One-hundred years after shrub encroachment: Policy directions towards sustainable rangeland-use

Abstract

In many shrub-encroached lands, livestock grazing is the dominant land-use type which shapes stakeholders’ perspective on single ecosystem service provision (i.e., forage production). Although recent ecological studies suggested otherwise, recognition of multiple ecosystem services from shrublands is rarely translated into policy, likely due to the lack of robust scientific evidence on trade-offs between ecosystem services following shrub removal. Based on meta-analysis from global publications, we found that while shrub removal increased forage provision, such effect was generally short-lived (˜5 years). At the same time, shrub removal also increased bare soil, decreased soil nutrients and soil organic carbon, which potentially reduced erosion control and nutrient cycling service. These trade-offs tended to be more prominent with increasing disturbance intensity (i.e., higher shrub removal frequencies or switching from single to multiple shrub removal methods). To encourage adaptation to the provisioning of multiple ecosystem services from shrublands, we provided a framework on how to value such landscapes, including the estimated monetary values that could be generated from maintaining them. Since there will be a time-lag until most monetary values appear, initial incentives may be necessary to encourage the adoption of conservation practices, in addition to efforts to increase society awareness (e.g., eco-labelling, alternative food networks or social media) on multiple ecological benefits from shrublands and investment to provide capacity building for pastoralists.