in area under
tank irrigation was observed from the time series data for 35 years from 1970–71 to
2004–05.
Within each district, the two study tanks were selected in such a way that one is
in a better condition as compared to the other. The judgment about relative per-
formance was made on the basis of the discussions with the officials of the irrigation
and CAD department of the government of Andhra Pradesh, who were concerned
with the management of these tanks. The criteria used for judging the performance
are the condition of the tanks vis-à-vis the physical infrastructure, the area irrigated
in the command area against the design command and the community involvement
in their management.
Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data
were collected both at the tank level and the farmer level. The tank level data
included: the tank command area; the different uses of tanks and the number of HHs
depending on the tank for various uses; area under different crops in different
seasons and at different points of time (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and at present), and
irrigated area under different crops in different seasons and at different points of
time; number of wells in the tank command at different points of time; number of
wells in tank catchment at different points of time; area under different crops in
different seasons in the tank catchment, and irrigated area under different crops in
different seasons at different points of time in the tank catchment. They were
obtained from the village elders and tank water user association office bearers. The
farmer level data consist of: (i) area under different crops in different seasons, and at
different points of time; (ii) irrigated area under different crops in different seasons
and at different points of time; (iii) changes in cropping pattern and irrigated
cropping pattern in drought year, normal year and wet year; and (iv) the current
sources of irrigation.
The secondary data comprises the net area irrigated by tank over the period from
1970–71 to 2005–06 in all the districts of AP; the net area irrigated by wells and
bore wells over the same time period in all the districts of AP; the area irrigated by
different sources viz., wells, tanks and canals in the state over the period 1970–71 to
2005–06; and the characteristics of tanks in different districts vis-à-vis their total
water spread area, and the net area irrigated.

8.6 Results and Discussion

8.6.1 Characteristics of Tanks in Erstwhile Andhra Pradesh

Tanks are manmade wetlands as per wetland classification. Out of the total of
18,701 manmade wetlands in the state of (undivided) Andhra Pradesh, with wetland
area less than 2.5 ha and covering a total wetland area of 610,354 ha, 15,290 are
164 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

tanks/ponds constituting a total wetland area of 1.4 lac ha. The rest are man-made
reservoirs, water logged areas etc. The state has three distinct physiographical units.
First is the coastal plain to the east extending from the Bay of Bengal to the
mountain ranges; Eastern Ghats which form the flank of the coastal plains; and
plateau to the west of the Eastern Ghats. Maximum tanks are found in the plateau.
The district-wise number of tanks, their wetland area, and the water-spread area pre
and post monsoon are given in Table 8.1.
What is most interesting is the fact the water spread area of these wetlands
shrinks drastically after the winter, touching the lowest point during peak summer.
Table 8.1 shows that summer water spread area (73,749 ha) is less than half of post
monsoon, i.e., November, 2010 (1,632,277 ha). This has major implications for the
total water availability of these tanks and the various functions that these tanks can
perform in different seasons. Comparison of district-wise data shows that
Vijayanagaram has the largest number of tanks, followed by Nellore and Medak.
But, in terms of average size, tanks/ponds in Cuddappa are the largest, with an area
of 25.40 ha.
Another interesting observation is that the ratio of the area irrigated by the tank
and the wetland area, which reflect the physical characteristic of tanks, vary widely
between districts. For the analysis, we have considered the area irrigated by the
tanks in 1970–71, assuming that the real deterioration in tank performance started
only later. The wetland area (as estimated through remote sensing imageries) of the
tank was taken from the Wetland atlas prepared by the Indian Space Research
Organization, Ahmedabad. Since the estimates of wetland area do not consider the
tanks with wetland area less than 2.5 ha, it might induce some errors in the esti-
mation of irrigated area-wetland area ratio. The ratio varies from 2.62 in the case of
Medak to 23.47 in the case of Srikakulam. Here, Gunter was not considered for the
analysis owing to the fact that the tanks in this coastal district receive water from
large irrigation schemes. Hyderabad was also not considered as data on tank irri-
gation in the district was incomplete.

8.6.2 Tank Management Programme in Erstwhile Andhra

Pradesh

The Irrigation and CAD department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh had
undertaken an ambitious programme for rehabilitation of tanks coming under the
minor irrigation department, which have design command area of more than 100
acres. It is to be mentioned here that those tanks which have less than 100 ha of
design command area are under the jurisdiction of Panchayats. The programme
funded by the World Bank, called Andhra Pradesh community based tank man-
agement project, envisages rehabilitation of 3000 minor irrigation tanks covering 21
districts of the state. The technical or engineering interventions under the
Table 8.1 Number of tanks and their wetland area in different districts of Andhra Pradesh
Sr. No. Name of Total number of Total wetland Average wetland area Total water spread area (ha)
district tanks/ponds area (ha) per tank/pond (ha) Post-monsoon Pre monsoon
1 Adilabad 590 7383 12.51 5090 1947
2 Nizamabad 915 19,152 12.51 13,581 7629
3 Karimnagar 692 10,535 20.93 8802 3590
4 Medak 1066 20,116 15.22 16,250 8011
5 Hyderabad 12 107 18.87 71 73
6 Rangareddy 281 3287 8.92 2728 2002
7 Mahbubnagar 340 5424 11.70 3509 2510
8 Nalgonda 601 11,702 15.95 8573 5857
9 Warangal 659 9462 19.47 8433 2367
10 Khammam 558 8044 14.36 5547 2762
11 Srikakulam 460 4678 14.42 3260 1459
12 Vijayanagaram 1539 10,567 10.17 7724 2293
13 Visakhapatnam 543 4793 6.87 3409 1341
14 East Godavari 505 4244 8.83 3384 2764
15 West Godavari 334 3191 8.40 2409 1808
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks …

16 Krishna 511 6312 9.55 4452 2418

17 Guntur 377 3512 12.35 2678 1939
18 Prakasam 480 7490 9.32 5918 3572
19 Nellore 1088 27,673 15.60 24,890 7151
20 Cuddappa 220 3584 25.43 3069 1458
21 Kurnool 142 1887 16.29 1395 810
22 Anantapur 447 9896 13.29 3131 4135
23 Chittoor 1391 18,638 22.14 17,200 3560
24 Total 15,290 212,244 13.88 163,227 73,749
Source Authors’ own estimates based on National Wetland Atlas, Andhra Pradesh prepared by Indian Space Research Organization, Ahmedabad
165
166 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

rehabilitation programme include de-silting, jungle clearance, stabilization of bund,

sluice repair, waste-weir construction or repair.
As per the project guidelines, the planning, implementation and post construc-
tion operation and management of the project are to lie with the water users’
associations. Software inputs include training of water users associations for
capacity building. To facilitate the planning, implementation and post implemen-
tation management of various tanks associated with tank rehabilitation, there would
be one support organization at a level of a cluster of 5–10 tanks.
One of the positive features of the programme is that it is demand driven. The
type of activities to be undertaken for rehabilitation of tanks for restoration of
irrigation in the command area is to be decided by the water users’ association. The
funds allocated for this, i.e., Rs. 25,000 per ha of design command area, appears to
be quite sufficient at current prices, given the fact that this is for retrofitting of an
already built irrigation infrastructure, and not for building new ones. Again, the
programme has inbuilt checks and balances for technical soundness and financial
management. The plans prepared by the Water Users’ Associations are scrutinized
by the technical staff of the minor irrigation department after field visits, and they
prepare detailed project report with the estimates for the planned works subse-
quently. There is a technical manual, which provides the guidelines for design and
execution of the physical works, and system operation.1
As the department slightly deviates from its usual operations for this project and
added several new activities as the project components, a separate financial manual
was prepared exclusively for implementing this project. This document describes
the procedure for fund flow and arrangement at the state, district and WUA level,
budget preparation, financial management systems at various levels. The manual
also provides procedure for fund disbursement and accounting system that will be
followed in the project. One important financial innovation used in the project is
that any expenditure for rehabilitation work below Rs. 50,000 could be sanctioned
by an officer in the rank of Assistant Engineer, and any expenditure in the range of
Rs. 50,000–Rs. 200,000 could be sanctioned by a Deputy Engineer or Deputy
Executive Engineer.
Another notable innovation is with regard to the repayment of water charges
being collected from the tank users. Though the cess is collected by the revenue
department office at the Mandal level, arrangements are made for quick release of a
major share of these funds back to the Water Users’ Association through the
concerned section office of the irrigation department. This keeps big incentive for
the WUA to motivate the member farmers to clear their water dues timely. These
funds are to be used for small repair works.
It appears, from a careful scrutiny of the documents relating to the tank man-
agement project, that a clear cut protocol for picking up tanks for rehabilitation is

1
The manual clearly specifies the guidelines on engineering design, construction and quality
control for the physical components of the work. It also clearly specifies the standards that need to
be maintained for each of the tank constituent be it concrete work, earth work, reinforcement, stone
masonry work, revetments, protection of upstream and downstream works and canal lining.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 167

absent. There was no clear cut policy on the part of the department, which could
have been used as the guideline for short-listing the 3000 tanks for rehabilitation,
among the many thousands of tanks/ponds in the state. The proposal for the tank
management project was prepared on the basis of the feedback and suggestions
given by the technical officers (engineers) of the department who are concerned
with management of minor irrigation tanks, from the districts and mandals con-
cerned. One quantitative criterion used by the department was to take only those
which have a command area of more than 25 ha (i.e., 100 acres). The second
criterion was presence of some local initiative by the community for tank man-
agement. This, however, was purely based on perception. While this shortcoming
could have been overcome through a prudent attempt by the department to involve
the local tank communities in this key decision making, there was no involvement
of the tank community whatsoever in selecting the tanks for rehabilitation.
Perhaps, one important consideration which was totally missing in the entire
selection process is the hydrological condition of the tanks. Very little attention is
paid to the fact that several external factors such as the intensive use of ground-
water, catchment encroachment for cultivation are ruining the potential of tanks as
reliable sources of water for multiple needs, including irrigation, through their effect
on hydrology, which is mostly irreversible.2 Sufficient efforts are not being made to
ensure that the tanks chosen for rehabilitation get sufficient inflows from its
catchment. This is also evident from the procedure followed for estimating the
catchment runoff, one important variable for deciding on the capacity of the tank.
The agency appears to be using the “rational formula” for estimating the catchment
runoff on the basis of the total catchment area and a runoff coefficient fixed on the
basis of the dependable rainfall (for 75% dependability). This is a very crude
method of runoff estimation. The problem is that for semi-arid regions with low to
medium rainfalls occurring in an erratic fashion, and for the land cover that exist,
the runoff will not be a linear function of the annual rainfall magnitude, but will
increase with rainfall in an exponential fashion. Hence, assuming a fixed value for
runoff coefficient will lead to a major error in estimation of runoff.
Ideally, the runoff coefficient will be very low for low rainfall and dispropor-
tionately high for high rainfall in semi-arid regions with high aridity (Prinz 2002)
causing high variability in runoff (Kumar et al. 2006, 2008). Therefore, the runoff
needs to be estimated on the basis of the rainfall-runoff relationship established for
the basin or the sub-basin in which the tank catchment falls. This can be done using
historical data on stream-flows and precipitation for the basin/sub-basin under
consideration. Once the rainfall-runoff relation (model) is established, the stream
flows for the years (for which records are not available) can be computed on the
basis of observed rainfall. From these stream-flow values (say for 30–50 years), the
dependable runoff (for 75% dependability) can be estimated and used for planning

2
For instance, it is impossible to stop groundwater exploitation in the catchments and commands.
In rural contexts, it is also impractical to clear the encroachments from the catchments.
168 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

the rehabilitation work. This has to be the most crucial input for deciding on the
types of uses from the tank and the cropping pattern.
In view of the many changes happening in rural landscape including the drainage
interception, there is a need for re-assessing the catchment area of the tanks. In the
absence of this, there is a very high chance that the catchment and therefore the
runoff get over-estimated. The current hydrological planning is flawed, often
leading to over-estimation of the tank size, and excavation work.

