scholarly journals Using the Ecosystem Services Concept to Assess Transformation of Agricultural Landscapes in the European Alps

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Uta Schirpke ◽  
Erich Tasser ◽  
Georg Leitinger ◽  
Ulrike Tappeiner
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
European Alps ◽  
Mountain Grassland ◽  
Social Ecological

Mountain farming sustains human well-being by providing various ecosystem services (ES). In the last decades, socio-economic developments have led to worldwide changes in land-use/cover (LULC), but the related effects on ES have not been fully explored. This study aimed at assessing the impacts of the transformation of agricultural land on ES in the European Alps. We mapped 19 ES within the agriculturally used areas in the year 2000 and analyzed LULC changes by 2018. We compared eight regions with a similar development, regarding social–ecological characteristics, to outline contrasting trends. Our results indicate that the ES decreased most strongly in regions with a massive abandonment of mountain grassland, while ES in the ‘traditional agricultural region’ remained the most stable. In regions with an intensification of agriculture, together with urban sprawl, ES had the lowest values. Across all regions, a shift from ES that are typically associated with mountain farming towards forest-related ES occurred, due to forest regrowth. By relating differing trends in ES to social–ecological developments, we can discuss our findings regarding new landscapes and farming systems across the European Alps. Our quantitative and spatially explicit findings provide a valuable basis for policy development, from the regional to the international/EU level, and for adopting sustainable management strategies.

scholarly journals The Role of Selected Ecosystem Services in Different Farming Systems in Poland Regarding the Differentiation of Agricultural Land Structure

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6673
Author(s):  
Lidia Luty ◽  
Kamila Musiał ◽  
Monika Zioło
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Soil Formation ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Supporting Soil ◽  
Management Method ◽  
The Impact

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

Novel approaches to evaluate sustainability of pasture-based livestock systems

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-190
Author(s):  
A. Bernués
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Market Price ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming Systems ◽  
Livestock Systems

Pasture-based livestock systems, often located in High Value Nature farmland areas, hold the greatest potential to deliver public goods across European agricultural systems. They play an important role in preserving agricultural landscapes, farmland biodiversity, cultural heritage, and in sustaining rural development. However, many of these functions are ignored in evaluation frameworks because public goods do not have market price and are often ignored in policy design, so farmers do not get the appropriate incentives to provide them. Different conceptual frameworks can be utilized to evaluate the multiple functions or services of these systems: Multifunctional Agriculture, Ecosystem Services, and Total Economic Value. We analyze the common characteristics of these concepts (e.g. they place human benefits and societal demands at the core of their definitions), their specificities (e.g. use of different units of analysis and spatial-temporal scales), and how they can be embedded in the wider concept of sustainability. Finally, we illustrate how the different concepts can be combined to evaluate pasture-based livestock farming systems from a socio-cultural and economic perspective. The public goods (ecosystem services) provided by representative case studies in Mediterranean and Nordic regions are quantified (also in monetary terms) under different environmental/policy scenarios. The results show that there is a clear underestimation of the socio-cultural and economic values of ecosystem services provided by these farming systems. They also show that the social welfare loss linked to further abandonment of livestock farming, and the associated environmental degradation, is very large. From a societal perspective, it is necessary to jointly measure the biophysical, socio-cultural and monetary values of ecosystem services (market and nonmarket) in order to promote the sustainability of pasture-based livestock systems.

scholarly journals Enabling Green and Blue Infrastructure to Improve Contributions to Human Well-Being and Equity in Urban Systems

BioScience ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 566-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Andersson ◽  
Johannes Langemeyer ◽  
Sara Borgström ◽  
Timon McPhearson ◽  
Dagmar Haase ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Ecosystem Service ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Technological Factors ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Variable Distribution

