Applying Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis To Inform Policies That Better Protect Ecosystem Services: Insights From Botswanaas Kalahari
Favretto, Nicola et al.
Land degradation reduces ecosystem service provision and limits economic returns from semiarid rangelands. We apply a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) to assess the value of ecosystem services in semi-arid Kalahari rangelands using monetary and non-monetary techniques. We do this in Kgalagadi District, southern Botswana, where concerns over poverty are growing for pastoral communities due to increasing levels of land degradation. Our results suggest that communal grazing land uses deliver the widest range of monetary and non-monetary values linked to ecosystem service delivery. Policy incentives supporting the livestock sector, in particular linked to fencing and borehole drilling, currently cause an over-emphasis on commercial food production, at the expense of other services. We identify a need for policy reform that can support livelihood diversification, and highlight the need for investment in further research to explore new and potential market opportunities for veld products and carbon trading.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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