8.6.3 Impact of Groundwater Irrigation on Tank Inflows

It was hypothesized in the beginning of our research that increase in groundwater

use in the catchment and command of the tank would affect the performance of the
tanks, through reduction in the inflows into the tank in the form of groundwater
outflows or base flows in the streams.
Naturally, base flow contribution to tank inflows would be significant in the case
of tanks situated in the upper catchments of river basins, by virtue of the hilly
topography and the forested catchments. One example is the tanks located just
downstream of the forested catchments of Krishna river basin in Kurnool district.
These upper catchment tanks are surrounded on three sides by protected forest area,
with good base flows coming in from them. Though in such areas the chances of
intensive groundwater use is quite low due to the poor availability of arable land
and extremely low groundwater potential in the hard rock formations in the hills,
even a small increase in groundwater pumping could alter the hydrological balance.
On the contrary, in the lower catchment tanks, the contribution of base flows to
tank inflows could be quite low, and the major contribution of the tank inflows
would be from the surface runoff. In these areas, the change in land use is the most
important factor altering the tank hydrology. The net area under cultivation in these
areas is likely to have increased due to increased pressure on land. Here, in this
case, it is not an expansion in area under irrigation which is causing changes in the
tank hydrology, but increase in area under cultivation. Mostly, it is resulting from
encroachment of the common land, which forms the tank catchment, by villagers
for cultivation of rainy season crops, which is causing the change.
While normally a part of the rainwater falling in the natural catchments would
infiltrate into the soil and the remaining water would run-off from the land. While
part of this infiltrating water would remain in the soil profile depending on the soil
storage capacity, the excess water would percolate down the soil strata and join the
groundwater table. The water in the soil profile would eventually evaporate if the
soil is barren or else it would support the growth of some natural grass species. But,
in any case the rate of evaporation of moisture from the soil profile would be very
low. Whereas, once the land is covered by crops, the rate of depletion of moisture
from the soil profile would be faster, as the crop would take the water for meeting
the transpiration needs. While this would create more storage space in the soil
profile for the incoming precipitation, the presence of vegetation would increase the
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 169

2.5 Tube well irrigated area

Open well irrigated area
2 Area irrigated from o. wells and t. wells
Area in m. ha

net tank irrigated area

1.5

0.5

0
1970-71

1972-73

1974-75

1976-77

1978-79

1980-81

1982-83

1984-85

1986-87

1988-89

1990-91

1992-93

1994-95

1996-97

1998-99

2000-01

2002-03

2004-05
Fig. 8.1 Net area irrigated by open wells, tube wells and tanks, AP
net tank irrigated area (m. ha)

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4 y = 1.0106e-0.529x
0.2 R² = 0.6302

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Net bore well irrigated area (m. ha)

Fig. 8.2 Impact of groundwater irrigation on tank performance

rate of infiltration. The presence of field bunds would further reduce the downward
movement of runoff generated in the field, and the water would percolate down the
soil if it is in excess of the moisture deficit in the crop root zone.
In order to understand the dynamics of interaction between tank catchment,
groundwater and tank hydrology, we began with the analysis of time series data on
net area irrigated by tanks, net area irrigated by open wells and tube (or bore) wells.
Historical data on net area irrigated by tanks, open wells and tube wells/bore wells
for the period from 1970–71 to 2004–05 are analyzed. The results showing the
historical changes in the irrigated area from these three sources are presented in
graphical form in Fig. 8.1.
Figure 8.2 shows that while the area irrigated by open wells increased till the
mid-eighties and touched the peak in 1990–91, and started declining thereafter.
Whereas the area under tube wells/bore wells, which tapped the deeper aquifers and
geological formations, started increasing exponentially by early 90s and continues
even today. Overall, the area irrigated by wells has been increasing till 2000–01,
when it peaked at 1.95 million ha.
On the other hand, the (net) area irrigated by tanks started consistently showing
declining trends after the late 80s. Though there has been wide fluctuations in the
170 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

net area irrigated by tanks between years during the previous years, i.e., 1970–71 to
1987–88, such fluctuations could be attributed to inter-annual variability in rainfall,
which will have direct impact on tank inflows. Regressions run between net
tank-irrigated area and net well irrigated area—the sum of area irrigated by open
wells and tube wells—showed a strong inverse relation the two, With increased in
well irrigated area, the area irrigated by tanks reduced linearly (R2 = 0.49). Further,
regression was run with net tank irrigated area against area irrigated by bore wells.
This showed a sharper and stronger relationship (Fig. 8.2). Going by the regression
formulae, a unit increase in net tube/bore well irrigated area resulted in greater
reduction in tank irrigated areas, as compared to that caused by unit increase in net
total well irrigated area. Also, the increase in tube well/bore well irrigation
explained reduction in tank irrigated area to an extent of 63%, against 49% in the
case of total well irrigated area (Kumar et al. 2011).
The differential trends can be explained in the following way. Increase in well
irrigation resulting from increased withdrawal of water from open wells and bore
wells, suggests greater withdrawal of groundwater. This would normally affect the
base flows into tanks, and also the percolation of stored water in the tanks into the
formations underlying it, depending on where the tanks are located within the basin.
But, at the same time, consistent increase in area under well irrigation till around the
year, 1991–92 can also be suggestive of the fact that un-sustainable levels of
abstraction of the shallow aquifer were not reached till that point of time. Under
such circumstances, the effect of groundwater withdrawal on tank inflows will be
less. This explains the milder slope of the curve representing decline in tank irri-
gation with increase in well irrigation.
Now as regards the lower regression value, other than well irrigation, rainfall can
also be an important factor which explains the changes in tank irrigated area. In
good rainfall years, the tank inflows, including that from groundwater outflows or
base flows, could also be high, especially when the open well irrigation is still
dominant. Nevertheless, there would be rise in pumping above the normal year
values as a result of better replenishment of groundwater. In contrast, in low rainfall
years, the runoff and base flows could reduce, along with groundwater recharge. So,
in such years, the groundwater irrigation from open wells along with tank irrigation
would be less than that of normal year values. This would upset the normal trend.
Such trends in well irrigation, which is characteristic of hard rock regions with poor
static groundwater resources, are visible in Andhra Pradesh (see Fig. 8.1).
At the same time, increase in tube/bore well irrigation (from 0.98 m. ha in 1990–
91 to 1.27 m. ha in 2004–05 by around 0.99 m. ha), which is also accompanied by
reduction in open well irrigation, indicates the dewatering of shallow aquifers, and
the pumping of water from the deeper strata. This not only means the chances for
base flow contributing to streams flows into tanks are almost absent, but the pos-
sibility of tanks losing their storage into the dewatered aquifers would also be very
high. Again under such geo-hydrological environments of deep dewatered zones,
the response of shallow and deep aquifers to incident rainfall would be slower as
compared to a situation where the shallow aquifer is saturated owing to the time
taken for water to move from the top soil to the water table and the amount of water
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 171

lost while percolating. Here, unlike in the earlier case, good rainfall may not result
in proportional improvement in groundwater recharge and base flows, while tank
inflows and tank irrigated area could increase due to increase in runoff. Therefore,
rainfall will have a lesser influence on groundwater-tank interactions. This increase
the negative effect of tube well/bore well irrigation on tank performance.
While intensive well irrigation explains the decline in tank irrigation to the
extent of 48–63%, clearly there are other factors which cause decline in tank
irrigated area. We have hypothesized that change in land use would be another
important factor, which cause reduction in tank inflows and tank-irrigated area.
However, we can test this hypothesis only using primary data collected from the
field, as the secondary data on land use are not available for individual tank
catchments, but also mandals and blocks and districts.

8.7 Differential Impacts of Groundwater Irrigation

on Tank Irrigated Area Across Different Regions

The foregoing analyses do not, however, suggest that the historical tank perfor-
mance has been uniform across the board. In fact, analysis of tank irrigated area,
well irrigated area and bore well irrigated area for different districts show distinctly
different trends. For instance, in Nizamabad district, the decline in tank irrigated
area is very sharp (Fig. 8.3); an inverse linear relationship exists between tank
irrigated area and well irrigated area; and the regression value very high (R2 = 0.55
for both total well irrigated area and bore well irrigated area). For every one hectare
increase in well irrigated area, the tank irrigated area declined by 0.25 ha. The
relationship was quite week in the case of Vijayanagaram district. Interestingly, no
relationship seems to exist between net tank-irrigated area and net well irrigated
area (and also net bore well irrigated area) in the case of Kurnool district. In fact, the
net area under tank irrigation did not show any consistent decline in the district,
net irrigated area (o. well and tank)

net o. well irrigated area (m. ha)

net tank irrigated area (m. ha)
0.060 net t. well irrigated area (m. ha) 0.120
0.050 0.100
0.040 0.080
0.030 0.060
0.020 0.040
0.010 0.020
0.000 0.000

Fig. 8.3 Historical change in area irrigated by different sources, Nizamabad

172 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

% reducon in irrigated area 120

100

80

60 y = -19.04ln(x) + 91.113
R² = 0.1869
40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Irrigated area-wetland rao

Fig. 8.4 % Reduction in tank irrigated area versus ‘irrigation-wetland ratio’

which has large tracts of forest land and many tanks, which have forested
catchments.
Further analysis was carried out to examine whether any relationship exists
between tank characteristics, defined by the ratio of the area irrigated by the tank
and its wetland area, and the degree of reduction in irrigated area over time, which
these tanks have undergone. The analysis was carried out using district as the unit.
The percentage reduction in irrigated area was estimated for each district by taking
the ratio of the reduction in area during 1970–71 to 2004–05 and dividing it by the
area irrigated in 1970–71. Here, we assume that the area irrigated by the tank in
1970–71 reflect the best irrigation performance for the tanks in all the districts.
Our analysis shows an inverse (logarithmic) relationship between the “irrigation-
wetland area ratio” and the reduction in area which irrigation from the tank has
undergone, defined in percentage terms (Fig. 8.4). Greater the value of the
wetland-irrigation ratio, lower the reduction in area irrigated over time. Frequency
analysis showed that tanks with wetland-irrigation ratio in the range of 2.0–5.0
experienced an average reduction in irrigated area of 73.5%. Against this, those
tanks having wetland-irrigation ratio exceeding 5.0 (between 6.26 and 23.47)
experienced an average reduction in the irrigated area of only 48.70%. Many dis-
tricts in this category showed less than 25% reduction in irrigated area. These
analyses indicate that the tanks with low irrigation-wetland ratio are likely to
deteriorate much faster than those with high irrigation-wetland ratio.

