INFERENCES FROM A HOLISTIC VALUATION OF INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT BENEFITS
Abstract
Recognizing that landscapes provide a variety of water and climate regulation, energy, and food production functions, whose sustainability is threatened by several anthropogenic activities, this study (i) identified and comparatively evaluated tools that can be used to quantify the different functions provided by nature, (ii) proposed and evaluated the effectiveness of alternative management options that reconcile needs of food, feed, fuel and healthy ecosystems on enhancing benefits accrued from nature, and (iii) proposed and tested an ecosystem service quantification and valuation framework that can be used to guide decision making and priority setting in integrated watershed management programs. The performance of the evaluated tools was different before calibration but all had near-equal performance after calibration. When calibrated, all the tools satisfactorily predicted water quantity and quality variables with exceptionally high indices. The evaluation of the effectiveness of different cropping systems revealed that selectively adopting cropping systems associated with high environmental benefits can go a long way in guaranteeing food and energy security, and still ensure environmental sustainability. Lastly, the study showed that an approach that takes advantage of the synergism and complementary nature of concepts used in integrated watershed management and ecosystem services valuation can easily and clearly show the location, quantity, distribution and value of ecosystem services in their production areas, and highlight the impact of anthropogenic activities on the different functions provided by nature.
Citation
Ahimbisibwe, Duncan Kikoyo (2020). INFERENCES FROM A HOLISTIC VALUATION OF INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT BENEFITS. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /191514.