scholarly journals Changes in Regulating Ecosystem Services following Establishing Exclosures on Communal Grazing Lands in Ethiopia: A Synthesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolde Mekuria
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Plant Species Richness ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Ecosystem Carbon ◽  
Total Soil ◽  
Soil N Stock ◽  
Degraded Ecosystems ◽  
Grazing Lands

In four separate studies undertaken in the northern highlands of Ethiopia, changes in regulating ecosystem services, economic viability, and the perception of local communities following establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands were investigated. Replicated 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year-old exclosures were selected and paired each exclosure with an adjacent grazing land. All exclosures displayed higher ecosystem services than communal grazing lands. Differences between exclosures and grazing lands varied between 29 (±4.9) and 61 (±6.7) Mg C ha−1 for ecosystem carbon stock (ECS), 2.4 (±0.6) and 6.9 (±1.8) Mg ha−1 for total soil N stock, and 17 (±3) to 39 (±7) Kg ha−1 for the available P stock, and all differences increased with exclosure duration. Differences in plant species richness and biomass between an exclosure age and communal grazing land were higher in oldest than in youngest exclosures. Over a period of 30 years, sequestered carbon dioxide was 246 Mg ha−1, total soil nitrogen increased by 7.9 Mg ha−1, and additional available phosphorous stocks amounted to 40 kg ha−1. The Net Present Value of exclosures ecosystem services under consideration was about 28% (837 US$) higher than alternative wheat production indicating that exclosures are competitive to alternative land uses. There are substantial opportunities to mobilize the local communities in efforts to establish exclosures, given that more than 75% had a positive view on exclosures effectiveness to restore degraded ecosystems. Establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands can be effective for restoring degraded ecosystems and the services that they provide.

Environmental impacts of smart local energy systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Robinson ◽  
Alona Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Local Energy ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Degraded Ecosystems

<p>Energy systems around the world are rapidly transitioning towards decentralised and digitalised systems as countries aim to decarbonise their economies. However, broader environmental effects of the upscaling of these smart local energy systems (SLES) beyond reducing carbon emissions remain unclear. Land-use change associated with increased deployment of renewables, new infrastructures required for energy distribution and storage, and resource extraction for emerging energy technologies may have significant environmental impacts, including consequences for ecosystems within and beyond energy system project localities. This has major implications for biodiversity, natural capital stocks and provision of ecosystem services, the importance of which are increasingly recognised in development policy at local to international scales. This study assessed current understanding of the broader environmental impacts and potential co-benefits of SLES through a global Rapid Evidence Assessment of peer-reviewed academic literature, with a critical evaluation and synthesis of existing knowledge of effects of SLES on biodiversity, natural capital and ecosystem services. There was a striking overall lack of evidence of the environmental impacts of SLES. The vast majority of studies identified considered only energy technology CO<sub>2</sub> emissions through simulation modelling; almost no studies made explicit reference to effects on ecosystems. This highlights an urgent need to improve whole system understanding of environmental impacts of SLES, crucial to avoid unintended ecosystem degradation as a result of climate change mitigation. This will also help to identify potential techno-ecological synergies and opportunities for improvement of degraded ecosystems alongside reaching decarbonisation goals.</p>

scholarly journals Herbaceous plant species diversity in communal agro-pastoral and conservation areas in western Serengeti, Tanzania

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 502-518
Author(s):  
Pius Yoram Kavana ◽  
Anthony Z. Sangeda ◽  
Ephraim J. Mtengeti ◽  
Christopher Mahonge ◽  
John Bukombe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Plant Species Diversity ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Herbaceous Plant ◽  
Herbaceous Species ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Grazing Lands

Agro-pastoralism involves the growing of crops and keeping of livestock as a livelihood strategy practiced by communities in rural areas in Africa and is highly dependent on environmental factors including rainfall, soil and vegetation. Agro-pastoral activities, e.g. livestock grazing and land clearing for crop cultivation, impact on environmental condition. This study evaluated the impacts of agro-pastoral activities on herbaceous plant species diversity and abundance in western Serengeti relative to conservation (protected) areas. A vegetation survey was conducted along the grazing gradients of ten 4 km transects from within village lands to protected areas. A total of 123 herbaceous species belonging to 20 families were identified. Higher herbaceous species diversity and richness were found in protected areas than in communal grazing lands. Similarly, the number of perennial herbaceous species was higher in the former than the latter, while occurrence of annuals was higher in the village areas. This observation indicates poor rangeland condition in village communal grazing lands as compared with protected areas. It is obvious that current agro-pastoral activities have contributed to a reduction in herbaceous species diversity in village lands in western Serengeti. However, the array of pasture species, especially desirable perennial species, still present in communal grazing areas, suggests that rejuvenation of these areas is possible. Resting of grazing land is recommended to reverse the trend towards diversity reduction and ensure future availability of feed resources for grazing animals in village lands.