8.8 Micro Level Analysis of Impact of Catchment Land

Use on Tank Performance

The impact of changes in land use in the catchment on the performance of tanks
was analyzed by comparing temporal changes in total area under different crops and
tank-irrigated area under different crops in different seasons in the command area
against the temporal changes in types and density of groundwater abstraction
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 173

structures and cropping in the catchment. The impact of land-use changes on tank
performance was also analyzed by comparing the performance of two tanks in
terms of percentage area under irrigation and irrigated area ratio at a given point of
time against the characteristics of land use in the catchment of the tanks such as
well density and area under cropping at that point of time.
The analysis was done for both tank level data and individual farmer level data.
The tank level data included: (a) area under different crops in different seasons in
the command area and catchment area; (b) area of different crops irrigated by tank
water in different seasons in the command area; and, (c) density of wells in the
command area and catchment area.
The summary of analysis for the tank-level data is provided in Table 8.2. It
covers the tanks which are performing well and tanks which are not so well per-
forming from all the three districts. Two types of comparison in tank performance
were possible. (1) The difference in temporal performance of tanks located in
different districts. (2) Difference in historic performance of tanks from the same
location (district). This is compared against the physical and socio-economic fea-
tures of the tanks under study to understand the reasons for differential
performance.
Table 8.2 provides the data on performance of the six tanks in terms of gross
cropped area and gross irrigated area over time. The main highlights are as follows.
Tanks in Kurnool are the best tanks in terms of the overall condition as it had
sufficient storage even in the beginning of summer season. The catchment area of
the tank is covered by reserve forests and as such has no cultivation or no wells.
Though the irrigated area ratio (ratio of gross irrigated area against the command
area) is small for the first tank (ranging from 0.53 in 1980 to 0.44 at present), a large
amount of water from the tank is diverted for domestic water supplies. The survey
showed that in addition to irrigation, the 300 families from the village also use tank
water for livestock drinking. Second: the command area farmers of the first tank
(relatively better condition) grow water intensive crops such as chilly along with
paddy and jowar, whereas farmers in other district tanks growth low water con-
suming short duration pulses such as green gram and black gram, which largely
uses residual soil moisture from the harvested paddy fields. Further, unlike in the
case of both the tanks in Nizamabad and one of the tanks Vizianagaram, there are
fewer wells in the command of the tanks surveyed in Kurnool.
As Table 8.3 shows, all the 26 farmers surveyed in the command were found to
be using only tank water in Parumanchala tank. In the case of Padmaraja tank, only
two of the 33 farmers surveyed were using well water. Hence, it can be very well
assumed that in the case of Kurnool tanks, a remarkable share of the irrigation in the
command is from tank water. In the case of Nizamabad, the well density in the
command area of the degraded Jukkul tank has been increasing over time, and is
very high now. Twenty two out of the 49 farmers surveyed from the tank command
reported using well in conjunction with tank water while 12 of them use only well
water. Hence, most of the irrigation reported in the command area must be from
wells only. Therefore, though the irrigated area ratio for the tank command has been
increasing, using that alone for comparing tank performance will be highly
 174

Table 8.2 Tank Performance Vs Tank Characteristics

Name of Tank No. Good/degraded Name of Command Gross cropped area in the command (ha) Gross irrigated area in the command (ha)
district the tank area (ha) 1970 1980 1990 2000 Current 1970 1980 1990 2000 Current
Kurnool (A) 1 Good Parumanchala 607.0 324.0 301.7 313.9 269.3 324.0 301.7 313.9 269.3
2 Degraded Padmaraja Tank 344.3 368.6 405.0 328.1 368.6 405.0 328.1
Nizamabad (B) 1 Good Gundla Tank 122.31 121.41 141.75 141.75 170.10 202.50 121.41 141.75 141.75 170.10 202.50
2 Degraded Jukkul Tank 63.99 64.80 70.47 70.47 70.88 95.18 64.80 70.47 70.47 70.88 95.18
Vizianagaram (C) 1 Good Pedda Tank 303.51 526.50 567.00 567.00 526.50 546.75 413.10 405.00 425.25 425.25 441.45
2 Degraded Nalla Tank 127.48 255.15 255.15 255.15 255.15 145.80 255.15 255.15 255.15 255.15 137.70
M.D. Kumar and N. Rao
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 175

Table 8.3 Percentage of sample farmers using different sources of irrigation in the tank
commands
Name of source Percentage of farmers using different sources of irrigation
in the command of
Nizamabad Kurnool Vizianagaram
Gundla Jukkul Parumanchala Padmaraja Pedda Nalla
tank tank tank tank tank tank
Tank 69.0 24.5 100.0 84.8 71.4 100.0
Open well 12.2 6.1 3.6
Tank and open well 16.3 7.1
Bore well 11.9 6.1 3.0 10.7
Tank and bore well 16.7 6.1 3.6
Rain-fed 8.2 6.1 3.6
Tank and rain 2.4 22.4
Open well and bore well 2.0
Open well and rain 2.0
Source Authors’ own analysis using primary data from tank water users

misleading. Interestingly, though Nalla tank is highly degraded, in the absence of

wells, the farmers in the command only depend on tank water. Hence, the bad
condition of the tank is reflected in the irrigated area, which has reduced over time.
Comparison between two tanks in the same location brings out the effect of
catchment land use changes in a better way. In the case of Gundla tank in
Nizamabad and Pedda tank in Vizianagaram, which were perceived as in good
condition by the local people, the irrigated are ratio has increased over time. For
instance, in the case of Gundla tank, it increased from 0.99 in 1970 to 1.66 at
present, whereas in the case of Pedda tank, it increased from 1.36 in 1970 to 1.45 at
present. This is quite contrary to what was found in the districts in terms of his-
torical performance of tanks. In both the districts, the tank irrigated area declined,
while the decline was very drastic in the case of Nizamabad.
What makes these tanks distinct is the fact that there is no significant ground-
water use in their catchments. While there are no wells in the catchment area of
Gundla tank (tank of Nizamabad, which is in relatively better condition), there are
very few wells in the catchment of Pedda tank (1 well per 20 ha of catchment). But,
this increase in irrigated area cannot be attributed to the good condition of tanks
alone. The current groundwater use in the command area is significant for winter
and summer crops, though these are low water consuming crops. As seen during the
field work in Vizianagaram, almost all farmers in the command area of Pedda tank
have bore-wells with electricity connections. Wells are the main source of water for
irrigation of winter crops (maize) and summer crops. Even during the month of
176 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

summer, a significant portion of the command area is under sesame, which is a

short duration crop.
Contrary to these, in the case of Jukkul tank (degraded tank of Nizamabad), there
are around 37 wells per 20 ha of the catchment area, as on today, which actually
experienced an increase from around 13 wells per 20 ha in 1970 to 20 wells per
20 ha in 1990. Further, the area under cultivation in the catchment as on toady is
90%, and it increased dramatically from 38.45 ha to 182.1 ha over a period of
40 years.
Though there are no wells in the catchment of Nalla tank (degraded tank of
Vizianagaram) in Vizianagaram district, rain-fed cultivation in the catchment has
drastically increased over time—with the area increasing to 188 ha at present,
covering 37% of the catchment area. Probably due to this, the irrigated area ratio for
the tank declined drastically from 2.0 to 1.1 during the period from 2000 to 2011.
This means that the actual performance of tanks in terms of area served by it is
much lower than the reported (irrigated) area in the tank command and in reality,
might have declined.

8.9 Agricultural Activities in the Command

and Catchment of Tanks

In this section, we would analyze the changes in crop production in both the
commands and catchments of the tanks. This is based on primary data collected
from 25 farmers located in the command and catchments from each tank location,
with a total of roughly 150 farmers from the six tanks selected for investigation.
While the changes in cropping pattern and cropped area in the catchment is likely to
influence the tank hydrology, the changes occurring in the cropping pattern and
cropped area in the command area is a reflection of the changes in tank hydrology,
and other farming related externalities which include the change in access to water
from underground and other sources. As discussed in the first section, the scenario
vis-à-vis access to groundwater had dramatically changed in Andhra Pradesh after
the 80s with the advent of energized pump sets for extracting water from open
wells, and bore wells that are able to tap water from deeper strata. If market
conditions remain the same, reduced inflows into the tanks can force farmers to
reduce the area under water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane and shift to
low water consuming crops like pulses. But, improved access well water, through
energized pump sets and drilling technologies can enable farmers to intensify their
cropping and go for irrigated crops during winter and summer seasons. The results
of the analysis are presented district-wise and tank wise below.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 177

8.9.1 Kurnool District

Tank 1: Parumanchala Tank, Parumanchala Village, Nadikotkur Mandal,

Kurnool District
Table 8.4 shows the cropping pattern of Parumanchala tank command for the
period from 1970 to 2011 (current). The analysis shows that there has been a
remarkable increase in the cropped area in the command during the past 40 years,
with most of the expansion occurring the first decade i.e., 1970–80. During this
period, the cropping intensity also increased substantially, with crops being culti-
vated during winter and summer. Thereafter, it had hovered around 155–165 ha.
Even during 2000–11, the change in gross cropped area was negligible. While the
area under kharif paddy did not show any major change during 1970–2000, the
percentage area under kharif paddy drastically declined (from 69% in 1970 to 4.8%
in 2011), as new crops were introduced in the command. These new crops include
chilly, groundnut, tobacco, summer jowar, cotton and pulses. Chilly occupies
nearly 45% of the cropped area of the sample farmers, which is only second to
jowar, which is the major kharif crop in the tank command today (Table 8.4).
The corresponding figures for the tank catchment are shown in Table 8.5. The
data shows that cropping is practiced only during kharif season, and ground nut and
red gram being the major crops. These crops require much less irrigation water as
compared to paddy. Though these are also reported to be irrigated, the availability
of rains means that they require very little irrigation that too during the dry spell.
Tank 2: Padmaraja Tank of Indireswaram Village, Atmakur Mandal
Table 8.6 shows the cropping pattern and irrigated cropping pattern in the com-
mand area of Padmaraja tank, which is considered to be a well performing tank in
the area for the period from 1980 to 2011. Since all the crops are irrigated in almost
all situations the cropped area figures and irrigated area figures are more or less the
same, except in 1990. There has been no significant change in the cropped area in
the tank command since 1980, except a 15% increase during 1990–2000 as com-
pared to the base year of 1980. Thereafter, the area under cropping and irrigation
reduced slightly. The tank command also did not witness much change in the
cropping pattern also. The area under paddy hovered around 69–85% during the
past 3 years. Unlike in the case of Parumanchala tank, where the percentage area
under paddy reduced drastically after 1970, in this case, it went up slightly during
2000–11. Nevertheless, no major cropping was reported during the winter season,
while at least four crops viz., cotton, sunflower, chilly, and jowar, were grown by
farmers during the season during 1980–2000. As regards tank catchment, no crops
were grown there, as it is under reserve forest.
178 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

Table 8.4 Percentage cropped and irrigated area under different crops of sample farmers in
Parumanchala tank command
Season Crop Percentage area under different crops in
1970 1980 1990 2000 Last normal year
Kharif Paddy 69.1 16.5 19.7 18.4 4.8
Maize 3.3 4.5
Jowar 11.4 11.8 15.0 17.9 34.4
Cotton 19.4 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.2
Chilli 25.3 23.0 38.7 27.0
Groundnut 3.8 4.6 4.3 7.2
Tobacco 8.2 9.8 9.1 9.0
Sunflower 4.1 11.4 3.0 3.0
Pigeon Pea 5.5 6.5 6.1 9.0
Black Gram 3.9
Rabi Black Gram 1.1 1.3 1.2
Summer Jowar 0.8
Tobacco 8.2
Chilli 8.2
Pigeon Pea 5.5
a
Note The cropped and irrigated areas in Parumanchala tank command are one and the same and
therefore the values under ‘percentage area under different crops’ in the table represent both

8.9.2 Nizamabad District

Tank 1: Jukkul Tank, Bhavanipet Village, Machareddy Mandal

A quick review of the data on gross cropped area and cropping pattern shows that
there has been a significant reduction in the gross cropped area since 1970—with
the gross cropped area declining from nearly 60 acres in 1970 to around 36 acres in
the last normal rainfall year.
As regards the cropping pattern, no pattern seems to be emerging, except that
during dry years, farmers reduce the area under both kharif and winter paddy.
Another important observation is that sugarcane was introduced as a major crop
during 1980s, but had almost disappeared by 2000. This could be attributed to the
introduction of energized wells in the area, and increase in command area farmers’
access to well water for irrigation. Currently, the farmers in the command do not
grow sugarcane. Overall, reduction in cropped area is a strong indication of water
shortage faced by tank irrigators.
Since Jukkul tank is a degrade tank, it is important to examine the changes in
farming systems in the catchment area. The data shows that the area under cropping
has increased in the command area, from 11.7 acre in 1970 to 21.20 acre in the last
normal year (2011). An interesting observation is that sugarcane was introduced as
a major crop as the data for 1990 indicate, but farmers did not continue this
crop. Paddy continues to the dominant crop in the catchment, occupying around
Table 8.5 Gross cropped and irrigated area (acre) of sample farmers in Parumanchala tank catchment area
Name of season Name of crop 1980 1990 2000 LNY
cultivated irrigated cultivated irrigated cultivated irrigated cultivated irrigated
Kharif Groundnut 24 24 24 24
Red gram 24 24 14 14
Tobacco 10 10
Source Authors’ own analysis based on primary data
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks …
179
 180

