Landscape Services versus Ecosystem Services in the Mediterranean: a case study example and an invitation to reflect

Ecosystem Services, defined as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, are triggering a paradigmatic shift in how we plan and implement decisions on land-use and land-cover change (Albert et al, 2014; Förster et al, 2015). However this concept is being challenged by critiques of scientific, operational and ideological nature (Norgaard, 2010; Hauck et al, 2013; Jax et al, 2013). Some of these critiques point out to the decoupling of the natural and human dimensions of land-use and land-cover that is inherent to Ecosystem Services (Schröter et al, 2014). We consider this to be especially relevant for mixed land-use mosaics in the Mediterranean region, as this is a geographical context where the cultural and perceived components of land-use and land-cover may be considered to equal, if not to prevail, in value and importance on respect to those of ecological nature (Blondel, 2006). In this paper, we argue that Landscape Services may be, in such contexts, a more adequate coneptual tool to disentangle the complex relationships between humans and nature. Landscape Services are defined as the contributions of landscapes and landscape elements to human wellbeing (Bastian et al, 2014). In contrast with ecosystems, landscapes are inarguably coupled social-ecological systems, which also embrace cultural, and perceptual aspects of landuse and land-cover (Pedroli, Pinto-Correia & Cornish, 2006). Furthermore, Landscapes are defined at scales at which coordinated decision-making for land-use change is most commonly apparent (Blaschke, 2006). Thus, we hereby will discuss if in Mediterranean rural contexts Landscape Services should directly substitute Ecosystem Services, and not just, as the aforementioned literature suggests,complement them

Case Study C: The Great Trossachs Forest, a long-term approach to guide Highland landscape change in Scotland

The Great Trossachs Forest is a 16,500 hectare area set in the heart of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) in central Scotland (Figure 1), and accounts for 9% of the National Park area. It stretches from Inversnaid on the eastern shores of Loch Lomond in the west, across the Loch Katrine catchment to Glen Finglas and Callander in the east (Figure 1). According to Scottish Natural Heritage’s Landscape Character Assessment (SNH, 2009), the area is made up mainly of Highland landscape types comprising hills, upland glens, and transitional landscapes, and includes open and forested moorland. The area is within a National Park designated area and includes National Scenic Areas, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Areas of Conservation, having itself become a National Nature Reserve in 2015. Furthermore, land ownership and management in the area (Figure 1) is shared among three institutions, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (https://www.rspb.org.uk/), Forestry Commission-Scotland (http://scotland.forestry.gov.uk) and the Woodland Trust (https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/), which are all aimed at improving landscape, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. All of these factors influence the dynamics of landscape change in the area, with forest landscape regeneration being favored on the lower slopes for both the near and distant future. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of these new woodlands are the so-called wood pastures, which are being created using traditional techniques of grazing cattle in woodlands. The main focus of recent and ongoing actions on the area has been creating a mosaic of habitats including the restoration of ancient forests, woodlands and moorlands which are therefore prioritized over other traditional and identitary landscapes, such as highland pastures dedicated to sheep grazing

Geography matters; the relevance of territorial heterogeneity in shaping farmers’ conditions, strategies and performances in the context of globalization and sustainability

Agriculture and food production are subjected to market and policy drivers and fluctuations that are gradually becoming global in scope. This trend turns decisions and preferences by stakeholders within local and regional farm-systems incrementally less influential. This problem directly undermines the subsidiarity principle that underpins the sustainability paradigm. We therefore argue that without gaining a better understanding of the territorial aspects of governance, it might become unfeasible to achieve the sustainability targets currently set for farming systems across Europe. Based on this argument, in this paper we will discuss how we adapted the C (Conditions)-S (Strategies)-P (Performances) conceptual model developed in the H2020 SUFISA project (www.sufisa.eu) to best reflect the territorial heterogeneity of farming systems and its potential to affect sustainability targets. To achieve this goal, we explored three key conceptual elements in geographical sciences; scale, place and landscape. Incorporating these elements allowed us to enrich and expand our theoretical model beyond its basic sociological and economic foundations. Currently, further theoretical arguments and empirical tests are undergoing in order for the model to be refined to an extent that it can meaningfully influence future agricultural policy and farmer´s practices across Europe

Imagining novel landscape approaches for territorial development in the Mediterranean (and beyond)