scholarly journals The Woods around the Ivory Tower: A Systematic Review Examining the Value and Relevance of School Forests in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 531
Author(s):  
Kimberly J. Coleman ◽  
Elizabeth E. Perry ◽  
Dominik Thom ◽  
Tatiana M. Gladkikh ◽  
William S. Keeton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Ivory Tower ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Research And Teaching

Throughout the United States, many institutions of higher education own forested tracts, often called school forests, which they use for teaching, research, and demonstration purposes. These school forests provide a range of benefits to the communities in which they are located. However, because administration is often decoupled from research and teaching, those benefits might not always be evident to the individuals who make decisions about the management and use of school forests, which may undervalue their services and put these areas at risk for sale, development, or over-harvesting to generate revenue. To understand what messages are being conveyed about the value and relevance of school forests, we conducted a systematic literature review and qualitatively coded the resulting literature content using an ecosystem services framework. While school forests provide many important benefits to academic and local communities, we found that most of the existing literature omits discussions about cultural ecosystem services that people may receive from school forests. We discuss the implications of this omission and make recommendations for addressing it.

Multi-objective forestry increases the production of ecosystem services

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olalla Díaz-Yáñez ◽  
Timo Pukkala ◽  
Petteri Packalen ◽  
Manfred J Lexer ◽  
Heli Peltola
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Carbon Balance ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Simulation And Optimization ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Continuous Cover Forestry

Abstract Boreal forests produce multiple ecosystem services for the society. Their trade-offs determine whether they should be produced simultaneously or whether it is preferable to assign separate areas to different ecosystem services. We use simulation and optimization to analyse the correlations, trade-offs and production levels of several ecosystem services in single- and multi-objective forestry over 100 years in a boreal forest landscape. The case study area covers 3600 ha of boreal forest, consisting of 3365 stands. The ecosystem services and their indicators (in parentheses) considered are carbon sequestration (forestry carbon balance), biodiversity (amount of deadwood and broadleaf volume), economic profitability of forestry (net present value of timber production) and timber supply to forest industry (volume of harvested timber). The treatment alternatives simulated for each of the stands include both even-aged rotation forestry (thinning from above with clear cut) and continuous cover forestry regimes (thinning from above with no clear cut). First, we develop 200 Pareto optimal plans by maximizing multi-attribute utility functions using random weights for the ecosystem service indicators. Second, we compare the average level of ecosystem services in single- and multi-objective forestry. Based on our findings, forestry carbon balance and the amount of deadwood correlate positively with each other, and both of them correlate negatively with harvested timber volume and economic profitability of forestry. Despite this, the simultaneous maximization of multiple objectives increased the overall production levels of several ecosystem services, which suggests that the management of boreal forests should be multi-objective to sustain the simultaneous provision of timber and other ecosystem services.

Bioeconomic modelling of woody regrowth carbon offset options in productive grazing systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gowen ◽  
Steven G. Bray
Keyword(s):  
Net Present Value ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Carbon Price ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Gross Margin ◽  
Grazing Land ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Bioeconomic Modelling ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Relative Profitability

Agricultural land has been identified as a potential source of greenhouse gas emissions offsets through biosequestration in vegetation and soil. In the extensive grazing land of Australia, landholders may participate in the Australian Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund and create offsets by reducing woody vegetation clearing and allowing native woody plant regrowth to grow. This study used bioeconomic modelling to evaluate the trade-offs between an existing central Queensland grazing operation, which has been using repeated tree clearing to maintain pasture growth, and an alternative carbon and grazing enterprise in which tree clearing is reduced and the additional carbon sequestered in trees is sold. The results showed that ceasing clearing in favour of producing offsets produces a higher net present value over 20 years than the existing cattle enterprise at carbon prices, which are close to current (2015) market levels (~$13 t–1 CO2-e). However, by modifying key variables, relative profitability did change. Sensitivity analysis evaluated key variables, which determine the relative profitability of carbon and cattle. In order of importance these were: the carbon price, the gross margin of cattle production, the severity of the tree–grass relationship, the area of regrowth retained, the age of regrowth at the start of the project, and to a lesser extent the cost of carbon project administration, compliance and monitoring. Based on the analysis, retaining regrowth to generate carbon income may be worthwhile for cattle producers in Australia, but careful consideration needs to be given to the opportunity cost of reduced cattle income.

