Ecosystem services and disservices from a farmer’s perspective in agro-ecological landscapes

Conveners: Kristoffer Hylander, Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University; Ayco Tack, Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University and Lowe Börjeson, Department of Human Geography, Stockholm University.

Contact: kristoffer.hylander@su.se

Processes at the interface between wild and agricultural systems are crucial for both biodiversity conservation and the delivery of ecosystem services and disservices. Natural systems (e.g. forests and savannas) can be important providers of ecosystem services to local farming communities, both in terms of direct benefits such as fuelwood, but also through regulatory processes like the stabilization of stream discharge. However, from a farmer’s perspective there may also be problems associated with living close to natural ecosystems, which could be referred to as ecosystem disservices. For example, raiding of crops by mammals hiding in the forest might cause both crop loss and changes in the allocation of labor affecting school attendance of children. The landscape structure not only influences the livelihood of farmers, but the management choices made by these same farmers will also feedback to affect spatial and temporal variation in the landscape. Farmers’ livelihoods and access to forests may also be affected by land investments (involving both government and private actors), such as the establishment of plantations on forest land, conservation policies, changing market opportunities, or other political and economic forces. In order to reach goals of improved livelihood conditions of poor farmers as well as sustainably conserve biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services we need a comprehensive understanding of the ecological and socio-ecological processes across landscapes, with an important role for the interface between natural and managed areas.

To this session we welcome both natural and social scientists interested in this and related topics across the developing world.

We plan to have both a selection of complementary oral presentations as well as a final panel discussion.

22 Aug., 16:00–17:30, Seminar Room U26

• Integrating ecosystem services and disservices in cultural landscapes: a case study from southwest Ethiopia. Ine Dorresteijn, Jannik Schultner, Neil Collier, Kristoffer Hylander, Feyera Senbeta, Joern Fischer, Leuphana University Lueneburg.
• The abundance and diversity of bees and pollination services in relation to forest cover in southwestern Ethiopia. Ulrika Samnegård, Stockholm University.
• Drivers and patterns of forest cover change since the late 1950s in southwest Ethiopia- deforestation, agricultural expansion, and coffee production. Tola Gemechu Ango, Kristoffer Hylander and Lowe Börjeson, Stockholm University.
• On the use of evolutionary thought when managing agro-ecological landscapes. Ayco Tack, Stockholm University.

Abstracts

Integrating ecosystem services and disservices in cultural landscapes: a case study from southwest Ethiopia. Ine Dorresteijn, Jannik Schultner, Neil Collier, Kristoffer Hylander, Feyera Senbeta, Joern Fischer, Leuphana University Lueneburg.

Cultural landscapes provide essential ecosystem services to the rural population, and research on the value of these services has progressed rapidly in the past years. However, only limited research uses the concept of ecosystem disservices to contextualize ecosystem services. Ecosystem disservices are functions of ecosystems that are perceived as negative for human well-being. Prominent disservices are human-wildlife conflicts, which besides livestock predation, crop-raiding, and human injury often have far-reaching impacts on social relationships, education, income generating activities, and health. We argue that quantifying ecosystem disservices in parallel with services advances our understanding of the benefits and problems people deal with in cultural landscapes. We exemplify the importance of an increased integration of ecosystem services and disservices with a case study from southwest Ethiopia. Here, the rural population depends heavily on provisioning forest ecosystem services for subsistence (e.g. fuel-wood and construction material) as well as cash income (e.g. coffee and honey production). But the forest harbors many wild animals causing frequent conflict with the rural population. We assessed forest provisioning ecosystem services and disservices through structured questionnaires with 150 households in 6 different landscapes covering a gradient from low to high forest cover. Using ecosystem service and disservice bundles, we first aim to quantify and disaggregate forest ecosystem services and disservices. Second, we aim to assess how the balance between services and disservices affects people's perception on the importance of forests in their region.

The abundance and diversity of bees and pollination services in relation to forest cover in southwestern Ethiopia. Ulrika Samnegård, Stockholm University.

The area of pollinator-dependent crops has increased disproportionally to other crops world-wide and the increase is highest in the developing world. Man dependence on pollination services has thus increased, while at the same time several studies have shown declines in pollinator abundances in many areas. Bees are known to be efficient pollinators, and declines in both wild and domesticated bees have been found. Most reports about bee declines are coming from Europe and North America while the status for bees, and their services, in most parts of the tropics are unknown. We have investigated the impact of forest cover on bee abundance, species richness and composition in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape in southwestern Ethiopia. We have evaluated how season impact the bee community and the trait distribution of active bees. Furthermore, we have experimentally evaluated the pollination services to and the pollen limitation of a common oil crop in the landscape. We found that increased forest cover positively affected both abundance and species richness of bees independent of season. However, the higher abundance and richness of bees in more forested areas did not in turn result in higher pollination success of a common oil crop. Instead we found severe pollen limitation in most sites, which we suggest to be related to a general low bee abundance in the landscape. Yield-gaps could probably be reduced if the local pollinator abundance could be increased.

Drivers and patterns of forest cover change since the late 1950s in southwest Ethiopia- deforestation, agricultural expansion, and coffee production. Tola Gemechu Ango, Kristoffer Hylander and Lowe Börjeson, Stockholm University.

Understanding the patterns and processes shaping tropical deforestation at various spatial and temporal scales is crucial for improving the management of tropical forest and the biodiversity it shelters. We examined the drivers and patterns of forest cover change since 1958 in the southwest Ethiopia using data from Landsat images, aerial photos, participatory field mapping, interviews, and population census. We analyzed population and land cover data at the sub-district level, based on a classification of kebeles (lower administrative units) into coffee forest area (CFA) and highland forest area (HFA). We performed non-parametric statistical tests and qualitative data analysis. Forest cover in Gera declined from 78.9 percent in 1973 to 59.5 percent in 2010, and forest cover decline also occurred between 1958 and 1973. The forest cover changes differed both spatially and temporally. Both relative rate of forest area changes and population density were significantly lower in CFA than in HFA. People moved to and converted forests in low population density areas in HFA. The altitudinal migration from CFA to HFA brought a deforestation leakage, i.e. forest was maintained for coffee production in CFA while it was converted to open agricultural land and annual crop production in HFA. State development and conservation policies spanning various political economies directly or indirectly affected local ecosystem use and management practices and migration. Local practices, migration and national polices together have shaped spatial patterns of forest cover change.

On the use of evolutionary thought when managing agro-ecological landscapes. Ayco Tack, Stockholm University.

We increasingly use our knowledge of ecosystem services and disservices in agro-ecological landscapes for management decisions at the local, regional and national level. In contrast, the evolutionary consequences of these decisions are frequently overlooked. To illustrate this point, I will discuss examples where evolutionary thinking may inform decision making. First, the use of cultivar and species mixtures at both the local and regional scale may balance selection and reduce the potential for large scale and long-term pest and disease outbreaks. Second, the spatial arrangement of the landscape will affect the dispersal of pests and pathogens across the agro-ecological interface, and thereby limit or accelerate the evolutionary adaptation of pests and pathogens to crop plants. Third, hybridization between domesticated plant varieties and their wild relatives may threaten the wild gene pool. Overall, I argue that we need to take into account evolutionary processes when making management decisions, both from a short and long-term perspective.