Capturing multiple forest ecosystem services for just benefit sharing: The Basket of Benefits Approach

Forests generate a range of ecosystem services at global, local and regional scales but deforestation and forest degradation is increasing in many regions of the world, with primary forests under particular threat. At the same time, the communities that own and live in and around these forests are seeking incomes for development in an increasingly globalised world. The failure to comprehensively recognise, demonstrate and capture the value of the ecosystem services of forests, means that forests are seen primarily as a source of timber, or forest land as simply an opportunity for agriculture and mining. Forest communities, that have often harnessed the forest for centuries, are often faced with a false choice between conservation and development. A number of mechanisms exist to create incomes from the forest through more sustainable activities that recognise and seek to capture forest ecosystem service benefits beyond timber. This paper examines the literature on four key mechanisms – (i) forest certification, (ii) non-timber forest products, ecotourism and eco-labelling, (iii) payments for ecosystems services and (iv) forest carbon mitigation schemes (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) to determine how they recognise, demonstrate and capture ecosystem services and to identify their strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats. It is argued that while the mechanisms recognise multiple ecosystem services, they struggle to demonstrate their value, and thus ineffectively capture them in forest management and income-generation for forest stewards. The paper uses the analysis to propose the essential requirements of a ‘Basket of Benefits Approach’ that provides guidance for more comprehensive valuation of forest ecosystem services, inclusive of ecosystem integrity, that enables just benefit sharing. This Approach considers all the benefits and the beneficiaries to be within the ‘basket’, and therefore that agreement on values and equitable sharing of the benefits, through participatory planning and governance, is essential