Economic valuation of ecosystem services for the sustainable management of agropastoral dams. A case study of the Sakabansi dam, northern Benin

verfasst von

Check Abdel Kader Baba, Jochen Hack

Abstract

Agro-pastoral dams are multiple purpose water reservoirs primarily constructed to help pastoralists and riparian farmers address water shortages in rural areas. These dams are often surrounded by a buffer zone intended to minimize sedimentation and evapotranspiration. In spite of the importance of these dams for riparian communities’ livelihoods, their sustainability is nowadays challenged by various management issues underlined by stakeholders’ perception and valuation of ecosystem services provided by the dam system (reservoir-buffer zone). Taking the agro-pastoral dam of Sakabansi village in northern Benin as a case study, we assessed, quantified and valued both actual and potential benefits derived by riparian communities from the dam system using the ecosystem services cascade model as a conceptual framework. The Aggregated Economic Value of services provided by the dam system was estimated to 128,166 € based on nine ecosystem services. Fishery activities, despite causing conflicts between two major stakeholders of the dam, represented less than 0.09% of the Aggregated Economic Value. This suggests the crucial need to raise communities’ awareness on the economic value of various other benefits they derived from the dam system in order to facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of benefits and costs. We finally discussed the relevance of our valuation outputs in analysing trade-offs among services and in fostering stakeholder dialogues to inform land allocation and management at the local scale.

Externe Organisation(en)

Technische Universität Darmstadt

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Ecological indicators

Band

107

ISSN

1470-160X

Publikationsdatum

12.2019

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Ökologie, Evolution, Verhaltenswissenschaften und Systematik, Allgemeine Entscheidungswissenschaften, Ökologie

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 15 – Lebensraum Land

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105648 (Zugang: Geschlossen)