Table 8.6 Percentage cropped and irrigated area under different crops of sample farmers in the Indireswaram tank command
Name of season Name of crop Percentage area of crops cultivated and irrigated in the Indireswaram tank command
1980 1990 2000 Last Normal Year
Cropped Irrigated Cropped Irrigated Cropped Irrigated Cropped Irrigated
Khariff Paddy 76.9 76.9 65.8 68.9 77.4 77.4 84.5 84.5
Cotton 1.9 1.9 4.3 4.5
Sunflower 14.4 14.4 6.7 2.2 5.9 5.9 2.5 2.5
Maize 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.1 1.1
Jowar 15.7 16.5
Jute 1.6 1.6 1.9 1.9
Gooseberry 10.6 10.6
Rabi Cotton 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.1 1.1
Sunflower 2.2 2.2 2.5 2.6
Chilly 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 11.4 11.4
Jowar 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.1 1.1
Watermelon 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6
Source Authors’ own analysis using primary data
M.D. Kumar and N. Rao
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 181

80% of the total cropped area, though in 2000 maize was the major crop occupying
around 75% of the gross cropped area.
As regards the irrigation in the command, there has been an overall reduction in
the area irrigated by tank—from 57 acres in 1970 to 34 acres last year, though
maximum shrinkage in irrigated cropped area was reported for 1990 (by nearly
2/3d). Thereafter, the irrigated area improved to become 45 acres in 2000 and then
declined. In line with data on cropping pattern, maximum area under irrigated
sugarcane was reported in 1990 (around 28 acres), occupying around 75% of the
total irrigated area in the command. A useful observation vis-à-vis irrigated crop-
ping pattern is of maize becoming a dominant crop during drought years. During
the last drought, it was reported to have occupied around 86% of the total area
under irrigation.
As regards the catchment land use, the irrigated area is more or less the same as
that of cropped area, meaning all the crops cultivated in the catchment are also
irrigated.
Tank 2: Gundla Tank, Domakonda Village and Mandal
Gundla tank is a better performing tank when compared to Jukkul tank. The out-
comes of the analysis of data on cropped area and irrigated area of different crops in
the tank command are presented in Table 8.7. In the case of Gundla tank, no
notable and consistent reduction or increase in area reported by the farmers was
seen over the years. What is more important is the fact that paddy remained as the
most dominant crop in the command, raised during both kharif and winter season
and occupying more than 80% of the cropped area.

8.9.3 Vizianagaram District

In the case of the two tanks selected from Vizianagaram district, no cultivation in
the catchment was reported by farmers through the village survey showed some
cultivation in the catchment area. As per the tank level data obtained from the
village tank users’ association, while no data on cropping are available for the
present situation in the case of Pedda tank, no data on historical cropping (1970–
2000) are available for Nalla tank. Though a lot of discrepancy is observed vis-vis
data on land use in the catchment, the fact remains that there are no wells in the
catchment area, which is suggestive of low intensity of land use there in terms of
agriculture. Hence the outputs were generated only for cropped area and irrigated
area in the tank command.
Tank 1: Pedda Tank, Rellivalasa
In the case of Pedda tank, which is considered to be one in good condition, the area
under cropping had consistently increased from 1970 to 2000. But, later on the total
cropped area of sample farmers declined to around 108 acres in 2011, the last
normal year. The increase in cropped was also accompanied by increase in area
under paddy, winter groundnut and summer maize. As regards the cropping pattern,
182 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

Table 8.7 Area under different crops (acre) and irrigation of sample farmers in Gundla tank
command
Name of Name of Area under the crop in
season crop 1970 1980 1990 2000 Last Last
normal drought
year year
Kharif Paddy 51.6 62.9 6.9 64.4 61.9 57.6
Maize 5.0 9.0
Rabi Paddy 48.2 62.9 57.0 41.5 45.9 26.0
Maize 2.0 2.0 5.0 10.0
Total 99.8 125.9 66.0 107.9 117.8 102.6
Percentage area under different crops in
Kharif Paddy 51.7 50.0 10.5 59.7 52.6 56.1
Maize 4.2 8.8
Rabi Paddy 48.3 50.0 86.4 38.5 38.9 25.4
Maize 3.0 1.9 4.2 9.8
Source Authors’ own analysis

the percentage area under paddy, groundnut and maize did not fluctuate much over
the years. The area under irrigation was also found to be same as that under
cropping as all the crops were irrigated. Currently, farmers are found to be growing
sesame during later summer, which lasts till the end of July.
Tank 2: Nalla Tank of Pinavemali, Vizianagaram Mandal
In the case of Nalla tank, the total cropped area of sample farmers surveyed in the
command consistently decreased from 153.7 acres in 1970 to as low as 91 acres in
2000, and then increased to 165 acres in the last normal year (2011). But, a
substantial portion of this increase in area came from pulses such as green gram and
black gram, which are very low water consuming, short duration crops. The area
under green gram and black gram went up by 52 acres. Though area under kharif
paddy, which receives only supplementary irrigation, was very high during the last
normal year (a rise of 38 acres from 2000 figures), there was reduction in area under
winter maize, which is fully irrigated. The gross cropped area was, however, down
to 116 acres in the last drought year. The percentage area under paddy did not
change significantly during the forty year period from 1970 to 2011, though it was
highest during 1990.
The irrigated area in the Nalla tank command is a little lower than the cropped
area, with a small portion paddy is left un-irrigated. Paddy occupies nearly 45% of
the cropped area. Nevertheless, during drought year, the percentage area under.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 183

8.10 Performance of Tanks Against Their Physical

and Socio-Economic Attributes

We started off with the basic premise that gross irrigation as a ratio of the command
area (irrigated area ratio) is an important indicator of tank performance, and then
went on to analyze the effect of groundwater irrigation and crop cultivation in the
catchment on tank performance. But, our analysis shows that this can often be
misleading due to two reasons.
First: the cropping pattern changes drastically from tank to tank, and often is a
function of the tank hydrology itself. The farmers in the command area of tanks
which receive sufficient inflows tend to grow highly water intensive crops such as
chilly, sugarcane and sunflower, whereas those in the command area of tanks facing
water shortage tend to grow low water consuming crops such as pulses after kharif
paddy. From perennially water-rich tanks, water is also used for domestic water
supplies in the neighbouring villages and small towns, apart from livestock
drinking.
Second: the presence of wells in the tank command alters the scenario of irri-
gated area in the tank command. Even in instances where the tanks are not able to
serve the command area farmers because of reduced inflows from the catchments,
the wells in the command area meet the crop water requirement. But, under no
circumstances, the presence of wells in the command influences the farmers not to
use water from the tanks. Instead, it is the inability to get sufficient water from tanks
for irrigating crops that motivates them to go for well irrigation. Therefore, high
density of wells in the command area should be treated as a sign of low depend-
ability of tank system as a source of water for irrigation and other uses in the
command.
When the analysis looked at the variations in cropping pattern in the command
area, the uses of tank water other than for irrigation (like domestic water supply to
towns and villages and livestock drinking), and the effect of wells in the tank
command on irrigation performance to do the comparative performance of tanks,
the following becomes clear. The performance of those with high density of wells
in the catchment area and high land use intensity are likely to decline drastically
over time, whereas those without much interception of their catchments through
faming and groundwater withdrawal sustain their performance, without any threat
to the hydrological integrity. The best performing tanks will be those which have no
cultivation in the catchment (which also implies that there are no wells), and the
second best are those which have no wells in the catchment, but have rain-fed
cultivation. As a result, tanks which have their upper catchments located in forests
are the most ideal ones in terms of performance.
184 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

8.11 Findings

Several researchers have enquired into the causes for decline of tank irrigation in
South India. They have largely attributed the “decline” of tanks to social and
institutional factors. The most dominant of them are the lack of incentive among the
command area farmers, and collapse of traditional management institutions,
including community management structures and institutions of overlords
(Zamindars) which took care of their upkeep, increase in groundwater irrigation and
the consequent reduction of interest among farmers in tanks, interception of supply
channels, and lack of adequate attention paid to regular maintenance.
The arguments about collapse of traditional institutions as the cause of “tank
decline” are based on a resounding view that even the external factors, which have
potential influence on the tank performance, were within the control of these
institutions. On the contrary, there are several physical and socio-economic changes
taking place in and around the tank systems over time, which could have impacted
on tank performance, and they are not within the control of these institutions. They
inadvertently ignore the fact that these institutions existed in a certain
socio-political framework, which cannot be recreated. Again, such views are based
on the assumption that simply cleaning supply channels, or clearing the catchments
or repair of the tank embankments, and de-silting of the distribution network would
yield results in terms of improved hydrological and ecological performance of and
increased storage in tanks. So far as the well irrigation argument goes, it assumes
that wells were within the reach of all segments of peasant, small and big. This
again is not true as only a tiny fraction of the small and marginal farmers own wells,
and still have great stakes in tanks.
These factors at best became contextual variables for tank deterioration, and not
explanatory variable as the causality has not been tested. Conversely, it is probably
the decline in tank performance due to extraneous reasons that had resulted in
community’s disinterest in their management, with the cost of maintaining them
surpassing the actual benefits that can be accrued from their upkeep. We propose an
alternative hypothesis that excessive groundwater draft characterized by ground-
water irrigation in the tank catchment and commands, and land-use changes in the
catchment in the form of intensive crop cultivation resulted in reduced tank inflows,
causing decline in area irrigated by tanks. These hypotheses were tested using:
(a) secondary data available from government agencies at the district level on area
irrigated by tanks and wells; and (b) primary data collected from tank communities
at the local level on changes in groundwater irrigation in catchments and com-
mands, and changes in catchment land use.
Groundwater irrigation had grown steadily in Andhra Pradesh since the early 70s
till the end of the last century. As our analysis shows, the net well irrigated area
began to “plateau” after 2000–01. Thereafter, as pointed out by Kumar et al. (2011),
the increase in number of wells had not resulted in increase in gross well irrigated
area either.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 185

Analysis at the level of the state and districts showed that increased groundwater
draft adversely affected the performance of tanks, as indicated by the strong cor-
relation between well and bore well irrigated area and net area irrigated by tanks at
the state level for AP, and also for many districts of the states. Therefore, it could be
safely argued that much of the expansion in well irrigated area happened at the cost
of tank irrigation. Nevertheless, the effect of well irrigation on tank performance
hasn’t been uniform. While in many districts, the decline in tank performance in
terms of “net area irrigated by tanks” in response to increase in “net well irrigated
area” has been sharp, in some districts, it has been mild.
In lieu of the adverse impact of well irrigation on tank performance, it could be
stated that though the net increase in well irrigated area in the state has been a
remarkable 1.4 m. ha (net), the overall contribution of wells to expansion of irri-
gation in the state will be much less, if one takes into account the fact that the
reduction in net tank irrigated area is around 0.60 m. ha, i.e., from 1.11 to 0.47 m.
ha. But, the reduction in tank irrigated area cannot be fully attributed to ground-
water over-extraction, and part of the reduction might have been caused by the
change in land use in the tank catchments.
Analysis carried out to examine the relationship exists between tank character-
istics, and the degree of reduction in irrigated area over time showed an inverse
(logarithmic) relationship between the “irrigation-wetland area ratio” and percent-
age reduction in irrigated area of the tank, defined. Greater the value of the
wetland-irrigation ratio, lower the reduction in area irrigated over time. Frequency
analysis showed that tanks with wetland-irrigation ratio in the range of 2.0–5.0
experienced an average reduction in irrigated area of 73.5%. Against this, those
tanks having wetland-irrigation ratio exceeding 5.0 (between 6.26 and 23.47)
experienced an average reduction in the irrigated area of only 48.7%. Many districts
in this category showed less than 25% reduction in irrigated area. These analyses
suggest that the tanks with low irrigation-wetland ratio are likely to deteriorate
much faster than those with high irrigation-wetland ratio.
As regards the impact of catchment land use on tanks, some of them are positive,
some of them are negative. The first type of change is in the area under cultivation
in the catchment. The catchments of tanks are generally public land with govern-
ment forests, pasture land and revenue wasteland. Barring the reserve forests, these
catchments are increasingly being encroached-upon by individual villagers for
cultivation. One factor which triggered intensive land use in the catchment is the
access to well irrigation. With water available from wells for supplementary irri-
gation, farmers are able to take up cultivation of kharif crops even in the driest
regions of the country. Hence, intensive groundwater irrigation in the catchment
had double impact on tank hydrology, firstly by affecting the groundwater outflows
into streams and the secondly by affecting the runoff from the catchment entering
the tank reservoir.
Catchment cultivation alters the hydrology by reducing the runoff generation
potential of the incident rainfall and the impoundment of part of the generated
runoff into the cultivated fields through the field and farm bunds. Often,
afforestation activities are undertaken in the catchment by community
186 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