AbstractThe circumstances under which different ecosystem service benefits can be realized differ. The benefits tend to be coproduced and to be enabled by multiple interacting social, ecological, and technological factors, which is particularly evident in cities. As many cities are undergoing rapid change, these factors need to be better understood and accounted for, especially for those most in need of benefits. We propose a framework of three systemic filters that affect the flow of ecosystem service benefits: the interactions among green, blue, and built infrastructures; the regulatory power and governance of institutions; and people's individual and shared perceptions and values. We argue that more fully connecting green and blue infrastructure to its urban systems context and highlighting dynamic interactions among the three filters are key to understanding how and why ecosystem services have variable distribution, continuing inequities in who benefits, and the long-term resilience of the flows of benefits.

scholarly journals Temperate Agroforestry Systems and Insect Pollinators: A Review

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Bentrup ◽  
Jennifer Hopwood ◽  
Nancy Lee Adamson ◽  
Mace Vaughan
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Agroforestry Systems ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Yield Enhancement ◽  
Temperate Agroforestry ◽  
Insect Pollinators ◽  
Agroforestry Practices

Agroforestry can provide ecosystem services and benefits such as soil erosion control, microclimate modification for yield enhancement, economic diversification, livestock production and well-being, and water quality protection. Through increased structural and functional diversity in agricultural landscapes, agroforestry practices can also affect ecosystem services provided by insect pollinators. A literature review was conducted to synthesize information on how temperate agroforestry systems influence insect pollinators and their pollination services with particular focus on the role of trees and shrubs. Our review indicates that agroforestry practices can provide three overarching benefits for pollinators: (1) providing habitat including foraging resources and nesting or egg-laying sites, (2) enhancing site and landscape connectivity, and (3) mitigating pesticide exposure. In some cases, agroforestry practices may contribute to unintended consequences such as becoming a sink for pollinators, where they may have increased exposure to pesticide residue that can accumulate in agroforestry practices. Although there is some scientific evidence suggesting that agroforestry practices can enhance crop pollination and yield, more research needs to be conducted on a variety of crops to verify this ecosystem service. Through a more comprehensive understanding of the effects of agroforestry practices on pollinators and their key services, we can better design agroforestry systems to provide these benefits in addition to other desired ecosystem services.

scholarly journals Participatory Mapping of Demand for Ecosystem Services in Agricultural Landscapes

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1193
Author(s):  
Carmen Schwartz ◽  
Mostafa Shaaban ◽  
Sonoko Dorothea Bellingrath-Kimura ◽  
Annette Piorr
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
The Body ◽  
Poor Correlation ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Stakeholder Workshop

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.

scholarly journals Urban expansion in the Atlantic Forest: applying the Nature Futures Framework to develop a conceptual model and future scenarios

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (suppl 1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi ◽  
Cecilia Cronemberger ◽  
Caroline Picharillo ◽  
Sheina Koffler ◽  
Pedro H. Albuquerque Sena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Atlantic Forest ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Impact

Abstract: The Atlantic Forest is an important hotspot of biodiversity and ecosystem services that contributes to the well-being of its 125 million human inhabitants, about three quarters of the Brazilian population. In the coming decades, forecasts show that urban areas in the Atlantic Forest will grow at the expense of natural ecosystems, leading to increasing pressure on biodiversity and ecosystem services. We used the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) for envisioning positive scenarios for cities in the Atlantic Forest. First, we developed a conceptual model based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) approach to describe consequences of urban growth for the three NFF perspectives: Nature for Society, Nature for Nature and Nature as Culture. Second, we proposed scenario storylines that encompass multiple social-ecological values of nature and could be used by policy makers to plan desirable futures for the Atlantic Forest. Then, we discussed the impact of distinct policies on these values, identifying the different ways in which the management of urban green and blue spaces, natural ecosystems, and urban densities can lead to different social-ecological outcomes. We further detail the complexity, trade-offs, and synergies regarding city development, nature conservation, and human well-being in this tropical hotspot. Applying NFF can contribute to the ongoing debate regarding urban sustainability, by providing an interdisciplinary and integrative approach that explicitly incorporates multiple values of nature and the visualization of positive futures.