scholarly journals 431 Managing grazing land ecosystems for multiple ecosystem services.

2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (suppl_3) ◽  
pp. 212-212
Author(s):  
M Silveira ◽  
E Boughton ◽  
H Swain ◽  
R Boughton
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Grazing Land

scholarly journals Paying the forest for electricity: a modelling framework to market forest conservation as payment for ecosystem services benefiting hydropower generation

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAURICIO E. ARIAS ◽  
THOMAS A. COCHRANE ◽  
KEITH S. LAWRENCE ◽  
TIMOTHY J. KILLEEN ◽  
TRACY A. FARRELL
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Payment For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Forest Protection ◽  
Scheme Design ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Erosion Modelling

SUMMARYThe operation and longevity of hydropower dams are often negatively impacted by sedimentation. Forest conservation can reduce soil erosion, and therefore efforts to maintain upstream forest cover within a watershed contribute to the economic life span of a hydropower facility. The cost of forest conservation can be viewed as an investment in hydropower and be financed via a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme. A novel modelling framework is used to estimate payments for forest conservation consisting of: (1) land-use change projection; (2) watershed erosion modelling; (3) reservoir sedimentation estimation; (4) power generation loss calculation; and (5) PES scheme design. The framework was applied to a proposed dam in Cambodia (Pursat 1). The estimated net present value of forest conservation was US$ 4.7 million when using average annual climate values over 100 years, or US$ 6.4 million when considering droughts every eight years. This can be remunerated with annual payments of US$ 4.26 ha−1 or US$ 5.78 ha−1, respectively, covering forest protection costs estimated at US$ 0.9 ha−1 yr−1. The application of this type of PES represents a rational option that allows for conservation and development of hydropower watersheds susceptible to erosion and sedimentation.

scholarly journals FRAME-CONCEPT OF VALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM ASSETS OF TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Oksana Veklych
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Nature Management ◽  
Dimensional Model ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Management Measures

For the first time in the professional literature the theoretical and methodological composition of the three-dimensional model of the frame-concept of assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities is revealed and presented. This frame-concept forms the general conceptual basis and logistic algorithm of practical actions for implementation the assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities in the practice of nature management. In accordance with the existing typology of concepts, the characteristics of the frame-concept of assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities are given. The main elements of the three-dimensional model of the frame-concept of assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities, which are identified by its construction according to the appropriate logistic algorithm of its composition, are established. This algorithm should be performed in several successive iterations. The first is the analysis and structural-functional description of the categorical basis of the concept of ecosystem assets as producers of ecosystem services, which represents the studied frame-concept. The second iteration involves in-depth disclosure of the content and features of ecosystem assets of territorial communities as a notion. The third is to describe ways to assess the ecosystem assets of local communities as a two-dimensional formation, providing an appropriate level of detail. The fourth iteration is the definition of the numerical formalization of the semantic sphere of ecosystem assets, in particular the numerical formalization of the value measurement of ecosystem assets as producers of ecosystem services. The fifth is a study of scenarios for assessing the ecosystem assets of local communities. The subject-object and other components of the scenario of assessment of ecosystem assets of a particular territorial community, which are written in its corresponding scheme, are shown. In the future, this, in turn, allows us to design the nature of the relationship between the local community as the owner of ecosystem assets and other beneficiaries of their use. This will make it possible to address the level of responsibility for the functioning of the ecosystem assets that produce these services, as well as when considering eco-compensation for the consumption of specific types of ecosystem services or their loss. As a result, the study of the frame-concept of assessment of ecosystem assets of territorial communities created an appropriate theoretical and methodological platform that forms its holistic view and understanding by scientists and practitioners. Therefore, it will help to justify and implement real management measures to assess ecosystem assets belonging to specific local communities.

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