Economic Valuation for Water Supply From Merapi Volcano National Park Case Study: Kali Kuning Sub Watershed

The Merapi Volcano National Park (MVNP) is developed based on particular considerations such as protecting ecosystem or preserving certain species. Management of national park will not succeed unless the communities surrounding park support the park itself. However, it will be challenging because the park was established through a ‘top-down' process. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the surrounding communities are able to derive benefit economically from the park, especially environmental services such as water supply. The goal of this study is to estimate the economic value for water supply from MVNP with Kali Kuning Sub Watershed as the study case. The economic valuation is estimated based on three different land use maps: 2015's (deforestation), 2025's (afforestation) and extreme condition which is grassland (without national park). The economic value is approached by market price for water use value. Lastly, cost and benefit analysis based on several scenarios (deforestation, afforestation and ‘without national park') is implemented. The study shows that afforestation scenario presents the highest economic value from water supply for the surrounding communities as well as the downstream communities

The Changing Faces of Farmer-Led Irrigation: Lessons from Dynamic Irrigation Trajectories in Kenya and Zimbabwe

Farmer-led irrigation is valued for its resilience and ability to cope with shocks and benefit from opportunities. Yet, typologies of farmer-led irrigation are mostly static categorisations without analysing farmers’ decision-making over time, and without studying ‘failed’ cases. We therefore analysed temporal changes in farmers’ irrigation strategies to expand, downscale or cease practices as part of wider livelihood decisions and aspirations. This longitudinal study presents irrigation trajectories of 32 farmers in the arid lands of two contrasting socioeconomic settings in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Data were collected through multiple rounds of surveys and in-depth interviews. Results show that farmers frequently alternated strategies or ceased or restarted operations over the years, both by force and choice. Although many farmers were able to start, expand or sustain irrigation, not all managed or aspired to remain engaged in irrigated farming, even if the enabling environment was conducive for market-oriented irrigation development. We therefore conclude that farmers’ needs cannot always be expressed in general terms of growth or commercial farming, nor can they always be satisfied by improving the enabling environment, which may be based on static ontologies of diverse types of farmers.</p