Download or read book Ecosystem Services Biodiversity and Environmental Change in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of South Ecuador written by Jörg Bendix and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-07-09 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interdisciplinary research unit consisting of 30 teams in the natural, economic and social sciences analyzed biodiversity and ecosystem services of a mountain rainforest ecosystem in the hotspot of the tropical Andes, with special reference to past, current and future environmental changes. The group assessed ecosystem services using data from ecological field and scenario-driven model experiments, and with the help of comparative field surveys of the natural forest and its anthropogenic replacement system for agriculture. The book offers insights into the impacts of environmental change on various service categories mentioned in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): cultural, regulating, supporting and provisioning ecosystem services. Examples focus on biodiversity of plants and animals including trophic networks, and abiotic/biotic parameters such as soils, regional climate, water, nutrient and sediment cycles. The types of threats considered include land use and climate changes, as well as atmospheric fertilization. In terms of regulating and provisioning services, the emphasis is primarily on water regulation and supply as well as climate regulation and carbon sequestration. With regard to provisioning services, the synthesis of the book provides science-based recommendations for a sustainable land use portfolio including several options such as forestry, pasture management and the practices of indigenous peoples. In closing, the authors show how they integrated the local society by pursuing capacity building in compliance with the CBD-ABS (Convention on Biological Diversity - Access and Benefit Sharing), in the form of education and knowledge transfer for application.
Download or read book Gradients in a Tropical Mountain Ecosystem of Ecuador written by Erwin Beck and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-01-24 with total page 525 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating work that provides a wealth of information on one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. This is the result of investigations by almost 30 groups of researchers from various disciplines. They performed ecosystem analyses following two gradients: an altitudinal gradient and a gradient of land use intensity and ecosystem regeneration following human use. Based on these analyses, this volume discusses these findings in a huge variety of subject areas.
Download or read book Payment for water based environmental services Ecuador s experiences lessons learned and ways forward written by and published by IUCN. This book was released on with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecuador s Environmental Revolutions written by Tammy L. Lewis and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2016-03-04 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the movement for sustainable development in Ecuador through four eras: movement origins, neoliberal boom, neoliberal bust, and citizens' revolution. Ecuador is biologically diverse, petroleum rich, and economically poor. Its extraordinary biodiversity has attracted attention and funding from such transnational environmental organizations as Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, and the United States Agency for International Development. In Ecuador itself there are more than 200 environmental groups dedicated to sustainable development, and the country's 2008 constitution grants constitutional rights to nature. The current leftist government is committed both to lifting its people out of poverty and pursuing sustainable development, but petroleum extraction is Ecuador's leading source of revenue. While extraction generates economic growth, which supports the state's social welfare agenda, it also causes environmental destruction. Given these competing concerns, will Ecuador be able to achieve sustainability? In this book, Tammy Lewis examines the movement for sustainable development in Ecuador through four eras: movement origins (1978 to 1987), neoliberal boom (1987 to 2000), neoliberal bust (2000 to 2006), and citizens' revolution (2006 to 2015). Lewis presents a typology of Ecuador's environmental organizations: ecoimperialists, transnational environmentalists from other countries; ecodependents, national groups that partner with transnational groups; and ecoresisters, home-grown environmentalists who reject the dominant development paradigm. She examines the interplay of transnational funding, the Ecuadorian environmental movement, and the state's environmental and development policies. Along the way, addressing literatures in environmental sociology, social movements, and development studies, she explores what configuration of forces—political, economic, and environmental—is most likely to lead to a sustainable balance between the social system and the ecosystem.
Download or read book Ecohydrology of the Andes P ramo Region written by Veronica G. Minaya Maldonado and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-07-14 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Andes mountainous region of South America grasslands known as páramos provide important ecosystem services like sustaining biodiversity, securing carbon sequestration and providing water storage. However, many páramos regions are subject to land use change due to expanding agriculture, intensified grazing and land burning. These are usually caused by socio-economic factors driving local communities to increase their income generation. Trying to achieve a better understanding of the páramos is often restricted to exploring specific details and does not follow an integrated approach or a comprehensive ecosystem analysis. In this research the focus is on better understanding the dominant ecohydrological processes and their interactions. An integrated approach is followed using in-situ measurements, field experiments, laboratory analyses, and numerical modelling. Also, different hydroinformatics tools are used to identify and quantify the ecosystem services provided by the páramos. Moreover, a framework is developed that allows a more realistic quantification and mapping of the main ecosystem services. The approach was carried out for a test site in an Ecological area in North Ecuador. The findings show a clear difference in ecosystem services depending on their altitudinal range and type of vegetation. These results can be used to further develop environmental management and landscape planning strategies, in order to better meet the social goals. This research is aligned with the priorities advocated in the IPCC Report (2007) 'to improve representation of the interactive coupling between ecosystems and the climate system', and with SDG #15: Life on Land 'By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services'.
