Establishing limits to agriculture and afforestation: A GIS based multi-objective approach to prevent algal blooms in a coastal lagoon

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Biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision can compete with other land uses due to its incompatibility with many productive activities. The need for multifunctional landscapes that simultaneously provide food security, maintenance of ecological functions and fulfill welfare requirements is evident. Multi-objective optimization procedures can select between different land uses in each parcel of the territory, simultaneously satisfying contrasting objectives. Each solution (a map) represents a spatial configuration of land uses, generating spatial alternatives and offering flexibility to conduct discussions among social actors. In order to prevent eutrophication we developed a methodological approach for planning land-use transformations in productive territories, considering ecological processes from the beginning. A two-objective approach was used to allocate different land uses in the most suitable sites (objective one) that simultaneously minimize nutrients exportation (objective two). The land uses allocation was Pareto optimal and was conducted by integer linear programming. According to the relative importance given to each objective, two types of land use allocation were obtained, one dominated by agriculture but where a threshold of phosphorus load was exceeded, and another one where conservation and livestock ranching on natural grasslands prevailed and the phosphorus load decreased dramatically. This spatially explicit tool helps decision makers to design multifunctional landscapes for sustainable development and promote social discussions.