The Ecosystem Services framework is widely acknowledged as a useful tool to facilitate the economic valuation of ecological resources and to support their role as key assets for territorial sustainable development. Consequently, it is a considered as an effective framework to design and implement sustainable land-use decisions. However, critiques and limitations are rapidly arising in land-use science and governance. These limitations are especially evident for territories where human history and culture are considered as co-substantial with ecological processes in shaping sustainable and resilient land-use systems and landscapes. A clear example of this are Mediterranean regions, where highly valued land-use systems exist on which nature and culture cannot be easily disentangled in their importance as drivers of sustainability. We argue that this is a geographical context where landscapes can be considered as more relevant than ecosystems for sustainable territorial development. This argument is based on the definition of landscapes as complex spatial constructs resulting from the interplay between multiple human actions and perceptions of the territory. This includes the inherent recognition that is made within the concept of landscape of the complexity of human-nature relationships, turning landscapes more apt to imagine innovative and sustainable land-use and territorial pathways for culturally rich territories than those potentially provided by ecosystem services. In this paper, we will explore the advantages of landscape approaches for sustainable territorial development compared to ecosystem services focusing in Mediterranean areas. Potential advantages to be explored include the capacity of landscape approaches to bridge together the territorial, spatial and socio-cultural aspects of land-use decision making, the potentialities raised through landscape services to resolve problems in the operationalization of cultural ecosystem services, and the inherent capacity of the concept of landscape to underpin integrated territorial governance frameworks that help resolve the many problems with traditional silo land-use policies and related administrative structures. To test these issues, two case studies (Montado multi-functionality vs Olive crop intensification) were examined in the Alentejo (Portugal) that represent extremes in the wide range of land-use trajectories encountered throughout the Mediterranean region. Our findings show how a landscape-based approach to territorial governance can enrich the current debate about alternative options (e.g. intensification vs extensification, land-sharing vs land-sparing, multi-functionality vs specialization) for sustainable land-use change. Furthermore, we argue that these ideas can be tested in other cases and regions beyond the Mediterranean, where culture and nature jointly shape the character and value of their landscapes and territories

Ecosystem services as an enabling framework towards the transition to sustainable silvopastoral systems.

There is a general consensus that land-use practices that have shaped agro-ecosystems in the decades since the 1950’s have had a focus on the provision of food and fibres disregarding the role of important ecological functions that support the provision of these goods, thus jeopardizing their long-term sustainability. Priority to food and fibre production has also neglected other important functions such as regulation of water flows, water purification, food provision in other systems (e.g. fresh water) and maintenance of locally adapted genetic diversity, in addition to multiple cultural services, including a higher capacity to cope with environmental variability and economic fluctuations. Assessing context-dependent sustainability (ecological, social and economic) is necessary to explore pathways towards high-nature value agro-ecosystems. Silvo-pastoral systems possess characteristics that can enable the fulfilment of multiple functions by pastoral-ecosystems including economic and non-economic, private and public goods and services. However, the transformation of current land-use practices requires changes at several levels including farm-level decision making and the design of instruments that provide suitable context conditions and stimulate change. These changes need to be supported by the best-possible knowledge at the interface of the functioning of silvo-pastoral ecosystems and the design and alignment of policy instrument mixes. Hence, there is a need to gather existing knowledge, innovate to achieve technical and economic feasibility and explore new modes of governance that can facilitate the transition to and the sustainability of multifunctional systems. This knowledge needs to be centered on the local ecological, socio-economic and institutional conditions since current design and evaluation of agri-environment schemes and Rural Development Plans are often criticized for the difficulties of identifying the most effective schemes or “best practice examples”, since results are often highly context dependent. This working group covers a range of studies that advance the knowledge spanning from the bio-physical functions that underpin the provision of ecosystem services in silvo-pastoral systems to the societal benefits and costs associated with these functions, and the integration of this knowledge in policy instrument design

The Ecosystem Services framework and the concept of Landscape: towards holistic territorial approaches linking pattern, processes and people across Europe.

Ecosystem Services aim to embed ecological goals onto political-economic decisions. However, they fail to capture the complexity in social-ecological interactions, leading to fragmented land-use decision-making and valuation. Consideration of landscape´s multiple dimensions represents a pathway forward. This symposium will discuss the advantages and limitations of the concept of landscape, and of landscape ecology, to facilitate the contribution of the Ecosystem Services framework towards devising holistic territorial approaches that can underpin sustainability by better linking together pattern, processes and people

A landscapes-based approach to improving linkages among research, management and planning of multi-functional land-use systems; the example of the Montado.

Multi-functional land-use systems are acknowledged as highly sustainable and resilient, and play an important role in confronting global challenges such as increasing climate hazards, decreasing food security, decline in social capital and biodiversity conservation. The Montado of Central and Southern Portugal falls within such category. The Montado is a Mediterranean silvo-pastoral land-use system dominated by Holm and Cork Oaks covering a wide range of tree densities. It is recognized in its capacity to deliver a wide variety of ecosystem services. However, a slight decline in its extent has been detected driven by the inherent difficulty in incorporating many of these services into current markets and decision-making frameworks. We argue that applying a landscape-based approach can bring a number of advantages compared to those arising from ecosystems-based approaches. This is particularly relevant for Mediterranean environments that are characterized by a long-term history of human transformations and by deep cultural values. From a conceptual perspective such advantages include the inherent nature of landscapes as complex social-ecological constructs that bridge together the natural, socio-economic and cultural dimensions of land-use, the spatial and scalar alignment of landscapes with key land-use planning and management structures and systems, and a potential for jointly engaging scientists, land managers and other stakeholders. Consequently, we argue that a landscapes-based approach can help in improving linkages amongst research, management and planning. In the present context of post-normal and trans-disciplinary science, knowledge is co-constructed by multiple actors within a participatory and multi-level framework. We argue that in such context a landscapes-based approach can become valuable for designing and implementing novel governance models that are effective in achieving increased levels of sustainability and resilience of land-use systems. To test such arguments we examined the Montado of Central Alentejo (NUTS 3) focusing on landscape services and multi-functionality, and also on territorial impacts driven by landscape changes that are dynamic in time and space. Central Alentejo is a region for which a broad dataset of spatial, institutional, socio-cultural, economic and bio-physical information has been built up by our institution over the years, and where mutual trust and bonds with key stakeholders, a key factor of success for action-oriented research, has been gained. Arising from our experience, we can argue that employing a landscapes-based approach potentially represents advantages for implementation of action-research schemes in the context of multi-functional land-use systems such as the Montado, and eventually also for other silvo-pastoral systems.H2020-SUFISA (European Commission

