OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development
Open-access peer-reviewed journal
https://doi.org/10.64211/oidaijsd190818
Provisioning ecosystem services of woody tree species in agroforestry systems and their socio-economic sustainability to enhance the ecological restoration potential in agro-ecological regions of degraded tropical catchment landscapes
H.M.B.S.Herath 1, 2
1 Department of Geography, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
2 International Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Corresponding authour: badrahearath@sjp.ac.lk
Volume 19, Issue 08, Pg. 257-272, 2026.
Abstract: Tree-rich agroforestry systems, such as home-gardens in South Asia, offer many ecosystem services (ES) as do forests in different scales in regions across the world. Hence, they have the potential to restore ESs lost due to large-scale deforested and degraded landscapes. However, the restoration potential is highly determined by the provisioning ecosystem services (PESs) derived from woody tree species in such systems, which are crucial for the well-being of the inhabitants. Moreover, due consideration in public policy in this regard in many countries is missing due to a lack of information, especially the economic values of ESs on a macro-scale. This study estimated the monetary value of PESs derived from woody-tree species along with other major agricultural products in home-gardens in agro-ecological regions of Upper Mahaweli Catchment (UMC) in Sri Lanka. A resource assessment survey was conducted across 500 home gardens in eleven agro-ecological zones within the UMC, covering two major districts, to collect primary data. A market-based approach was used to value the PESs.
The highest mean monetary value was generated from spice trees (37%), followed by timber trees (33%), food-producing (18%), fuelwood (7%), other tree-based products, including income from multipurpose tree species (3%), and medicinal products from trees (2%). The highest mean monetary value from spices was recorded from IU2 followed by IU3c , IM3a , WM2a , WU2b, WM2b and IM1a . Based on the results, it indicates that woody trees in home-gardens have a high capacity for restoring PESs lost due to the loss of tree cover in the UMC landscape. It further enhances the socio-economic well-being of the inhabitants through generating monetary income from woody tree species. However, comparatively high mean monetary values were generated from vegetables and ornamental plants, respectively, in agro-ecological regions of IU3d and IU3e located in higher elevations. It will be an incentive to reduce the woody tree cover of home-gardens. A special incentive package can be proposed for the home-garden owners, to enhance the tree cover of home-gardens further, for the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of the catchment landscape in the long run.
Keywords: Home-gardens, Landscape restoration, Provisioning ecosystem services, Tree-rich agro-forestry systems, Socio-economic sustainability, Agro-ecological regions
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