IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/masfgc/v25y2020i8d10.1007_s11027-020-09931-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable grazing land management to protect ecosystem services

Author

Listed:
  • Elvira Díaz-Pereira

    (Spanish National Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC))

  • Asunción Romero-Díaz

    (University of Murcia)

  • Joris Vente

    (Spanish National Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC))

Abstract

Sustainable grazing land management (SGLM) is crucial to prevent land degradation and support food security and human well-being and may contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. To facilitate a wide-scale adoption of SGLM, further quantification of its multiple impacts and tradeoffs between ecosystem services is needed. The objective of this study was to assess the potential of SGLM measures to protect ecosystem services and contribute to sustainable development, based on an evaluation of 30 SGLM technologies in semi-arid regions documented in the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) and an additional narrative literature review. We first analyzed (i) environmental characteristics and conditions, (ii) costs and benefits, and (iii) socioeconomic and environmental impacts of SGLM. Based on this analysis, we disentangle how SGLM affects ecosystem services and contributes to a sustainable development. The results show that SGLM represents a wide range of practices either aimed at (1) increasing the carrying capacity by improving the soil quality and the amount and type of vegetation or (2) preventing overgrazing by reducing animal pressure. The positive impacts of SGLM directly contribute to crucial provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural ecosystem services. On the other hand, while the management costs related to implementing SGLM are usually made by the landowners, many off-site impacts benefit wider society, indicating the need for political support and regulation. We recommend a large-scale implementation of SGLM as an effective means to deal with environmental challenges like desertification, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Suggested Citation

  • Elvira Díaz-Pereira & Asunción Romero-Díaz & Joris Vente, 2020. "Sustainable grazing land management to protect ecosystem services," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 1461-1479, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:25:y:2020:i:8:d:10.1007_s11027-020-09931-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11027-020-09931-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11027-020-09931-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11027-020-09931-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fisher, Brendan & Christopher, Treg, 2007. "Poverty and biodiversity: Measuring the overlap of human poverty and the biodiversity hotspots," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 93-101, April.
    2. Maria Jose Marques & Gudrun Schwilch & Nina Lauterburg & Stephen Crittenden & Mehreteab Tesfai & Jannes Stolte & Pandi Zdruli & Claudio Zucca & Thorunn Petursdottir & Niki Evelpidou & Anna Karkani & Y, 2016. "Multifaceted Impacts of Sustainable Land Management in Drylands: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-34, February.
    3. Lindsey L. Sloat & James S. Gerber & Leah H. Samberg & William K. Smith & Mario Herrero & Laerte G. Ferreira & Cécile M. Godde & Paul C. West, 2018. "Increasing importance of precipitation variability on global livestock grazing lands," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 214-218, March.
    4. Robin Reid & Philip Thornton & Graeme McCrabb & Russell Kruska & Fred Atieno & Peter Jones, 2004. "Is it possible to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in pastoral ecosystems of the tropics?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 91-109, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nick Middleton & Utchang Kang, 2017. "Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Ariane Amin & Johanna Choumert, 2015. "Development and biodiversity conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A spatial analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(1), pages 729-744.
    3. Wood, Apanie L. & Butler, James R.A. & Sheaves, Marcus & Wani, Jacob, 2013. "Sport fisheries: Opportunities and challenges for diversifying coastal livelihoods in the Pacific," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 305-314.
    4. Michelle Lim, 2016. "Governance criteria for effective transboundary biodiversity conservation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 797-813, December.
    5. Perez, Carlos & Roncoli, Carla & Neely, Constance & Steiner, Jean L., 2007. "Can carbon sequestration markets benefit low-income producers in semi-arid Africa? Potentials and challenges," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 2-12, April.
    6. Liliana Pacheco & Sara Fraixedas & Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares & Neus Estela & Robert Mominee & Ferran Guallar, 2012. "Perspectives on Sustainable Resource Conservation in Community Nature Reserves: A Case Study from Senegal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(11), pages 1-22, November.
    7. Mirza, M. Usman & Richter, Andries & van Nes, Egbert H. & Scheffer, Marten, 2019. "Technology driven inequality leads to poverty and resource depletion," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 215-226.
    8. Mario Herrero & Benjamin Henderson & Petr Havlík & Philip K. Thornton & Richard T. Conant & Pete Smith & Stefan Wirsenius & Alexander N. Hristov & Pierre Gerber & Margaret Gill & Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, 2016. "Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 6(5), pages 452-461, May.
    9. Pattison-Williams, John K. & Haggar, Jeremy P. & Morton, John F., 2018. "Intergenerational perceptions of household wellbeing in India’s Western and Eastern Ghats," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 10, pages 51-57.
    10. Horn, Henrik & Lavenius, Axel & Sanctuary, Mark, 2024. "Investment Treaties and the Threat to Biodiversity," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 500, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    11. Brooks, Douglas H. & Joshi, Kaushal & McArthur, John W. & Rhee, Changyong & Wan, Guanghua, 2014. "A ZEN approach to post-2015 development goals for Asia and the Pacific," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 392-401.
    12. Coria, Jessica & Calfucura, Enrique, 2012. "Ecotourism and the development of indigenous communities: The good, the bad, and the ugly," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 47-55.
    13. C. Hall & J. I. Macdiarmid & R. B. Matthews & P. Smith & S. F. Hubbard & T. P. Dawson, 2019. "The relationship between forest cover and diet quality: a case study of rural southern Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(3), pages 635-650, June.
    14. Édson Luis Bolfe & Daniel de Castro Victoria & Edson Eyji Sano & Gustavo Bayma & Silvia Maria Fonseca Silveira Massruhá & Aryeverton Fortes de Oliveira, 2024. "Potential for Agricultural Expansion in Degraded Pasture Lands in Brazil Based on Geospatial Databases," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Tauheed Ullah Khan & Abdul Mannan & Charlotte E. Hacker & Shahid Ahmad & Muhammad Amir Siddique & Barkat Ullah Khan & Emad Ud Din & Minhao Chen & Chao Zhang & Moazzam Nizami & Xiaofeng Luan, 2021. "Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Data to Understand the Impacts of Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCC) on Snow Leopard ( Panthera uncia ) Habitat in Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
    16. Philip Thornton & Pierre Gerber, 2010. "Climate change and the growth of the livestock sector in developing countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 169-184, February.
    17. Azamat Azarov & Zbynek Polesny & Dietrich Darr & Maksim Kulikov & Vladimir Verner & Roy C. Sidle, 2022. "Classification of Mountain Silvopastoral Farming Systems in Walnut Forests of Kyrgyzstan: Determining Opportunities for Sustainable Livelihoods," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-15, November.
    18. David Martin, 2014. "An integrated biological and economic individual-based model of tiger protection measures," Working Papers 14-04, Davidson College, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2014.
    19. Castro e Silva, Manuela & Teixeira, Aurora A.C., 2011. "A bibliometric account of the evolution of EE in the last two decades: Is ecological economics (becoming) a post-normal science?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 849-862, March.
    20. Fust, Pascal & Schlecht, Eva, 2022. "Importance of timing: Vulnerability of semi-arid rangeland systems to increased variability in temporal distribution of rainfall events as predicted by future climate change," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 468(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:masfgc:v:25:y:2020:i:8:d:10.1007_s11027-020-09931-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.