The value and potentials of a ‘landscapesystems’ approach to agroforestry; insights from an Iberian context

Agroforestry land uses are widely acknowledged to be complex social-ecological systems, and are strongly valued for their multi-functionality and capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services. In the Western Iberian context, open forests dominated by various species of oaks and supporting various mixtures of agricultural, forestry and pastoral practices are clustered under the terms of ‘dehesas’ in Spain and ‘montados’ in Portugal. These have recently been considered as exemplary land-use systems in which sustainability and resilience are enhanced by multiple interactions among their socio-cultural, economic and biophysical sub-systems. Regardless of the acknowledgement of the complexity that characterizes dehesas and montados, to date most of the scientific approaches to study them have been disciplinary or at times interdisciplinary, and only recently transdisciplinary approaches have been proposed. Furthermore, we consider that a number of the self-claimed transdisciplinary approaches to study montados and dehesas have been rather passive. In response to this, in the DYNAMO Research Group at the University of Évora (Portugal) we propose a (continuous) process of framing research on complex dehesa and montado systems based on what we generically term as a ‘landscape-systems’ approach. Our understanding of a ‘landscape-systems’ approach is firstly aimed at jointly embedding the multiple dimensions (biophysical, socio-economic and perceptive or cultural) and cross-scale interactions of land-use systems that emerge when they are considered as landscapes. This would permit breaking the boundaries that exist between scientific disciplines and also between such disciplines and the multiple spheres and scalar levels of land-use governance and practice. Additionally our proposal of a ‘landscape-systems’ approach is ultimately aimed at ‘to support the implementation of an action-focused research program for dehesas and montados. This would be characterized by a full-life-cycle action schedule which can only be built in continuous and long-term interaction with stakeholders and other members of the wider citizenship, and where gaining mutual trust is key to success. We believe that this is an approach that could be explored in other agroforestry systems across Europe, especially those encountering barriers in translating research into practice and action

A landscapes-based approach to improving linkages amongst research, management and planning of multi-functional land-use systems; the example of the Montado.

Multi-functional land-use systems are acknowledged as highly sustainable and resilient, and play an important role in confronting global challenges such as increasing climate hazards, decreasing food security, decline in social capital and biodiversity conservation. The Montado of Central and Southern Portugal falls within such category. The Montado is a Mediterranean silvo-pastoral land-use system dominated by Holm and Cork Oaks covering a wide range of tree densities. It is recognized in its capacity to deliver a wide variety of ecosystem services. However, a slight decline in its extent has been detected driven by the inherent difficulty in incorporating many of these services into current markets and decision-making frameworks. We argue that applying a landscape-based approach can bring a number of advantages compared to those arising from ecosystems-based approaches. This is particularly relevant for Mediterranean environments that are characterized by a long-term history of human transformations and by deep cultural values. From a conceptual perspective such advantages include the inherent nature of landscapes as complex social-ecological constructs that bridge together the natural, socio-economic and cultural dimensions of land-use, the spatial and scalar alignment of landscapes with key land-use planning and management structures and systems, and a potential for jointly engaging scientists, land managers and other stakeholders. Consequently, we argue that a landscapes-based approach can help in improving linkages amongst research, management and planning. In the present context of post-normal and trans-disciplinary science, knowledge is co-constructed by multiple actors within a participatory and multi-level framework. We argue that in such context a landscapes-based approach can become valuable for designing and implementing novel governance models that are effective in achieving increased levels of sustainability and resilience of land-use systems. To test such arguments we examined the Montado of Central Alentejo (NUTS 3) focusing on landscape services and multi-functionality, and also on territorial impacts driven by landscape changes that are dynamic in time and space. Central Alentejo is a region for which a broad dataset of spatial, institutional, socio-cultural, economic and bio-physical information has been built up by our institution over the years, and where mutual trust and bonds with key stakeholders, a key factor of success for action-oriented research, has been gained. Arising from our experience, we can argue that employing a landscapes-based approach potentially represents advantages for implementation of action-research schemes in the context of multi-functional land-use systems such as the Montado, and eventually also for other silvo-pastoral systems