organizations, which affect runoff generation. The trees such as eucalyptus which
were preferred for plantation under afforestation programme were water-guzzlers.
They can guzzle groundwater apart from capturing part of the runoff and depleting
soil moisture. Such changes are occurring everywhere in the rural landscape. But,
there are two notable exceptions. (1) Places where the forests constitute the main
catchment of tanks. (2) Areas where groundwater development is not feasible due to
presence of hard rock formation. Thus, in areas which have experienced significant
changes in land use in the form of expansion of cultivation in the catchment, it
won’t be economically prudent to invest in tank rehabilitation.
The second type of change in the catchment land use is caused by the use of
clayey soils in the catchment and tank bed for brick making etc. With booming
construction activity in the state, there is mounting demand for bricks. The pressure
on catchment land and tank bed for such uses is more in case of tanks which are
located in the vicinity of towns. Such activities can also change the runoff or storage
potential of the tank, depending on the place from where the soil is excavated. In
such situations, the communities or the local Panchayats will not have much interest
in reviving the tanks as the income earned from such activities is very large.
The third type of change is the interception of the drainage lines in the catch-
ment. There are two different types of activities which cause this interception.
(1) Construction of roads and buildings. (2) The indiscriminate construction of
water harvesting structures such as check dams. This is very rampant in Andhra
Pradesh, like in many semi-arid states of the country. The absence of any kind of
regulations on water resources in the state had actually precipitated in serious
concerns. One of the reasons for this unprecedented increase in water harvesting
schemes is that the demand for water in agriculture has increased in the upper
catchments of river basins with growing population pressure, and with depleting
groundwater resources. In such areas, where such inflow reduction is clearly visible,
it won’t be economically prudent to invest in large-scale tank rehabilitation.
The degradation of tanks occurring as a result of changes in tank hydrology also
seems to affect the success of the rehabilitation programme. It was observed that in
the case of Kurnool and Nizamabad districts, more money was spent for rehabili-
tation works of those tanks which are actually not performing well as compared to
the good ones. In spite of this, the condition of poorly performing tanks did not
improve.
In the final analysis, it appears that groundwater intensive use in upper catch-
ment or lower catchment will have the most remarkable impact on hydrology and
performance of tanks. This is because, pumping of water from wells while reducing
the groundwater outflows into streams, also leads to intensive use of land in the
catchment for cultivation, which further leads to reduction in runoff generation and
in situ harvesting of a portion of that runoff for storage in soil profile. This has
affected hydrological and ecological integrity of many tanks, especially in water
scarce basins. In nutshell, tank management is increasingly becoming a
hydro-institutional challenge.
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 187

8.12 Protocol for Tank Rehabilitation

• Currently, no clear protocol exists for choosing tanks for rehabilitation. Prior to
the selection of any tank for rehabilitation, the potential of its catchment to yield
sufficient water as inflows into the reservoir needs to be ascertained. The esti-
mate of catchment yield should be compared against the total water demand for
competitive uses that exist for the tank under consideration. Only those tanks
which receive sufficient inflows to serve the full command area at least once in
three years, need to be taken up for rehabilitation. Tanks which receive inflows
to the full storage capacity or sufficient water to meet the demand of the design
command area in three out of four years, should receive highest priority for
rehabilitation.
• But since this vital hydrological data on stream flows are not available for most
tanks, it is imperative to study the land use in the tank catchment and command
thoroughly, before embarking on rehabilitation of the tank system. It is quite
evident that for catchments which have undergone major changes in land use,
new models for runoff estimation will have to be developed, instead of using old
rainfall-runoff models developed on the basis of observed stream flows of the
past, when land use and land cover were drastically different.
• The most pragmatic approach for estimating dependable yield from tank
catchment would be to estimate runoff for historical rainfall for the current land
use in the catchment using US Soil Conservation Bureau’s Curve Number
method, and then estimate the runoff of certain dependability. In many situa-
tions, it may be necessary to redesign the tank command on account of the
changing land use in the catchment and tank hydrology, and the new cropping
systems which farmers have introduced in the area.
• For estimation of water demand for irrigation, kharif paddy in the entire com-
mand, and a short duration winter crop in 1/4th of the command assumed
reasonably. For this, the existing cropping pattern of the area and the most
desirable cropping pattern from the point of view of agro climate should be used
as the basis. Since the irrigation water demand for paddy would vary widely
between a drought year and a wet year, the amount of irrigation required during
a normal year could be considered for demand estimation.
• In the case of cascade tanks, the upper catchment tanks should receive highest
priority, if there are in need of repair or rehabilitation. This is because they are
least likely to face problems of encroachment, change in land use in the
catchment and intensive groundwater development in the catchments and
command areas, by being located in forest catchments.
188 M.D. Kumar and N. Rao

8.12.1 Quantitative Criteria for Choosing Tanks

for Rehabilitation

1. Micro level studies to ascertain the feasibility of rehabilitation of tanks involves

significant costs. Therefore, it is necessary to evolve simple and quantitative
criteria for short-listing tanks for conducting detailed investigation, to finally
decide on the nature of rehabilitation.
2. The analysis suggests that tanks which have relatively higher
“irrigation-wetland area ratio should be given priority as they are likely to
experience lesser degree of deterioration. One of the hydrological explanations
for this is that such tanks would have higher losses from percolation as a result
of increased groundwater draft. In areas where fishery is a major economic
activity preferred by the tank communities, then the minimum water required in
the tank for fish production should be considered instead of water requirement
for winter crop production, for assessing the suitability for rehabilitation work.
3. Tanks with low density of wells in the command area and catchment area and
low intensity of land use in the catchment need to be given priority while
choosing tanks for rehabilitation. While it is difficult to arrive at a quantitative
criterion for selecting tanks for rehabilitation based on number and density of
wells in the catchment, a well density of one well per ha of command is a clear
sign of diminishing importance of tanks for the farmers’ livelihoods. On the
other hand, a well density of 0.5 and above, i.e., one per two ha of land, is a
clear indication of high intensity of land use in the catchment area, with multiple
cropping. This can reduce the inflows into the tanks drastically by capturing the
runoff in situ, and reducing the groundwater outflows into surface streams.
4. Large number of wells in the tank command may also indicate declining
importance of tanks in the irrigated livelihoods of farmers in the command. The
argument that farmers abandon tanks because of wells is also not true.
Nevertheless there can’t be a standard norm on well density and catchment land
use, for selecting or rejecting tanks for rehabilitation. The effect of well density
and catchment land use intensity on tank inflows would also depend on the
rainfall of the region and the physiographic features of the catchment. In high
rainfall regions with steep catchment slopes, the norm could be relatively
flexible, whereas in semi-arid and arid regions with low to medium rainfall, the
norm will have to be more stringent.

8.13 Conclusions and Recommendations

South Indian tanks form important wetland ecosystems. Groundwater intensive use
in the catchment affects tank ecology by reducing the base flows that constitute a
major part of the tanks inflows, and also reduces the physical performance of tanks
8 The Hydro-Institutional Challenge of Managing Tanks … 189

in terms of the area irrigated. Though there are factors other than area irrigated,
which need to be considered for assessing the performance of tanks, for a temporal
study this could form a useful indicator of tank performance. But, the adverse
impact of intensive well irrigation on tank performance in terms of reduction in tank
irrigated area hasn’t been uniform across districts.
Intensity of land use and density of wells in the catchment are major determi-
nants of tank performance. Low density of wells and low land use intensity in the
catchment provide favourable conditions for sustaining the hydrological and eco-
logical integrity of tanks and therefore their good performance. Increasing intensity
of wells and expansion in area under cultivation in the catchment reduces the
irrigation performance of tanks, by reducing the surface runoff and base flows.
Reduction in groundwater outflows into streams also impacts on the ecological
health of the tanks, as the lean season flows into the tanks are mainly from base
flows.
Managing tanks is increasingly becoming a hydro institutional challenge. The
approach of taking up every tank for rehabilitation, on the justification that a local
institution could be created to manage it, needs a critical review. This is because
there are many external factors responsible for deterioration of tanks that are
beyond the capacity of these institutions to control. The protocol for tank reha-
bilitation should include estimation of the actual yield potential of the tank catch-
ment using rainfall-runoff models. This should be followed by realistic estimation
of the water demand in the command, taking into account the existing cropping
pattern and the variations in crop water demands in lieu of the inter-annual vari-
ability in rainfall. In the case of cascade tanks, the upper catchment tanks should
receive highest priority in rehabilitation programmes. Since such studies for
examining the feasibility of tank rehabilitation involve significant costs, some
simple and quantitative criteria were identified to shortlist tanks for detailed studies
which would help in investment decision making on rehabilitation.

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 Part III
Moving Forward
Chapter 9
Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple
Benefits

Harpinder Sandhu

Humans depend on natural and managed ecosystems for the supply of ecosystem
goods and services (ES) as raw material for industry and for human welfare (MEA
2005; Naeem et al. 2009). However, increasing population, changing land use
patterns, growing food demand, has affected ecosystems globally, thereby
impacting their services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) sponsored
by the United Nations assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human
well-being and provided a framework to identify and classify ES (MEA 2005).
According to MEA, ecosystems sustain human life through the provision of four
types of ES, supporting (e.g., pollination, nutrient cycling), provisioning (e.g., food
production, fuelwood), regulating (e.g., water purification, erosion control), and
cultural (e.g., aesthetic values). These ES not only perform life supporting functions
necessary for human survival but also form the basis of most of the economic
activities ranging from agricultural production, power generation, and other natural
resource based industry. This concept of ES is widely accepted and has been used
in different studies (Costanza et al. 1997; Daily 1997; Sandhu et al. 2008). ES
classification developed by MEA has been applied for valuation of natural capital,
accounting purposes, spatial analysis and also to develop mechanisms to pay for the
protection of ES (Fisher et al. 2009; Kumar and Thiaw 2013). Building on the
ecosystems theory and literature since the MEA, this chapter focuses on South
Asian geographic region by exploring the importance of linking ecosystems for
multiple benefits to sustain human well-being.
The importance of ES in supporting human life and as a life-support system of
the planet (Daily 1997; Costanza et al. 1997, 2014; MEA 2005; Wratten et al. 2013)
is now very well established and ES have been demonstrated to be of very high
economic value (US$125 trillion/year; Costanza et al. 2014). Despite their impor-
tance, most of these services are not traded in economic markets and they carry no

H. Sandhu (&)
School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 195

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_9
196 H. Sandhu

‘price tags’ (no exchange value in spite of their high use value). Therefore, there is
no market signal that could alert society to changes in their supply. This has led to a
trend of decline in ES globally with 60% of the ES examined having been degraded
in the last 50 years (MEA 2005). Global efforts to halt this decline in ES have
increased considerably since the completion of the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment (MEA) in 2005. The United Nations has established the
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services (IPBES) to translate science into action worldwide in consultation with
governments and research partners (IPBES 2010).
It is well known that ecosystems contribute substantially to the welfare of human
societies by providing highly demanded and valuable ES (Kumar and Reddy 2007).
Many of these ES, however, remain outside the conventional markets (Costanza
et al. 2014). This is especially the case of public goods (non-timber forest products,
food resources etc.) and externalities related to the active protection and manage-
ment of resources. To capture this aspect, this chapter elaborates the ES approach
that integrates social, economic and environmental context for sustainable man-
agement of ecosystems and their resources. It also provides valuation methods for
assessing ES. It then develops a conceptual framework to integrate different
ecosystems discussed earlier in the book for the sustainable well-being of the
society.