Download or read book An Assessment of Biological Diversity and Tropical Forests for Ecuador written by Bruce J. Cabarle and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Building a Decision Support Methodolgy to Define Ecosystem Services Bundles and to Analyze Trade offs in Diverse Landscapes Application to Ecuadorian Ecosystems written by Fátima Delgado Medina and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A key challenge of ecosystem management is determining how to manage multiple ecosystem services across landscapes. Enhancing provisioning ecosystem services (i.e., food, timber, etc.) might lead to tradeoffs between regulating and cultural ecosystem services (i.e., nutrient cycling, flood protection, tourism, etc.). Ecosystem service-bundle analysis can help to identify areas on a landscape where ecosystem (mis)management has produced (un)desirable sets of ecosystem services. Ecuador is now suffering the effects of intensive land-use (LU) change, a fact that is reconfiguring landscapes at all spatial levels. This process generates (a) land fragmentation resulted from the gradual clearing of native forests, (b) the introduction of patches of plantations in open grasslands and sensible ecosystems, and finally (c) an impact on ecosystem services (ES). It is thus primordial to develop a decision support methodology able to assess ES at different scales and to help decision-makers to articulate objectives more clearly and evaluate the consequences of alternative management actions. In this research we aim at setting the stage for developing this kind of decision support methodology, taking into account: the many constraints regarding data availability in terms of types (i.e., numerical, spatial, imagery, etc.) and acquisition (i.e., remote sensing, open official information, on-site, etc.), the temporal evolution and dynamic change of ES and ES-bundles, and the influence of fragmentation (stage of criticality) in this change. We consider two case studies at different spatial scales: Guayas ecosystem and Abras de Mantequilla (AdM) wetland. These have been chosen for their ecosystemic and environmental importance for the whole country, in terms both of regulating and provisioning ES, and for being important ecological sites now much under human pressure and land-use change dynamics. The main contribution of this thesis is to have been highly capable to design and obtain a protocol of action in the decision-making processes built from real and accurate data acquired through modern technologies -not necessarily implying that the data is of high quality-, socio-economic knowledge of the environment and recent complexity theories implementation.
Download or read book Effects of Climate Change on Key Ecosystem Services Provided by the Ecuadorian P ramo Ecosystems written by Karla Beltran and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Land use Change Ecosystem Services and Local Livelihoods written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation examines the socio-economic and ecological outcomes of emerging payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs targeting highland Andean grasslands (páramos) in Ecuador. While PES programs, in general, and in Ecuador in particular, are increasingly advocated as a way to link conservation and rural development, there is a noted lack of empirical research on the social and ecological outcomes of these initiatives. The primary objective of this research was to contribute to filling this gap. Chapter 2 focuses on Ecuador's SocioPáramo program, a national-scale PES program targeting carbon, water, biodiversity, and poverty alleviation páramo grasslands. Participation resulted in gains in financial and non-financial capital, but outcomes depended on the context under which PES occurs. In many cases, PES strengthens adaptive capacity by providing a more diversified income source, but, in some cases, participation may increase vulnerability due to reduced access to permanent and seasonal grazing lands. Chapters 3 & 4 address changes in carbon storage and plant diversity under afforestation and burn exclusion, the two main land-use changes currently promoted by PES programs targeting páramos. Pine afforestation and burn exclusion increased aboveground carbon storage and had small, but variable, influence on soil carbon storage. Results suggest little immediate impact of fire on soil carbon storage, but that burn exclusion can lead to small increases in soil carbon storage, at least when some tussock cover is maintained. In both study areas, intermediate levels of burning maximized species richness, but results suggest that a mosaic of burn histories likely enhances landscape level plant diversity and richness. Pine afforestation led to a dramatic decrease in species richness in one field site, but supported a high diversity of species in another. However, in both sites, plant composition was dramatically different under pine than in native grasslands. These results constitute a significant step forward in better understanding PES in an applied context and are relevant for PES program development, particularly for programs targeting páramo grasslands. These findings can contribute to the development of more equitable and effective PES programs that help to protect the páramo for its ecological, cultural, and economic value
Download or read book Biodiversity and Conservation in Tumbesian Ecuador and Peru written by Brinley Best and published by International Council for Bird Preservation. This book was released on 1995 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Landscape Restoration Sustainable Use and Cross scale Monitoring of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions written by Erwin Beck and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Patterns of Mountain Vegetation Dynamics and Their Responses to Environmental Changes in the South Ecuadorian Andes written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The South Ecuadorian Andes harbour an outstandingly high species-richness. Many different environmental factors influence one another in a most limited space and create unique and complex ecosystems. This area is highly endangered because of growing human impact through the intensification of land-use and global change. Only little is known about palaeoecological history and landscape dynamics of this area. The information about why and how ecosystems changed in the past is crucial for the development of innovative strategies for conservation and future climate predictions. In this study, w...
