“Water Is Life”: Local Perceptions of Páramo Grasslands and Land Management Strategies Associated with Payment for Ecosystem Services

Kathleen A. Farley and Leah L. Bremer

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2017, vol. 107, issue 2, 371-381

Abstract: Andean páramo grasslands have long supported human populations that depend on them as forage for livestock and, increasingly, have been recognized as critical water sources with large soil carbon stores and high levels of biodiversity. Recent conservation efforts have used payment for ecosystem services (PES) to incentivize land management that aims to enhance ecosystem services related to water, carbon, and biodiversity, as well as local livelihoods. Data to assess ecological and social outcomes of these programs are limited, however. In particular, a better understanding of how incentivized land management practices affect the local values and uses of páramos is needed. We conducted interviews with PES participants on their perceptions of the value of páramos and of management practices incentivized through PES—afforestation and removal of burning—and linked them with data on ecological outcomes of those practices. We found that local perceptions of páramo values include provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services, underpinning basic needs, security, health, and social relations. In some cases, local perceptions align with research on ecological outcomes of PES, whereas in others, expectations of PES participants are unlikely to be met. We also found examples of both synergies—where PES land management strengthens an existing páramo value—and trade-offs, in which existing benefits might be diminished. By improving understanding of how people perceive the benefits they obtain from páramos and how participation in PES is likely to affect those uses and values, our findings help connect local perceptions with ecological science to inform policy and management.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24694452.2016.1254020 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:107:y:2017:i:2:p:371-381

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/raag21

DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2016.1254020

Access Statistics for this article

Annals of the American Association of Geographers is currently edited by Jennifer Cassidento

More articles in Annals of the American Association of Geographers from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().