9.1 Ecosystem Services Approach

An ES approach is one that integrates the ecological, social and economic

dimensions of natural resource management (DEWHA 2009).
• It identifies and classifies the benefits that people derive from ecosystems, including
market and non-market, use and non-use, tangible and non-tangible benefits.
• It describes and communicates these benefits in concepts and language that a
wide range of stakeholders and the public can understand;
• It explores linkages between sustainable management of ecosystems and human
welfare, including
ES approach includes description and categorisation of all ES, ecosystem based
adaptation and economic values associated with them. These are discussed below.

9.1.1 Ecosystem Services Description

To capture the diversity of ES, MEA groups them into four broad categories based
on their functional characteristics (see definition in Chap. 1). The four categories
are defined below.
9 Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple Benefits 197

1. Provisioning Services: the provisioning function of ecosystems supplies a large

variety of ecosystem goods and other services for human consumption, ranging
from food in agricultural systems, raw materials and energy resources.
2. Regulating Services: ecosystems regulate essential ecological processes and life
support systems through bio-geochemical cycles and other biospheric processes.
These include climate regulation, disturbance moderation and waste treatment.
3. Cultural Services: ecosystems provide an essential ‘reference function’ and
contribute to the maintenance of human health and well-being by providing
spiritual fulfilment, historical integrity, recreation and aesthetics.
4. Supporting Services: ecosystems also provide a range of services that are nec-
essary for the production of the other three service categories. These include
nutrient cycling, soil formation and soil retention.

9.1.2 Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EbA)

An ES approach includes ecosystem based adaptation (EbA) that integrates bio-

diversity and ES into overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the
adverse effects of climate change (Colls et al. 2009). EbA is critical to implement
sustainable ecosystem management practices and enhance resilience to climate
change in developing countries. It is management tool that can be applied at dif-
ferent geographical scales (local, regional, national) and within various time frames
(short to long term). It can be implemented as projects and as part of overall
adaptation programmes. It is most effective when implemented as part of a broad
portfolio of adaptation and development interventions (Colls et al. 2009). EbA can
provide low cost and more accessible alternatives to rural or poor communities
instead of measures based on infrastructure and engineering (Kumar and Thiaw
2013). It can integrate and maintain traditional and local knowledge and cultural
values (Kumar and Kumar 2008).
EbA has been implemented at project level in both developing and developed
countries at national, regional and local scales (Colls et al. 2009). EbA comple-
ments other responses to climate change by providing a full range of goods and ES,
and provide proven and cost-effective protection against some of the threats that
result from climate change (IPCC 2007). Some examples of EbA activities (CBD
2009; Colls et al. 2009) are,
• Coastal defence through the maintenance and/or restoration of mangroves and
other coastal wetlands to reduce coastal flooding and coastal erosion.
• Sustainable management of upland wetlands and floodplains for maintenance of
water flow and quality.
• Conservation and restoration of forests to stabilize land slopes and regulate
water flows.
• Establishment of diverse agroforestry systems to cope with increased risk from
changed climatic conditions.
198 H. Sandhu

• Conservation of agrobiodiversity to provide specific gene pools for crop and

livestock adaptation to climate change.

9.1.3 Total Economic Value of Ecosystem Services

Total economic value distinguishes between use values and non-use values
(Fig. 9.1; Barbier 2007; Barbier et al. 2009). Use values involve direct human use
(consumptive or non-consumptive) whereas non-use values do not. Non-use values
rely merely on the continued existence of an environmental resource and are
unrelated to use. Use values can be either direct or indirect. Direct use values are
more likely to have market value. Indirect use values, on the other hand, are difficult
to quantify and are generally ignored in management decisions. For example,
production of food is a direct use value for which money is exchanged in markets,
whereas the nutrient cycling performed by soil organisms indirectly supports
agricultural production but this contribution is non-marketed and goes financially
unrewarded. Option values are value that are not currently used but have potential
to be used in the future.

Total economic value

Non-use
Use value
value

Bequest
Direct Indirect value
Option Existence
use value use value value
value

Fig. 9.1 The concept of total economic value (Pearce and Turner 1990; Barbier 2007; Barbier
et al. 2009; De Groot et al. 2002; Balmford et al. 2008)
9 Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple Benefits 199

There are two ways in which people may value natural resources without using
them either directly or indirectly. Existence value is the ‘intrinsic’ value of natural
resources that arises simply due to their existence. It is the value that leads people to
want to see other species like giant pandas, for example, protected, even if these
people never see the species. Bequest value is what leads people to support policies
and actions that protect natural resources for future generations to use.

9.2 Valuation of Ecosystem Services

Economic valuation methods fall into four basic types (De Groot et al. 2002; Kumar
2007, 2010), each with its own repertoire of associated measurement issues:
Direct market valuation: This is the exchange value that ES have in trade,
mainly applicable to the ‘goods’ (i.e., production functions). Value of food pro-
duced is an example.
Indirect market valuation: When there are no explicit markets for services, we
must resort to more indirect means of assessing values are needed. A variety of
valuation techniques can be used to establish the (revealed) Willingness-to-Pay
(WTP) or Willingness-to-Accept compensation (WTA) for the availability or loss
of these services.
• Avoided Cost (AC): services allow society to avoid costs that would have been
incurred in the absence of those services. Examples are flood control (which
avoids property damages), waste treatment (which avoids health costs) by
wetlands and biological control (which can lead to lower pesticide costs) of
insect pests in vineyards.
• Replacement Cost (RC): services could be replaced with human-made systems;
an example is natural waste treatment by marshes, which can be (partly)
replaced with costly artificial water treatment systems.
• Factor Income (FI): many ES enhance incomes. An example is improvement of
grapes quality which increase incomes of grape growers.
• Travel Cost (TC): Use of ES may require travel. The travel costs can be seen as
a reflection of the implied value of the service. An example is recreation areas in
vineyards and cellar sales that attract distant visitors whose value placed on that
area must be at least what they were willing to pay to travel to it.
• Hedonic Pricing (HP): Service demand may be reflected in the prices people will
pay for associated goods; an example is that housing prices in valley near
vineyards usually exceed prices of identical inland homes near less attractive
scenery.
Contingent valuation (CV): Service demand may be elicited by posing hypo-
thetical scenarios that involve the description of alternatives in a social survey
questionnaire. For example, such a questionnaire might ask respondents to express
to their willingness to pay (i.e. their stated preference as opposed to revealed
200 H. Sandhu

preference) improve vineyard restaurants so that they might enjoy outdoor

sceneries.
Group valuation: Another approach to ecosystem service valuation that has
gained increasing attention recently involves group valuation. Derived from social
and political theory, this valuation approach is based on the principles of deliber-
ative democracy and the assumption that public decision making should result, not
from the aggregation of separately measured individual preferences, but from open
public debate.

9.3 Society and Ecosystems

Human beings are an integral part of ecosystems and ES concept encapsulates the
concept of three-dimensional sustainability—social, economic and environmental
(Sandhu 2010). People living in rural or urban areas receive many benefits from
land and water resources. They are dependent on different ES to fulfill basic needs
and other constituents of well-being (Fig. 9.2; Sandhu and Sandhu 2014). These
linkages can provide opportunities for the policy makers and development organ-
isations to intervene by targeting each individual element of well-being and also
enhance ES (Kumar 2007). There is potential to improve several well-being indi-
cators by enhancing ES. For example, to fulfill food and nutritional demand, rural
households need to produce adequate quantity of good quality food on their limited
farmland. ES approach discussed above can help this by improving farm incomes
using ecological techniques. Ecological techniques do not require a major farming
system change but are based on enhancing ES in agriculture (Sandhu et al. 2015).
For example, the role of leguminous crops in nitrogen fixation can reduce fossil

Livelihoods

Health and Religion and

education Ecosystem Services beliefs
Role of ecosystems in Provisioning Impacts
Ecosystems Community
Regulating
well-being
Cultural
supporting livelihoods Dependence
Supporting

Food and shelter Social security

In-direct drivers of ecosystem change Direct drivers of ecosystem change

Market economy Food & Nutrition Security

Demographic changes Domestic Water Supply
Socio-political Sanitation & Hygiene
Housing, Clothing & Energy
Farm Assets

Fig. 9.2 Framework of ecosystems and well-being with drivers of ecosystem change
9 Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple Benefits 201

fuel-based fertilizer inputs (Gurr et al. 2004; Wratten et al. 2013). Similarly, sharing
of common resources such as water by upstream and downstream users, fuelwood
extraction and waste management can also be addressed by the local community at
village level (Fisher et al. 2010).
There are often drivers of ecosystem change that may impact the ability of
ecosystem to provide essential ES. These could be direct drivers that impacts
resources in ecosystems. For example, growing demand for food can alter the land
use in the forest ecosystem. Indirect drivers impact ecosystems from distant loca-
tions such as markets. For example, pursuit of supplying high value food products
from farm has potential to accelerate land cover change thereby deteriorating local
ecosystems (Geist and Lambin 2004).

9.3.1 Linkages Between Different Ecosystems for Human

Well-Being

Human well-being comprising of social, economic and environmental aspects is

dependent on healthy and functional ecosystems (Maslow 1943; Sen 2000; Sandhu
and Sandhu 2014). Well-being is associated with the quality of life of an individual
or group (Kumar and Kumar 2008; Summer et al. 2012). This could be related to
fulfilling basic needs such as food, shelter, water etc. or other cultural and spiritual
needs. Ecosystems, which are defined as a complex community of living and
non-living components of the environment, provide many benefits for human
well-being. The benefits derived from ecosystems in the form of goods or services
are then known as ES. One condition of obtaining desired well-being is healthy and
functional ecosystems. There is enormous complexity in ecosystems that support
various life supporting functions and processes (De Groot et al. 2002). However,
for simplification to be used in social and economic dimensions of human
well-being, we divide them into different categories based on their specific function,
ranging from marine based such as oceans, coastal etc. to land based such as forests,
urban, rural, freshwater etc. (Kumar 2010). This chapter considers lands based
ecosystems and which are defined in Chap. 1 (Mountain, agroecosystems, desert,
forest, urban and fresh water). It provides a conceptual framework that explains
how interlinkages between these ecosystems are necessary to sustain life and
achieve human well-being.

9.4 Framework for Interlinking Ecosystems

All these ecosystems do not work independently of each other to support human
life. Their functions depend on each other and they are inherently linked (De Groot
et al. 2002; Bennett et al. 2009). As human life depends on many ES provided by
202 H. Sandhu

these ecosystems, therefore there is need to develop an integrated approach to

optimise the benefits out of these ecosystems (Turner and Daily 2008;
Haines-Young and Potschin 2010). South Asia is a large part of earth’s surface
hosting a growing population with numerous demands on ecosystem and their
services (Kumar and Reddy 2007). There is likely impact due to overuse of some of
the resources. An integrated approach to linking ecosystems would thereby benefit
both users and managers of these ecosystems for the long-term sustainability
(Kumar 2010).
Human society is part of global ecosystems which comprises of terrestrial and
marine ecosystems (MEA 2005). Terrestrial ecosystems can be divided further into
agroecosystems, forests, mountains, desert and freshwater ecosystems. Human
beings, whether living in urban areas or rural areas, are dependent on these
ecosystems for their survival. Therefore, social, natural and built capital together
provides human well-being through various ES (Fig. 9.3). Global economy oper-
ates within the global ecosystems and all economic activity is dependent on
ecosystems for raw material or for other services (Washington 2012). Combination
of different ecosystems results in providing benefits to human population which
leads to human welfare through the provision of ES. Individual ecosystems can also
provide limited benefits based on their functions. Therefore, to sustain future use of
ecosystems and their services, there is need to consider integrated approach for the

Social Rural areas Human well-being

Agriculture
capital
• Livelihoods
Natural capital

Forests
Human capital

• Religion and
Deserts beliefs
Ecosystem
Mountains • Health and
education
Freshwater
Built Urban areas • Food and
shelter

• Social
security

Economic activities

Fig. 9.3 Interlinking ecosystems for human well-being by providing linkages between natural,
social, human and built capital
9 Interlinking Ecosystems for Multiple Benefits 203

maintenance of these ecosystems. For example, there is increased influx of rural

population to urban areas resulting in high demand of food and clean water in cities.
Food can only be grown in agricultural areas; therefore, to maintain human pop-
ulation in cities, rural areas need to have a clear policy for sustainable development
with matching investment so that they can continue to supply fresh and healthy
food to cities. Similarly, waste recycling is major issue in cities and growing
population puts more pressure on natural systems in this regard. This issue can be
dealt with by maintaining the function of natural drains by ecological engineering.
Similarly, forest, deserts and mountains provide essential ES for urban and rural
population, supporting livelihoods and cultural aspects of well-being.

