Assessing levels, trade-offs and synergies of landscape services in the Iranian province of Qazvin: towards sustainable landscapes

Asef Darvishi,Naghmeh Mobarghaee Dinan,Per Angelstam,Maryam Yousefi

doi:10.1007/s10980-021-01337-0

Abstract

ContextEvidence-based knowledge is crucial for place-based knowledge production and learning towards sustainable landscapes through stewardship and integrated spatial planning.ObjectivesWe focus on the landscape service concept as a tool, and three fundamental challenges for its use: (1) how to monitor benefits provided by different landscapes; (2) to demonstrate trade-offs and synergies among benefits in a landscape; and (3) to discuss how to incorporate results from analyses into landscape stewardship and planning.MethodsAs a case study we chose the Iranian Qazvin province with diverse natural and anthropogenic landscapes, and top-down societal steering. Five landscape services (water yield, water regulation, pollination, actual net primary production (NPPact) and social-cultural connectivity) were assessed and compared.ResultsAll landscape services were significantly correlated. Major trade-offs and synergies among services were between NPPact and water yield and regulation. Trade-off and synergy clusters showed that landscape functions depend on both natural and anthropogenic landscape patterns and processes.ConclusionsProviding transparent data about trade-offs and synergies among landscape services can facilitate learning about which services are important among landscapes. For each of six settings we suggest action plans. We discuss the role of Iranian landscape stewardship and planning, and integrative research needs.

Highlights

Maintaining landscapes as social-ecological systems, with their goods, services and values in the context of global change, is essential for human well-being and welfare (Naveh 2000; MEA 2005; IPBES 2019)
Following the methods to estimate ecological connectivity presented by Darvishi et al (2020c) we developed a socio-cultural connectivity (SCCa) index (Eq 6) for assessment based on Socio-Cultural Functional Areas (SCFA)
High biomass production (NPPact) as a landscape service was obtained in the centre of the Qazvin province, which is covered by intensive agricultures and groves (Fig. 2d)

Summary

Introduction

Maintaining landscapes as social-ecological systems, with their goods, services and values in the context of global change, is essential for human well-being and welfare (Naveh 2000; MEA 2005; IPBES 2019). A SES is a complex of societal and ecological subsystems with mutual interactions (Biggs et al 2015). This contrasts views that human-nature relations are either biocentric or anthropocentric, which tends to ‘‘fragment and take apart what in reality is whole’’ The ecosystem services framework may fail to explicitly tackle the complexity of social–ecological interactions, and neglects inherent landscape stewardship challenges (Angelstam et al 2019). The significance of understanding human–nature relationship is acknowledged in sustainability science (Ives et al 2017) and environmental management (Walker-Springett et al 2016)

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Conclusion