Quick Biodiversity Survey (QBS) Guideline

Species diversity or biodiversity plays an important role in sustaining an ecosystem at present and in future. Forest conversion to intensive agriculture and monoculture plantations leads to a loss of biodiversity in any landscape. Generally the rich biodiversity in natural or managed systems do not provide tangible benefits - a reason why local people may not be interested in conservation initiatives. Payment for Environmental Services or PES schemes are being proposed and tested in different contexts as a way to involve the local people in conservation practices. The Rapid Agro-Biodiversity Appraisal (RABA) (Kuncoro , 2006) is a diagnostic tool designed to appraise perceptions of different stakeholders related to conservation in a target area and to assess the feasibility of a PES mechanism. Extensive consultations are held with both buyers and sellers of conservation services, usually in landscapes of high biodiversity value or that harbor species of special interest such as tiger, orangutan, rhino or endangered bird species. Data on such high value species and biodiversity richness are usually available. Detailed biodiversity surveys are usually tedious, time consuming and can be conducted only by experts. Occasionally, however, where detailed recent biodiversity data are unavailable or where previous information on biodiversity may need to be validated, a rapid biodiversity survey of indicator plant and animal groups may provide sufficient information necessary for a RABA. The Quick Biodiversity Survey or QBS tool was developed for this purpose.

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