Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development

As humanity's demand for resources continues to rise and productive arable lands become increasingly scarce, many of Earth's remaining intact regions are at heightened risk of destruction from agricultural development. In situations where agricultural expansion is inevitable, it is important to mana...

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Autores principales: Williams, Brooke A., Grantham, Hedley S., Watson, James E.M., Álvarez, Silvia J., Simmonds, Jeremy S., Rogéliz, Carlos A., Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da, Forero-Medina, Germán, Etter, Andrés, Nogales, Jonathan, Walschburger, Tomas, Hyman, Glenn G., Beyer, Hawthorne L.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: IOP Publishing 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106802
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author Williams, Brooke A.
Grantham, Hedley S.
Watson, James E.M.
Álvarez, Silvia J.
Simmonds, Jeremy S.
Rogéliz, Carlos A.
Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da
Forero-Medina, Germán
Etter, Andrés
Nogales, Jonathan
Walschburger, Tomas
Hyman, Glenn G.
Beyer, Hawthorne L.
author_browse Beyer, Hawthorne L.
Etter, Andrés
Forero-Medina, Germán
Grantham, Hedley S.
Hyman, Glenn G.
Nogales, Jonathan
Rogéliz, Carlos A.
Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da
Simmonds, Jeremy S.
Walschburger, Tomas
Watson, James E.M.
Williams, Brooke A.
Álvarez, Silvia J.
author_facet Williams, Brooke A.
Grantham, Hedley S.
Watson, James E.M.
Álvarez, Silvia J.
Simmonds, Jeremy S.
Rogéliz, Carlos A.
Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da
Forero-Medina, Germán
Etter, Andrés
Nogales, Jonathan
Walschburger, Tomas
Hyman, Glenn G.
Beyer, Hawthorne L.
author_sort Williams, Brooke A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description As humanity's demand for resources continues to rise and productive arable lands become increasingly scarce, many of Earth's remaining intact regions are at heightened risk of destruction from agricultural development. In situations where agricultural expansion is inevitable, it is important to manage intact landscape transformation so that impacts on environmental values are minimised. Here, we present a novel, spatially explicit, land use planning framework that addresses the decision making needed to account for different, competing economic-environment objectives (agricultural production value, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service retention) when land use change is inevitable within an intact landscape. We apply our framework to the globally significant savannahs of the Orinoquia (Colombia), which in a post-conflict era is under increased agricultural development pressure. We show that while negative environmental impacts can be reduced through planning, the total area of land converted to agriculture is the unavoidable principal driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. We therefore identify planning solutions that perform well across all objectives simultaneously, despite trade-offs among them. When 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the study area is allowed to be converted to agriculture, on average planning can improve species persistence and ecosystem service retention by up to 16%, 15%, 12%, and 9%, respectively, when compared to agricultural-focused solutions. Development in the region so far has had an unnecessarily large impact on environmental objectives due to a lack of effective land use planning, creating an 'opportunity debt'. Our study provides an evidence base to inform proactive planning and the development of environmentally sensible agricultural development policy and practice in the region. This framework can be used by stakeholders to achieve agriculture expansion goals and maximise economic profit while minimising impacts on the environment in the Orinoquia, or any relatively intact region that is being developed.
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spelling CGSpace1068022025-11-12T05:54:23Z Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development Williams, Brooke A. Grantham, Hedley S. Watson, James E.M. Álvarez, Silvia J. Simmonds, Jeremy S. Rogéliz, Carlos A. Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da Forero-Medina, Germán Etter, Andrés Nogales, Jonathan Walschburger, Tomas Hyman, Glenn G. Beyer, Hawthorne L. land use utilización de la tierra conservation ecosystem services servicios de los ecosistemas biodiversity biodiversidad agricultural development desarrollo agrícola As humanity's demand for resources continues to rise and productive arable lands become increasingly scarce, many of Earth's remaining intact regions are at heightened risk of destruction from agricultural development. In situations where agricultural expansion is inevitable, it is important to manage intact landscape transformation so that impacts on environmental values are minimised. Here, we present a novel, spatially explicit, land use planning framework that addresses the decision making needed to account for different, competing economic-environment objectives (agricultural production value, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service retention) when land use change is inevitable within an intact landscape. We apply our framework to the globally significant savannahs of the Orinoquia (Colombia), which in a post-conflict era is under increased agricultural development pressure. We show that while negative environmental impacts can be reduced through planning, the total area of land converted to agriculture is the unavoidable principal driver of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss. We therefore identify planning solutions that perform well across all objectives simultaneously, despite trade-offs among them. When 15%, 20%, 30% and 40% of the study area is allowed to be converted to agriculture, on average planning can improve species persistence and ecosystem service retention by up to 16%, 15%, 12%, and 9%, respectively, when compared to agricultural-focused solutions. Development in the region so far has had an unnecessarily large impact on environmental objectives due to a lack of effective land use planning, creating an 'opportunity debt'. Our study provides an evidence base to inform proactive planning and the development of environmentally sensible agricultural development policy and practice in the region. This framework can be used by stakeholders to achieve agriculture expansion goals and maximise economic profit while minimising impacts on the environment in the Orinoquia, or any relatively intact region that is being developed. 2020-01-01 2020-01-29T15:49:56Z 2020-01-29T15:49:56Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106802 en Open Access application/pdf IOP Publishing Williams, B.A.; Grantham, H.S.; Watson, J.E.M.; Alvarez, S.J.; Simmonds, J.; Rogeliz, C.; da Silva, M.; Forero-Medina, G.; Etter, A.; Nogales, J.; Walschburger, T.; Hyman, G.; Beyer, H. (2020) Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development. Environmental Research Letters 15: 014001 14 p. ISSN: 1748-9326
spellingShingle land use
utilización de la tierra
conservation
ecosystem services
servicios de los ecosistemas
biodiversity
biodiversidad
agricultural development
desarrollo agrícola
Williams, Brooke A.
Grantham, Hedley S.
Watson, James E.M.
Álvarez, Silvia J.
Simmonds, Jeremy S.
Rogéliz, Carlos A.
Silva, Mayesse Aparecida da
Forero-Medina, Germán
Etter, Andrés
Nogales, Jonathan
Walschburger, Tomas
Hyman, Glenn G.
Beyer, Hawthorne L.
Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title_full Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title_fullStr Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title_full_unstemmed Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title_short Minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
title_sort minimising the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an intact landscape under risk of rapid agricultural development
topic land use
utilización de la tierra
conservation
ecosystem services
servicios de los ecosistemas
biodiversity
biodiversidad
agricultural development
desarrollo agrícola
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/106802
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