Understanding the trade-offs between ecosystem services is today the basis for the design of strategies aimed at sustainable resource management. In tropical regions, one of the most common trade-offs today is that between forage production for cattle ranching and the maintenance of carbon stocks and biodiversity. Here we assessed such trade-off by applying the efficiency frontier concept and estimated service delivery levels under current and alternative land use scenarios in the search for potential pathways towards sustainability for a Mexican tropical dry forest region.
Results/Conclusions
At the site scale, we found strong trade-offs, with a sharp decline in both carbon stocks or species richness when fodder provision is high. At the landscape scale, the efficiency frontier was concave, showing room for increases in fodder production without dramatic negative impacts on carbon stocks, and even more optimistic perspectives for the case of species richness. Current service delivery is below its maximum feasible value by 24 % for C stock and 41 % for fodder biomass. Increased service delivery could be attained without further deforestation through improved site management, by promoting secondary forest regeneration, preventing forest degradation, and enriching pastures with woody fodder. Analogous trade-offs are found across the tropics, and alternatives such as this one for reconciling tropical forest maintenance and sustainable rural livelihoods are urgently needed.