scholarly journals Flow of Economic Benefits From Coral Reefs in a Multi-Use Caribbean Marine Protected Area Using Network Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francoise Cavada-Blanco ◽  
Aldo Cróquer ◽  
Edgard Yerena ◽  
Jon P. Rodríguez

Adaptation to changes in the delivery of ecosystem services while maintaining resilience of natural systems is one of the main challenges faced by multi-use marine protected areas (MPAs). To overcome this, it is crucial to improve our understanding of interdependencies among resource users and ecosystems. In this study we used networks to model the socio-ecological system of a multi-use MPA in the southern Caribbean. Using a mixed-method approach, we built a socio ecological network (SEN) from the flow of economic benefits that stakeholders obtain from coral reefs in Los Roques National Park. We specifically looked at how these benefits are distributed among stakeholder groups and how the structure and other network properties can inform management. For this, four networks (simple, weighted, directed and directed-weighted) were built from 125 nodes representing three services and six stakeholder groups, linked through 475 edges. The SEN structure indicated an open resource use pattern with reduced social capital, suggesting that community-based management could be challenging. Only 31% of the benefits from ecosystem services stay within the SEN. Regulation services, derived from the coral reef framework were the most important in terms of maintaining the flow of benefits through the SEN; however, most benefits depended on provisioning services. This approach, based on network theory allowed identification of inequalities in the access to benefits among groups, externalities in benefits derived from fisheries and trade-offs between provisioning and regulation services. Our results suggest that Los Roques might be falling into a socio-ecological trap. Improving access to benefits and increasing trust need be prioritized. Low-cost management intervention can help internalize financial benefits and reduce trade-offs affecting more vulnerable stakeholder groups. However, these would require changes in governance and institutions at the executive level.

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1193
Author(s):  
Carmen Schwartz ◽  
Mostafa Shaaban ◽  
Sonoko Dorothea Bellingrath-Kimura ◽  
Annette Piorr

Agricultural land use systems have been optimized for producing provisioning ecosystem services (ES) in the past few decades, often at the expense of regulating and cultural services. Research has focused mainly on the supply side of ES and related trade-offs, but the demand side for regulatory services remains largely neglected. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of participatory geographic information system (PGIS) methods for demand assessment in larger rural and agrarian contexts by identifying spatially explicit demand patterns for ES, thereby enlarging the body of participatory approaches to ES-based land use management. Accordingly, we map, assess, and statistically and spatially analyze different demands for five ES by different stakeholder groups in agricultural landscapes in three case studies. The results are presented in a stakeholder workshop and prerequisites for collaborative ES management are discussed. Our results show that poor correlation exists between stakeholder groups and demands for ES; however, arable land constitutes the highest share of the mapped area of demands for the five ES. These results have been validated by both the survey and the stakeholder workshop. Our study concludes that PGIS represents a useful tool to link demand assessments and landscape management systematically, especially for decision support systems.


Author(s):  
S. Ajrhough ◽  
M. Maanan ◽  
H. Mharzi Alaoui ◽  
H. Rhinane ◽  
E. H. El Arabi

Abstract. Managing multiple ecosystem services (ES) across forest landscape, constitute a growing field of research. It represents a key challenge that attempts to optimize the trade-offs among provisioning, supporting, regulating and cultural ES. Here, we review approaches and shortcomings on some anterior FES studies. Three main components are presented, 1) an overview of the current state of research, 2) a summary of main methods adopted 3) an identification of principal approaches' restrictions. Several conclusions emerge: most of the studies focus on a limited number of FES which might undermine the long-term provision of other FES, or converge to using free software models which are practical and low-cost but require enormous data. This reveals how the lack of existing inventories and evaluations impacts the choice of methodologies and lead to use indirect methods of measurement. However, researches that aim to understand the relationships and conflicts among multiple FES and seeks to find out the best management regime will improve our ability to sustainably fulfil economic, ecologic and social goals.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Echeverri ◽  
Robin Naidoo ◽  
Daniel S. Karp ◽  
Kai M.A. Chan ◽  
Jiaying Zhao

AbstractDespite the great cultural and economic benefits associated with birdwatching and other bird-related cultural ecosystem services (CES), little is known about the bird-related CES perceived by people, and how they differ across stakeholder groups and species. The goal of this study was to explore CES across three stakeholder groups in northwestern Costa Rica. We conducted surveys (n=404 total) in which we presented farmers (n=140), urbanites (n=149), and birdwatchers (n=115) with pictures and songs of bird species and collected participants’ ratings on items designed to measure multiple CES. We found bird-related CES were perceived as six different constructs: identity, bequest, education, birdwatching, acoustic aesthetic, and disservices. The three stakeholder groups varied across these constructs and across species. Specifically, birdwatchers ranked species higher in terms of their education scores and lower in disservices scores compared to the other two groups. Positive correlations across CES, and negative correlations with disservices, suggest that the affect heuristic (by which generalized positive or negative feelings sway judgements of risks and benefits) might be informing bird-related CES. Our approach represents a novel method for assessing CES that can be adapted and modified for different taxa and multiple geographical contexts.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Liye Wang ◽  
Xinli Ke ◽  
Assem Abu Hatab