9.5 Summary

Societal dependence on ecosystems and their services is invaluable. Despite high

social and economic value of these ecosystems, ES continue to decline
bio-physically and monetarily. Recent estimates suggest that over last 15 years,
there has been loss of ES in the range of US$4–20 trillion annually (Costanza et al.
2014). There is need to understand the functioning of ecosystem sand their
importance to society so that policy can adopt new mechanisms to internalise the
value of ES (Kumar 2007; Kumar and Thiaw 2013). This has potential to stop or
slow down losses in the ES and degradation of ecosystems. Integrated approach as
discussed above has potential to provide an alternative for the desirable and sus-
tainable future of mankind.

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Lehman M, Pascual U, Polasky S, Perrings C (2009) The valuation of ecosystem services. In:
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functioning, and human wellbeing: an ecological and economic perspective. Oxford University
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ecosystem services. Ecol Lett 12:1394–1404
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second ad hoc technical expert group on biodiversity and climate change. Secretariat of the
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change. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, p 16
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Costanza R, d’Arge R, de Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B, Limburg K, Naeem S, O’Neill

RV, Paruelo J, Raskin RG, Sutton P, vans den Belt M (1997) The value of the world’s
ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–260
Costanza R, de Groot R, Sutton P, van der Ploeg S, Anderson SJ, Kubiszewski I, Farber S,
Turner RK (2014) Changes in the global value of ecosystem services. Glob Environ Change
26:152–158
Daily GC (ed) (1997) Nature’s services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems. Island Press,
Washington, D.C.
De Groot RS, Wilson M, Boumans R (2002) A typology for the description, classification and
valuation of ecosystem functions goods services. Ecol Econ 41:393–408
DEWHA (2009) Ecosystem services: key concepts and applications. Occasional Paper No 1.
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decision-making. Ecol Econ 68:643–653
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management and PES: lessons and constraints for water PES in Tanzania. Ecol Econ 69:
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human well-being. In: Raffaelli D, Frid C (eds) Ecosystem ecology: a new synthesis. BES
ecological reviews series. Cambridge University press, Cambridge
IPBES (2010) Intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
http://ipbes.net/
IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: synthesis report. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
Geneva
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foundations. TEEB—The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Routledge, UK
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New Delhi
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functioning, and human wellbeing: an ecological and economic perspective. Oxford University
Press, Oxford
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University Press, Baltimore, USA
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gamekeepers. Bus Soc Rev 115:285–310
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Chapter 10
Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role
of Business

Sukhbir Sandhu

10.1 Introduction

There is growing awareness of the intensity and the anthropogenic nature of the
environmental change happening on our planet (WCED 1987; MEA 2005; IPCC
2007; UNEP 2010; WBCSD 2010). This is partly due to growing human
population coupled with rapid and uninhibited industrial growth to support the
demand for various products and services (MEA 2005; UNEP 2010). The envi-
ronmental degradation has resulted in loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services
worldwide (MEA 2005). It is impossible to separate economic development from
environmental issues (TEEB 2010). Human activities ranging from primary pro-
duction such as agriculture to industrial activities that erode the environmental
resources upon which they are based (MEA 2005). Environmental degradation in
turn can undermine economic development (WCED 1987; WBCSD 2010). Due to
growing concern about the environment by governments and people, businesses
world over are being pressurised into being more environmentally benign (Jansen
and Vellema 2004). Businesses are, therefore, looking for various approaches to
integrate ecosystems thinking into business practices.
An increasing number of businesses have recognised the need for achieving a
more sustainable form of development through corporate environmental practices
(Hart 2007; Sandhu 2010; Sandhu et al. 2010, 2012a). Corporate environmentalism
is the recognition of the importance of the natural environment by business
organisations and its integration into strategic decision making (Gladwin et al.
1995; Hart 1995; Shrivastava 1995; Banerjee 2002; Dunphy et al. 2007).
Businesses are focusing on improving environmentally sustainable practices in
response to the increased environmental performance demands from community.
This definition includes both compliance based environmental responsiveness and

S. Sandhu (&)
School of Management, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 207

H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6_10
208 S. Sandhu

also extends to voluntary initiatives such as environment management systems,

product stewardship and a commitment to sustainable development.
There is a growing body of research that has contributed a lot to our under-
standing about corporate environmentalism. However corporate environmentalism
is a relatively new phenomenon (with most of the research dating back only two
decades or so) and is largely restricted to the business practices only. There is lack
of a comprehensive framework that can guide businesses to study and implement
the principles of corporate environmentalism and move beyond the business realism
to integrate socio-economic and environmental benefits into overall sustainable
development of the society (IFC 2012).
This chapter builds on the ecosystem services (ES) framework of the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment (MEA 2005) which allows businesses to examine the risks
and opportunities that they face with regards to their dependence on natural
resources and ecosystem services (TEEB 2010; IFC 2012). This framework is
underpinned by the resource dependence theory and incorporates tools to assess
their current reliance on ecosystems and their services. The chapter is organised as
follows: in the following section, I discuss the concept of ES approach and provide
an overview of the application of this approach to business. I then discuss insights
from resource dependence theory, which enable business to identify the stake-
holders who pose a risk to their operations. I then elaborate how this framework is
adapted by a diversified business organisation into their agriculture and forestry
sectors. I conclude by discussing the role of ES framework in incorporating sus-
tainability into business management systems.

10.2 Ecosystem Services and Business: Theoretical

Framework

Business organisations are responding to the growing demand for sustainable

practices by considering a range of environmental management programs
(Céspedes-Lorente and Galdeano-Gómez 2004). A new approach to capture,
measure, compare and communicate sustainability is by utilising the concept of ES
(MEA 2005; Sandhu et al. 2012a). This section builds on the relevance of ES
approach to develop a sustainable business.
As discussed in previous chapters, ES are the benefits obtained either directly or
indirectly from natural and managed ecological systems (Daily 1997; MEA 2005).
These services support life through a wide range of processes and functions and
also provide natural capital for large number of industries. Business and ecosystems
are intricately linked (Hanson et al. 2008), for example, food industry depends upon
land and water resources, pollination, pest control, climate regulation; timber
industry depends upon continued supply of timber from forests (Table 10.1).
Recent realisation of the loss and declining ecosystems has severe consequences not
only for the sustainability but for existence of several industries (Athanas et al. 2006).
10 Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role of Business 209

Table 10.1 List of ecosystem goods and services associated with natural resource dependent
business organisations
Ecosystem goods and Example
services
1 Provisioning services
Food Grains, oil, tea, coffee, vegetables
Milk Milk products
Cocoa Chocolate products
Coffee beans Coffee drink
Seafood Shrimps
Fibre Cotton
Seed Seed crops
Wood Timber
Horticultural products Fruits
2 Regulating services
Greenhouse gas regulation Emission reduction through supply chain management
Climate regulation Carbon emission reduction
Water regulation Water use efficiency
Soil erosion control Payments to upstream users for improving watershed
services
3 Supporting services
Pollination Horticultural products
Biological control Natural enemies, pheromones etc.
Nutrient cycling Fertilisers
4 Cultural services
Eco-tourism Nature’s trail, camping in outback
Recreation Visits to national parks, bird watching
Ethics Social welfare schemes by business in local communities

These issues are likely to be exacerbated by the complexity of global warming and
climate change (IPCC 2007).
Implications of loss of ES and natural capital for the natural resource based
industry such as agribusinesses, paper industry, pharmaceuticals are far more direct
than for manufacturing industries (Grigg et al. 2009; TEEB 2010). Therefore, there
is greater need to understand and implement measures to address these issues in
agriculture and related industries (Maloni and Brown 2006). So far, organisations
have been responding to the regulatory and market pressures to address the chal-
lenges of changing environment. However due to increasing stakeholder pressure,
organisations which are more dependent on natural resources now need an explicit
focus on incorporating ES into their business decisions (Bleda and Shackley 2008;
Hanson et al. 2008; Sandhu et al. 2012a).
Based on the MEA framework, presented in Chap. 1, the framework developed
here (Fig. 10.1) maintains that continuous flow of ES depends on the structure or
condition of natural capital. The linkages between ES and natural capital are
210 S. Sandhu

Resource Ecosystem
Dependence Natural Capital Services
Theory Approach

Traditional risk Ecosystem based risk

management management

Changing business Ecosystem Ecosystem based new

environment Services opportunities

Ecosystem Management

Fig. 10.1 Conceptual framework of business ecosystem management based on the integration of
ecosystem services approach and resource dependence theory

impacted by the risks imposed by the natural environment. Natural resource

dependence theory helps decision- makers to understand that there is need to apply
ES approach in managing ecosystems related risks (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Hart
1997; Frooman 1999). According to resource dependence theory, organisations are
dependent on stakeholders for their resource needs (Pfeffer and Salancik 1978). It is
this dependence on stakeholders for critical resources that gives stakeholders
leverage over the firms. One example of this is the recent consumer boycott of
Cadbury over the alleged use of slave labour in its contracted agricultural plantation
in Africa. The consumer boycott led Cadbury to redefine its mission worldwide to
include Fair Trade certified products. Because ecosystems encompasses society and
the environment, they are a key stakeholder for land based business organisations
and environmental managers need to respond by adopting a carefully considered
approach in order to continue their business and maintain the ecosystems, on which
they are so intimately reliant.

10.3 Tools for Managing Ecosystem Based Risks

ES are currently in decline (MEA 2005) and are of pressing concern for business
that depends on natural resources such as agribusiness and food business. However,
business organisations often fail to make connection between ecosystems and their
business. But they are also in a unique position to alleviate these challenges through
10 Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role of Business 211

a careful assessment of ES dependence and usage. There are two key tools that can
be used to assess risks and business opportunities.

10.3.1 Ecosystem Services Review (ESR)

The World Resources Institute (WRI, Hanson et al. 2008) has developed the cor-
porate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) tool to link business with ecosystems. It
is a strategic tool that helps managers to manage ecosystem related business risks
and opportunities. ESR can be done as a stand-alone process or be integrated into
the existing environmental management systems of the business. The ESR can
provide value to businesses in industries that directly depend on natural resources
such as agriculture, beverages, water services, forestry, electricity, oil, gas, mining,
and tourism. It is also relevant to sectors such as general retail, healthcare, con-
sulting, financial services, and others to the degree that their suppliers or customers
interact directly with ecosystems. General retailers, for example, may face reputa-
tional or market risks if some of their suppliers degrade ecosystems and the services
they provide. However, ESR is not a quantitative tool and does not help in iden-
tifying environmental issues or business opportunities.