scholarly journals Identification, Prioritization and Mapping of Ecosystem Services in the Panchase Mountain Ecological Region of Western Nepal

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Adhikari ◽  
Himlal Baral ◽  
Craig Nitschke
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Cultural Services ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ecological Region ◽  
Forest Users ◽  
Provisioning Services

Ecosystem services (ES) are critical to human well-being, especially in developing countries. Improved understanding of the status of ES is required to help people improve their quality of life. The status of ES is largely unknown in many regions of Nepal. This study was carried out in one of Nepal’s biodiversity hotspots, the Panchase Mountain Ecological region (PMER), to identify, prioritize and map the major ES in the region. Primary data for the study were collected through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, a transect walk, and field observations. Similarly, secondary data were obtained from published and unpublished reports and satellite images of the study area. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Thirty-seven ES were identified from the study landscape. Among them, nine were provisioning services, thirteen regulating services, nine cultural services, and six supporting services. Interestingly, the prioritization of ES among stakeholders differed on the basis of their background, particular features of their landscape, professional engagement, and individual interests. For instance, forest users prioritized provisioning services for their daily needs whereas forest managers prioritized regulating and cultural services for overall ecosystem management and aesthetic values. Mapping of the ES from the landscape for 1995 and 2015 identified that forest area and associated ES have likely increased, especially in the upland regions, while agricultural land and their associated ES have decreased. The study can be used as a reference by planners and policy makers in managing ES in the PMER to increase synergies and reduce trade-off among various services.

scholarly journals Climate Emergency Adaptation and Sustainable Management Strategies in Rural and Agricultural Landscapes

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Anastasia Nikologianni ◽  
Kathryn Moore ◽  
Peter J. Larkham
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Land Farming ◽  
Agricultural Areas ◽  
Climate Crisis

This paper discusses the way in which climate emergency-related strategies and the concepts of climate adaptation, sustainability and governance are being introduced into rural and agricultural landscapes. To investigate environmental impacts on climate change, it uses examples from the ‘Landscape Observatory’ (Catalonia) and the ‘Room for the River’ (the Netherlands) landscape programmes. Noordwaard is the largest rural project of the Room for the River programme, dealing with agricultural land, farming and nature reserves at a strategic scale. It demonstrates the potential and significance of addressing the sea rising water levels by creating landscape climate adaptation projects by introducing the ideas of landscape, low carbon, ecosystem services and governance as vital aspects of rural infrastructure, which underpin the ways in which agricultural land and water are managed. The Landscape Observatory has had a significant impact on the development of landscape policies in Catalonia and has been influential in a global level. Focusing on Lluçanès and the establishment of a Landscape Charter protecting the agricultural land and examining the natural area of La Cerdanya in Pyrenees, the research extracts best practices in policy and legislation as well as participatory methods on climate and landscape awareness. This research concludes that a communication strategy strongly supported by policies, legislation and governance structures, in conjunction with a wider understanding of the role of landscape, results in significantly improved responses to deal with the challenges of the climate crisis in rural and agricultural areas.

scholarly journals Recreational and Nature-Based Tourism as a Cultural Ecosystem Service. Assessment and Mapping in a Rural-Urban Gradient of Central Spain

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 343
Author(s):  
Cecilia Arnaiz-Schmitz ◽  
Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui ◽  
María F. Schmitz
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Landscape Conservation ◽  
Urban Gradient ◽  
Social Ecological

Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has meant a clear impediment to assessing and mapping them. In this study, an integrated numerical spatial method is developed, which quantifies the supply and demand of recreational ecosystem services and allows mapping their spatial correspondence along a rural-urban gradient. The procedure also allows quantifying the influence of the landscape structure and the presence of protected areas on the degree of coupling between supply of recreational ecosystem services and demand for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism and reveals that protected areas are hotspots of recreational ecosystem services. The results obtained highlight the usefulness of the methodological procedure developed as a tool for sustainable land planning and management from an integrative social-ecological approach.

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