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Land-use change influence ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape in Central America

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Abstract

Ecosystems provide a variety of services that are important for human well-being. The estimation of different ecosystem services is necessary to support decision-making processes at different levels in the landscapes. The dynamics of land use, based on LANDSAT satellite images from the years 1978, 1986, 1998 and 2011 in La Vía Láctea (Nicaragua), was analyzed to estimate its impact on four ecosystem services (habitat for species, carbon stock, greenhouse gas regulation and food production). The valuation of ecosystem services was carried out through a land-use change analysis, while the estimation of conservation value coefficients was estimated for the study area using information collected in the field. It was estimated that forest cover was reduced by 93% between 1978 and 2011, whereas pasture areas increased considerably (133,304 ha) in the same period. These changes have caused a reduction of forest cover for cattle production, resulting in a loss in the quality and provision of ecosystem services. The conversion of forests to pastures caused a reduction of ecosystem services such as habitat for species and carbon stock, while milk production and greenhouse gas emissions have increased, which is related to grassland management. Between 1978 and 2011, support and regulation services had decreased by $15.6 and $4.4 million USD, respectively, whereas provisioning services have increased by $14.9 million USD. Recovery of pastures through silvopastoral systems is an alternative that would improve the provision of ecosystem services and the promotion of sustainable livestock to improve landscape conservation.

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Notes

  1. RISEMP was a PES scheme that pioneered payments for silvopastoral practices. RISEMP was coordinated in Costa Rica, Colombia and Nicaragua from 2002 until 2008 by CATIE and funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the Worldbank (Pagiola et al. 2005). PES beneficiaries were livestock producers in the three countries. The scheme improved existing PES approaches in several respects.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the FONTAGRO for support on the livestock and greenhouse gas emissions project (FTG/RF-14652-RG), to the producers and colleagues of INTA-Nicaragua for their cooperation in the field phase, to Astrid Pulido, Gabriela Chavez and Larry Niño for advice in SIG analyses and to Gusnara Bustos for her comments and useful suggestions to improve the manuscript. Opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and not of the funders.

Funding

FONTAGRO,FTG/RF-14652-RG

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture, Livestock, and Agroforestry Program, CATIE, Cartago, Turrialba, 30501, Costa Rica

    Diego E. Tobar López

  2. Doctorate in Natural Science for Development (DOCINADE), Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional, Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Cartago, Costa Rica

    Diego E. Tobar López

  3. Environments and Societies, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), Montpellier, France

    Bonin Muriel

  4. Grupo de Investigación PROECUT, Facultad de Ingeniería Agronómica, Universidad del Tolima, Ibagué, Colombia

    Hernán J. Andrade

  5. General Director, CATIE. Cartago, Turrialba, 30501, Costa Rica

    Muhammad Ibrahim

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  1. Diego E. Tobar López
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Correspondence to Diego E. Tobar López.

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Tobar López, D.E., Muriel, B., Andrade, H.J. et al. Land-use change influence ecosystem services in an agricultural landscape in Central America. Agroforest Syst 96, 281–292 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-021-00717-4

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