Reducing wildfires in Georgia
The Georgian Ministry of Environment has initiated legal changes to ban crop residue burning. Enforcing such a policy, however, needs to be justified on economic and ecological grounds. For this purpose, an ecosystem service valuation study has been undertaken, analyzing the economic benefits and costs of implementing such a policy.
Crop residue burning is an inexpensive and quick method to remove excess residue that facilitates planting and control pests and weeds. But there is a series of negative repercussions on ecosystems, some of which the authors have quantified in this report. The results suggest enforcing a ban on crop residue burning because the benefits of retaining and using straw are higher than the additional costs of hiring machinery dealing with crop residues.
The avoidance of burning should ideally be adopted as part of a package of sustainable land management practices, including integrated pest management, conservation or no-tillage and frequent crop rotations. This will enhance soil biota, fauna and flora, food security and livelihoods while favouring the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.