Download or read book Climate Change in Ecuador s Coastal Communities and Mangrove Ecosystems written by Tiffanie K. Rainville and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Provision of Multiple Ecosystem Services in the Tropical Lowland Forests of Ecuador written by Paul Eguiguren and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Andean Cloud Forest written by Randall W. Myster and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book focused solely on Andean Cloud Forests (ACF) has never been published. ACF are high biodiversity ecosystems in the Neotropics with a large proportion of endemic species, and are important for the hydrology of entire regions. They provide water for large parts of the Amazon basin, for example. Here I take advantage of my many years working in ACF in Ecuador, to edit this book that contains the following sections: (1) ACF over space and time, (2) Hydrology, (3) Light and the Carbon cycle, (4) Soil, litter, fungi and nutrient cycling, (5) Plants, (6) Animals, and (7) Human impacts and management. Under this premise, international experts contributed chapters that consist of reviews of what is known about their topic, of what research they have done, and of what needs to be done in the future. This work is suitable for graduate students, professors, scientists, and researcher-oriented managers.
Download or read book Paying for Ecological Services in Ecuador written by Matthew McBurney and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This research draws from literature on political ecology, payment for ecosystem services (PES), REDD+, market-based perspectives on environmental conservation, decolonization, Indigenous Environmental Knowledge (IEK), and environmental governance to understand the impacts of a state-led, institutionalized PES program, Socio Bosque, on Kichwa Indigenous communities in Chimborazo, Ecuador. The effects of PES programs are debated with some literature arguing that PES programs positively impact local livelihoods and environmental governance and conservation, while others point out the negative impacts of PES programs. An understanding of the effects of PES programs will be gained by analyzing Indigenous participation and inclusion in the institutional, distributional and epistemic aspects of Socio Bosque. Decolonial methodologies and community engaged scholarship shaped the field research which used qualitative methods of interviews with community leaders, community members, and government officials and focus groups in Kichwa communities, which allowed for unique opportunities for storytelling and combined these methods with an analysis of government documents. These methodologies provide insight into local understandings of and relationships with Pachamama (Mother Nature) and allow for a comparison of these understandings with the epistemic underpinnings of state-led, market-based environmental governance strategies. The empirical evidence suggests that instead of improving Indigenous peoples' well-being, Socio Bosque actively erases Indigenous cosmovisiones and drastically changes traditional land use and resource management practices. Furthermore, PES programs in Indigenous communities operate within a wider social, political, economic, and cultural context that has historically devalued Indigenous cosmovisiones and land use. The implication is that national, state-led programs and policies aimed at improving Indigenous communities' well being and contributing to global climate change goals have reproduced and reinforced unequal power relations between Indigenous communities and the state. However, in spite of the clear negative impacts of PES programs, Indigenous communities do not conserve the environment and participate in PES programs because they are passively dominated or "awakened" by outside ideologies or forces, but they actively participate in a hegemonic ideology of environmental governance and resource management that, on the surface, seems to run counter to their own values and ways of living. This research shows that Indigenous communities have found ways to implement their own agendas within the framework of PES programs as a means of sustaining livelihoods and maintaining ties to land, place, and space, as well as continuing traditional connections to the communal, the natural, and the divine aspects of nature.
Download or read book Prediction of Hydrological Fluxes Under Global Change in a Tropical Mountainous Rainforest Ecosystem of South Ecuador written by David Windhorst and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
