Benefits and Values of Regulating Services of Different Land-Use Systems in the Alvelal*- Territory, South-Eastern Spain
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BENEFITS AND VALUES OF REGULATING SERVICES OF DIFFERENT LAND-USE SYSTEMS IN THE ALVELAL*- TERRITORY, SOUTH-EASTERN SPAIN *ALVELAL: ALTIPLANO DE GRANADA, LOS VÉLEZ, ALTO ALMANZORA, COMARCA DEL NOROESTE AND GUADIX Commonland MSc Final thesis Davide Angelucci Supervised by Dr Rudolf S. de Groot MSc Environmental Sciences, Environmental System Analysis BENEFITS AND VALUES OF REGULATING SERVICES OF DIFFERENT LAND-USE SYSTEMS IN THE ALVELAL TERRITORY, SOUTH-EASTERN SPAIN Davide Angelucci MSc. Thesis in Environmental Science June 2018 “No part of this thesis may be reproduced without contacting the Environmental Systems Analysis Group” Supervisors: Examiners: 1) Dr Rudolf S. de Groot 1st: Dr Rudolf S. de Groot Environmental Systems Analysis Group Environmental Systems Analysis Wageningen University and Research Group Wageningen University and Email: [email protected] Research Email: [email protected] 2nd: Dr Rik Leemans 2) Dr Maria Eugenia Ramos Font Environmental Systems Analysis Local supervisor Group Spanish National Research Council Wageningen University and Research Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] i Preface and acknowledgements This thesis project is part of a larger research project initiated by a NGO organization named Commonland. This thesis report is based on a joint effort by three students, Davide Angelucci, Valentina Bedoya Serrati and Francois Laurent. The data collection was carried out in the same period of time, at the same place but work was carried out independently of each other due to the focus on different ecosystem services category that required different input data and approaches. Consequently, chapter one and two are partly written together because they are based on the similar proposals and solely in parts adapted to the specific ecosystem services category and the personal reporting choices of the three students. Also, in the chapter three similarities can be found with regards to land-uses description which was carried out answering to the same research question. First, I want to say thanks to my family for all the unconditional support they give to me every day of my life. Thanks to my supervisor in Wageningen University Rudolf de Groot for giving me the chance of being part of his network and participate in this research. To the Spanish National Research Council, CEBAS-CSIC, thank you for welcoming me to the city of Granada and providing me with all the necessary facilities even if my time in Spain was unfortunately very limited. Special thanks to all my friends in Wageningen and in Rome to give me support and moments of relax to recharge my energy. Finally, special thanks to Valentina Bedoya Serrati and Francois Laurent for being such a great project mates. Especially for the time they have spent for the translations from Spanish to English so that I was also able to better understand the information retrieved during our fieldwork. ii Contents Preface and acknowledgements ................................................................................................... ii Summary ....................................................................................................................................... v Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Study area ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Problem statement ............................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research objective and questions ....................................................................................... 5 1.5 Outline of this thesis ........................................................................................................... 6 2. Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Conceptual framework ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2 Research methods ............................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Data collection methods .................................................................................................... 18 2.4 Data Analysis .................................................................................................................... 21 3. Characteristics of the land-use systems in the AlVelAl territory ........................................... 22 3.1 Almond monoculture ........................................................................................................ 22 3.2 Mixed system .................................................................................................................... 24 3.3 Livestock farming ............................................................................................................. 26 3.4. Summary of land-use systems’ characteristics. ............................................................... 28 4. Capacity and importance of regulating services provided by each land-use system .............. 29 4.1 Regulating services in almond monoculture systems ....................................................... 29 4.2 Regulating services provided by mixed land-use systems ................................................ 32 4.3 Regulating services in livestock farming system .............................................................. 35 4.4 Summary of the capability frequency and actual use of the regulating services in the selected land-use systems. ...................................................................................................... 38 5. Beneficiaries of the regulating services provided by the different land-use systems ............. 40 5.1 Almond monoculture beneficiaries ................................................................................... 40 5.2 Mixed land-use system beneficiaries ................................................................................ 42 5.3 Livestock farming beneficiaries ........................................................................................ 44 6. Monetary value of the selected land-use systems based on the regulating services ............... 46 6.1 Water purification value.................................................................................................... 46 iii 6.2 Erosion control value ........................................................................................................ 47 6.3 Carbon sequestration value ............................................................................................... 47 6.4 Fire control value .............................................................................................................. 48 7. Potential sustainable use of the regulating services ................................................................ 50 7.1 Water purification ............................................................................................................. 50 7.2 Erosion control .................................................................................................................. 51 7.3 Carbon sequestration ......................................................................................................... 52 7.4 Fire control ........................................................................................................................ 52 8. Discussion and conclusions .................................................................................................... 55 8.1 Assumptions, research, and data collection methods limitations...................................... 55 8.2 Discussion of the results ................................................................................................... 58 9.Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 61 References ................................................................................................................................... 64 Appendices.................................................................................................................................. 74 iv Summary The global challenge to produce food for ten billion people has intensified the food production systems and shifted traditional production systems towards homogeneous monoculture systems that can quickly produce large amounts of food. Such rapid production often compromises the capacity of these agricultural ecosystems to produce food in the long term due to negative environmental consequences, such as lower soil fertility and biodiversity loss. Several studies have recently tried to better understand the trade-offs between food production and ecosystem services (ESs). And the potential benefits and cost switching from multi-functional farming systems to mono-functional. For example the expansion of almond orchards over the last three decades in five southern Spain regions (i.e. Altiplano de Granada, Los Vélez, Alto Almanzora, and recently, Comarca del Noroeste and Guadix; together called AlVelAl territory), transformed large areas with