Over the past few decades urbanization and population growth have been the main trend all over the world, which brings the increase of economic benefits (EB) and the decrease of cropland. Cropland protection policies play an important role in the urbanization progress. In this study, we assess the trade-offs between EB and ecosystem services value (ESV) under three cropland protection policy scenarios using the LAND System Cellular Automata for Potential Effects (LANDSCAPE) model. The empirical results reveal that trade-offs between EB and ESV in urbanizing areas are dynamic, and that they considerably vary under different cropland protection policy scenarios. Especially, the results identify certain “turning points” for each policy scenario at which a small to moderate growth in EB would result in greater ESV losses. Among the three scenarios, we found that the cropland protection policy has the most adverse effect on trade-offs between EB and ESV and the results in the business as usual scenario have the least effect on the trade-offs. Furthermore, the results show that a strict balance between requisition and compensation of cropland is an inappropriate policy option in areas where built-up areas are increasing rapidly from the perspective of mitigating conflict between EB and ESV and the numbers of cropland protection that restrained by land use planning policy of Wuhan is a better choice.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Isobel Elliff

Coral reefs provide important ecosystem services to coastal communities. The Archipelago of Tinhar?e andBoipeba, Bahia, Brazil, are mostly surrounded by fringing reefs, which have undergone several chronichuman impacts. The objective of the present study was to apply an ecosystem-based approach byanalyzing the ecosystem services provided by the coral reefs of the Archipelago of Tinhar?e and Boipeba inorder to support management actions and serve as a tool for coastal management. Ecosystem serviceswere assessed through the observation of environmental indicators of their occurrence and by using asuite of models from the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) softwarecombined with data from the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol database. Theservices of greatest occurrence were food provision, habitat maintenance, shoreline protection andrecreation. While the main stressful factors were tourism activities, the absence of a sewage system andfisheries. The coral reefs presented potential for shoreline protection along 50.5% of the islands. Moreover,46.8% of the shoreline would present moderate to high vulnerability in case of coral reef disappearance.The coincidence of areas with high risk of loss in the capacity to provide services and highvulnerability in the scenario of absence of reefs is concerning. Thus, the current model for tourism usedin the area should be altered, as should new management strategies be implemented, which can bringbenefits and avoid reef decline.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Fu ◽  
Pei Xu ◽  
Yukuan Wang ◽  
Yingman Guo

Ecological management based on the ecosystem approach promotes ecological protection and the sustainable use of natural resources. We developed a quantitative approach to identify the ecological function zones at the country-scale, through integrating supply and demand of ecosystem services. We selected the biologically diverse hotspot of Baoxing County, which forms a part of the Sichuan Giant Panda World Heritage Site, to explore the integration of ecosystem services supply and demand for ecosystem management. Specifically, we assessed the various support, provision, regulating, and cultural services as classified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. We applied the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs) model to spatially map habitat quality, water retention, and carbon sinks, and used statistical data to evaluate food products, animal husbandry, and product supply services. We then quantified the demands for these services in terms of population, protected species, hydropower, water, and land use. The relationship between areas of supply and areas of demand was discussed for each township, and the spatial variability in the supply–demand relationship was also considered. As a result, we spatially divided the county into six ecological functional areas, and the linkages between each region were comprehensively discussed. This study thus provides a detailed methodology for the successful implementation of an ecosystem management framework on a county-scale based on the spatial partitioning of supply and demand.


2021 ◽  
Vol 205 ◽  
pp. 105566
Author(s):  
Lucia M. Fanning ◽  
Mera Nasser Al-Naimi ◽  
Pedro Range ◽  
Abdel-Samad M. Ali ◽  
Jessica Bouwmeester ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Heidi J. Albers ◽  
Stephanie Brockmann ◽  
Beatriz Ávalos-Sartorio

Abstract Low and highly variable prices plague the coffee market, generating concerns that coffee farmers producing in shade systems under natural forests, as in biodiversity hotspot Oaxaca, Mexico, will abandon production and contribute to deforestation and reduced ecosystem services. Using stakeholder information, we build a setting-informed model to analyze farmers' decisions to abandon shade-grown coffee production and their reactions to policy to reduce abandonment. Exploring price premiums for bird-friendly certified coffee, payments for ecosystem services, and price floors as policies, we find that once a farmer is on the path toward abandonment, it is difficult to reverse. However, implementing policies early that are low cost to farmers – price floors and no-cost certification programs – can stem abandonment. Considering the abandonment that policy avoids per dollar spent, price floors are the most cost-effective policy, yet governments prefer certification programs that push costs onto international coffee consumers who pay the price premium.


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