Economic trade-offs between carbon sequestration, timber production, and crop pollination in tropical forested landscapes

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The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment distinguishes between supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services. Wefocus on three services, namely the provision of timber, the regulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the supporting service of bee pollination for coffee production. Possible trade-offs between the different ecosystem services might result in a reduced attractiveness of afforestation projects when taking pollination services into account. We found that economic losses due to a limited reduction of tree density of a Cordia alliodora plantation can be overcompensated by
generating pollination services to adjacent coffee agroforestry systems. Thus, for moderate silvicultural interventions such trade-offs do not necessarily occur. Including additional ecosystem services such as biological pest control or seed dispersal, which are also associated with the enhanced functional biodiversity in less dense tree plantations, might further emphasize the hump-shaped relationship between tree density and forest revenues.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEcological Complexity
Volume7
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)314–319
Number of pages6
ISSN1476-945X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 09.2010
Externally publishedYes