Abstract
Increasing demands for livelihood resources in tropical rural areas have led to progressive clearing of biodiverse natural forests. Restoration of abandoned farmlands could counter this process. However, as aims and modes of restoration differ in their ecological and socio-economic value, the assessment of achievable ecosystem functions and benefits requires holistic investigation. Here we combine the results from multidisciplinary research for a unique assessment based on a normalization of 23 ecological, economic and social indicators for four restoration options in the tropical Andes of Ecuador. A comparison of the outcomes among afforestation with native alder or exotic pine, pasture restoration with either low-input or intense management and the abandoned status quo shows that both variants of afforestation and intense pasture use improve the ecological value, but low-input pasture does not. Economic indicators favour either afforestation or intense pasturing. Both Mestizo and indigenous Saraguro settlers are more inclined to opt for afforestation.
Highlights
Increasing demands for livelihood resources in tropical rural areas have led to progressive clearing of biodiverse natural forests
We will first present our approach for assessing multiple ecosystem functions and benefits of five land-use options (Table 1)
Assessing the potential for the provision of ecosystem functions and benefits from various restoration options using normalized ecological and socio-economic indicators is a novel approach in science-directed decision support
Summary
Increasing demands for livelihood resources in tropical rural areas have led to progressive clearing of biodiverse natural forests. As aims and modes of restoration differ in their ecological and socio-economic value, the assessment of achievable ecosystem functions and benefits requires holistic investigation. We combine the results from multidisciplinary research for a unique assessment based on a normalization of 23 ecological, economic and social indicators for four restoration options in the tropical Andes of Ecuador. To promote sustainable future land use, afforestation and restoration of agricultural potential should be considered. Benefit-specific ecosystem services are generally narrowly defined as components of nature that are directly enjoyed, consumed or used as final products and services[11], we use a broader approach to assess the capacity of natural processes and components of restoration options to provide goods and services[12]. Following the classification by Boyd and Banzhaf[11], our socio-economic indicators are estimates of the benefits farmers may obtain from each restoration option
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