10.3.2 Ecosystem Based Business Risks Analysis Tool

(EBBRAT)

To overcome some of the issues discussed above, an ecosystem based business

risks analysis tool (EBBRAT) has been developed by Sandhu et al. (2012b).
The EBBRAT is anchored in the resource dependence theory discussed above. It
seeks to qualitatively and quantitatively explore and identify the risks and oppor-
tunities that business face because of their dependence on ES and thereby on
stakeholders who have a stake in these services and can exploit the firm’s depen-
dence on them for critical resources. EBBRAT consists of a MS Excel spread sheet
with data entry and output worksheets. A company’s dependence and impact on
ecosystem services is entered into a data entry sheet. Dependence on a particular
ecosystem services relevant to company’s performance is measured on a scale,
ranging from 0 (which indicates no relevance), to 10 (which is highly relevant).
Whereas company’s impact is quantified as either positive, negative or no impact
on a scale of −10 to +10. A positive impact indicates that the company’s operations
improve the ecosystem services, whereas a negative impact indicates that it results
in decline of ecosystem services. These responses are generated in the output
worksheet, and data are automatically organized in the analysis sheet into different
dependence categories and different impact categories with different colour
schemes. A graph is then generated showing the risks and opportunities based on
212 S. Sandhu

impact dependence profiles of ecosystem services. This tool also can be used to
identify business opportunities where a company can invest and develop risk
management options.

10.4 Case Study of an Organisation

Based on the above framework, the following section elaborates a case study of a
diversified business organisation that provides sustainable outcomes to its
bottom-line, society and the environment. ITC Limited with a market capitalization
of over USD 45 billion and revenue of about USD 8 billion is one of India’s largest
corporations with a presence in tobacco, hotels, paper boards, foods, fashion
retailing and commodity export (www.itcportal.com). This organisation is a leading
corporate in achieving sustainability in social, economic and environmental
dimensions. It employs about 30,000 people and supports the livelihood of about 6
million people indirectly. It is the only business organisation in the world that is
water, carbon and solid waste recycling positive (ITC Sustainability Report 2014).
Its sustainability program is integrated through all business units. A comprehensive
framework includes a multipronged approach to manage natural resources.
Sustainable management of natural resources such as water and land results in their
protection. Waste recycling and reduction in carbon emissions by increasing effi-
ciencies result in achieving environmental standards. Programs which are spread
across different business divisions are aimed at rural or marginal farmers and people
living in tribal areas. These programs and projects are aligned with the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs; UN 2000). See Box 10.1. There
are two key areas, where ITC has large interventions programs—one in agriculture
sector and one in forestry. Each of these are discussed below.

Box 10.1 Corporate Social Responsibility at ITC

Millennium Development Activities at ITC
Goals
Eradicating extreme Agricultural development, animal husbandry,
poverty and hunger Agricultural extension activities
Universal primary Promoting and supporting primary education
education
Promote gender equality Promoting women’s micro enterprises
Sustainable livelihoods for women
Global partnership for Promotions of art culture, partnering with global
development organisations for skill development
Ensure environmental Social forestry, rural development, natural resources
sustainability conservation and management
10 Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role of Business 213

10.4.1 Sustainable Ecosystems in Agriculture Sector

ITC’s International Business Division (IBD) is engaged in exports of a range of

agricultural commodities. ITC initiated efforts to re-engineer procurement of farm
products by introducing information and technology into rural villages through a
project widely known as e-chaupal (Annamalai and Rao 2003). About 40,000
villages have e-chaupal kiosks and about 4 million farmers benefit from it.
It has brought many advantages which extend beyond good remuneration to the
farmer. This network has helped rural transformation by providing more trans-
parency about the market to the farmers. It has helped to improve farmers’ pro-
ductivity and incomes in about 100,000 villages across India.
It requires identification and training of a local farmer who acts as Sanchalak, to
manage each e-Choupal. Sanchalak’s hosts a computer at his house which is linked
to internet. This whole setup costs between USD 3000 and 6000. Farmers are not
charged for using the system. However, Sanchalak who serve the community
benefits by increased prestige and a small commission paid for each transaction.
Farmers access daily rates of the commodities and can decide when to sell their
produce through this system. ITC can buy the crop directly from the farmer, bring it
to the ITC complex known as Chaupal Sagar (Fig. 10.2), usually at the District
level, weigh it and check for quality. The farmer is then paid for the value of crop.
Farmers can also order all farm inputs and household products through this
system as the prices are generally lower than the village trader due to the part-
nerships of ITC with consumer goods companies.
This way farmers are protected from the traditional traders who indulge in
several malpractices leading to economic losses to farmers. This system is trans-
forming agriculture sector by improving social and economic conditions of the rural
households especially farmers. This project has also resulted in significant
ecosystem improvements, due to much more careful and informed approach to
water usage, pesticide applications, and reduced crop wastage.

Fig. 10.2 Photos showing ITC Ltd. Chaupal Sagar providing agricultural information and inputs
alongwith consumer goods in e-chaupal project. Photos by S. Sandhu
214 S. Sandhu

10.4.2 Social Forestry

ITC Plantation and Specialty Papers Division is also engaged in the development of
rural communities through the extension of farm forestry and social forestry
models. Small and marginal farmers living in remote areas are being involved in
this project. There are about 200,000 ha under social and farm forestry model in
2400 villages. Farmers provide their land and the company provides all the tech-
nical knowhow and continued extension support to grow eucalyptus trees on the
farmland. There are two models prepared by ITC; farm forestry (Fig. 10.3) and
agroforestry (Fig. 10.4).

Fig. 10.3 Farmer showing his agroforestry plot with eucalyptus trees for paper mill. In between row
area is used for other crops cultivation (For example, cotton, pulses, etc.). Photos by S. Sandhu

Fig. 10.4 Agroforestry model showing eucalyptus trees at a farmer’s field. Photos by S. Sandhu
10 Sustainable Ecosystems and the Role of Business 215

In farm forestry model, farmers plant eucalyptus saplings provide by the ITC
extension division at 1.5  3 m distance with 2200 trees per hectare. These are
grown in areas, which receive very less rainfall, and generally crop cultivation is
not possible. Trees mature in about four years yielding on an average 100 tons of
timber per hectare. There is generally a buyback program under which ITC mills
buy timber from the farmers at market rates. On an average farmers receive USD 74
per ton of timber resulting in gross income of USD 7370 per hectare. Tree har-
vesting and bark removal and transport to the mill costs about USD 15 per ton of
timber. This leaves a net income of about Rs. 5896 per hectare after four years to
farmers (giving farmers a net income of USD 1475 per hectare per year). This
income source has drastically improved the socio-economic status of marginal
farmers in poor rural areas. There is improvement of associated social indicators
such as children’s education, women’s health, better houses and generally a higher
standard of living in the region. This project is currently going on in three districts
in Andhra Pradesh.
In agroforestry models, there is different spacing of trees with 8 m wide row
between two rows of eucalyptus trees. This leaves sufficient space to grow other
crops provided there are irrigation facilities available. Farmers grow cotton, chilli,
tobacco and pulses, etc. This model is not only supplying timber and providing
lump sum income to farmers after four year cycle but also provide opportunities to
generate cash income through the year.
ITC paper division is also setting up biodiversity plots in this region to protect
local flora and faunal diversity (Fig. 10.5). There are total nine biodiversity plots
with a total area of 56 hectares in Andhra Pradesh. Thus, agro forestry and farm

Fig. 10.5 Biodiversity plots within farm area to conserve local flora and fauna under the Mission
Sunehra Kal programme. Photos by S. Sandhu
216 S. Sandhu

forestry scheme is bringing rural transformation in this region. While there are clear
benefits to the organisation (e.g., a continuous supply of timber), there are also
significant environmental benefits of protecting virgin forests through growing
timber in wastelands. As discussed above, there are also social benefits that accrue
to the farmers. Thus, a carefully developed ecosystem based approach can result in
economic, social and environmental sustainability.
The programs described above are part of the social investment mission known
as Mission Sunehra Kal at ITC (Fig. 10.5). It involves managing social and natural
capital to create value to all sections of the society (ITC Sustainability Report
2014). The aim of this mission is to build on the ecosystem based approach dis-
cussed in the book to empower all stakeholders to promote sustainable livelihoods.

10.5 Summary

Increasingly, business organisations that are dependent on natural resources are

adopting more eco-friendly practices. Here, a holistic framework is presented that
provides tools and methods to asses risks and develop opportunities for the business
organisations. It has potential to encourage organisations to create tangible business
outcomes, while reducing ecosystem impact. As business organisations become
constrained by natural resources and climate risks, there is high potential for the
adoption of this approach to reduce risks and find sustained competitive advantage.

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Epilogue

Designing Sustainable Ecosystems for Equitable

and Sustainable Development

Harpinder Sandhu
School of the Environment, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
It is globally accepted that society and economic systems both depend on healthy
ecosystems for various benefits widely known as ecosystem services (ES). These
life supporting ES are in a state of decline worldwide due to human activities that
include mismanagement of ecosystems. There is sufficient scientific evidence to
suggest policy and practice to include ecosystem-based management to achieve
three-dimensional sustainability, i.e., social, ecological and economic. However,
governments, private sector and community at large are unable to respond in an
integrated manner to address these multifaceted challenges due to loss of biodi-
versity and ecosystems. This is despite the acknowledgement that livelihoods and
well-being depends on the state of ecosystems that supply various industrial raw
material and other cultural and aesthetics benefits to human beings. Global action
led by the United Nations to understand the role of ecosystems and their services in
social and economic systems have raised awareness of the critical nature of the
environmental challenges. However, there is need to understand and fulfill the gap
between scientific evidence and the policy for the long-term sustainability. This
book highlights the role played by ecosystems in South Asian region. Human
population is growing at an increasing rate in the region, therefore, the impacts on
natural resources on ecosystems will be enormous in coming years. To tackle these
issues, an ecosystem-based approach, discussed in the book, will be required to
resolve some of the socio-economic and environmental issues in the region.
Ecosystems have generally porous boundaries and several underlying functions
are required for them to produce certain benefits. For example, agroecosystems are
dependent on freshwater systems for water; urban ecosystems are dependent on all
surrounding systems for food, clean air, water supply etc. Similarly, with the
realisation that these ecosystems are of high economic value, it is difficult to
oversee their role in providing human welfare, directly or indirectly. It is not a good
approach to seek solutions independent of each other. A comprehensive and inte-
grated approach as discussed in the book is required for desirable outcomes.
A pre-requisite is an integrated effort by all segments so the society to look
holistically. This must be weaved into the local, national and regional policies in
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 219
H. Sandhu (ed.), Ecosystem Functions and Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53967-6
220 Epilogue

South Asia. There is need to account this social and natural capital and ES in the
national accounts so that a thorough balance sheet can be prepared and maintained
every year. This also requires a collective vision to develop equitable and sus-
tainable society.
There is greater need to incorporate the essence of human dependence on nature
and ecosystems in education sector at primary, secondary and tertiary level and for
all disciplines. A well informed and better-educated society can think beyond the
current realm of silos approach to seek transdisciplinary solutions and maintain
balance with the natural environment. Local, national and regional community then
can institutionalise these into their day-to-day life. A shift in policy at macro and
micro level is required to bring this change by understanding the role and value of
ecosystems in providing human well-being. Such policy changes can shift the
management thinking from problem to solutions oriented approaches to yield
sustainable and desirable future for all segments of the society.
South Asia has rich history and culture dating back to thousands of years. Many
great civilisations flourished in the region and gave rise to an educated and benign
society that had great appreciation for the nature and its resources. Industrialisation
in recent decades along with increasing population and its demand for food and
consumer products have resulted in faster rate of environmental degradation. This
rate is likely to be complicated and exacerbated by the climate shift, which is
already showing its impact, unless an alternative sustainable development approach
is adopted by the society. Discounting nature over economic growth is certainly not
an option for the region as millions depend on these ecosystems and their services
directly and indirectly. We know that not only society but economy also depend on
these ecosystems, which are of high economic value. It is worth taking a pause to
reflect, which direction are we heading—in pursuit of, an endless goal of amassing
material wealth or a healthy and fulfilled life. What is your goal in life?
December 2016 Harpinder Sandhu (Adelaide)