Applying eco-services in smallholder rubber land valuation

Abstract

Ecosystem services (ES) are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Agricultural lands are artificial ecosystems. Therefore, the value of an agricultural land use type can be measured by the total value of ESs which human are getting on that type. This paper proposed to value agricultural lands by the ES approach and apply for the smallholder rubber ecosystem on the Suoi Rat watershed in Binh Phuoc province. The results are: selection and pricing the nine ESs in 40 sample plots; determining the total value in each plot, thereby, calculating the unit value of smallholder rubber land in the watershed is 96,570 VND/m2; comparing the result with the value get from the income method and land price in 2014 of Binh Phuoc province. This valuation methods can be applied to value for other agricultural lands