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Applying a participatory methodology to evaluate ecosystem services in the Pampa biome: lessons learned from the Tessa methodology in Uruguay

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n1.2021.38175

Keywords:

Extensive livestock farming. Ways of life. Sociocultural perceptions. Native grasslands. Incentive-based policies. Conservation.

Abstract

Identifying and measuring ecosystem services involving local stakeholders has been characterised as a novel approach in the literature. This article describes the methodology used in the participatory workshops, the lessons learned, and the specific results of applying the Tessa method. The methodology was piloted with 56 researchers and technicians, more than 22 institutions, and 54 livestock producers involved with the grassland conservation initiative, Alianza del Pastizal. Identified change agents with the most significant impact include the absence of a rural workforce, the lack of family succession, and weeding and overgrazing of grasslands. The primary ecosystem services identified included the production of fodder, meat/wool, wildlife forage, way of life/culture, and medicinal plants. The methodology presented here is replicable, capable of expansion to more groups, contributes to a better understanding, by the producers, of their problems and points to the need for the development of public incentive policies.

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Author Biographies

Daniela Schossler, Master’s Degree in Soil and Water Management and Conservation, PhD candidate, Department of Animal Production and Pastures, Faculty of Agronomy, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Paysandú, Uruguay

Consultant and Instructor in Brazil at the National Rural Apprenticeship Service (SENAR) in the Women in the Field, Good Agricultural Practices and Young Rural Apprentice programs. Doctoral candidate at the Universidad de la Republica del Uruguay (UDELAR) in ecosystem services in the natural field with emphasis on sustainable livestock. She acted as a private consultant in UY in the Project Ref. 052-19 - "Participatory assessment of land degradation and sustainable management of the rangeland system" (CAF / FAO / MGAP / MVOTMA) and as coordinator of the Ecosystem Services Assessment Project applying the TESSA method in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

Carlos Nabinger, PhD in Animal Science, Professor, Department of Forage Plants and Agrometeorology, Faculty of Agronomy, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Full professor at Department of Forage Plants and Agrometeorology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. He works mainly in the area of Ecophysiology, with emphasis on the climate-soil-plant-animal relationship applied mainly to natural pastures. Social and economic aspects have also been the object of his research works, which also include integrated agricultural production systems.

Claudio Ribeiro , PhD in Rural Development, Professor, Universidade Federal do Pampa, Bagé, Brazil

He has a degree in Agronomy from the Universidade da Região da Campanha (1981), Master's degree in Administration and Rural Development from the Universidade Federal de Lavras - UFLA (1996) and PhD in Rural Development from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul PGDR - UFRGS (2009). He was Rural Extensionist II at EMATER RS (February 1982 to April 2014). He was a professor at the Universidade da Região da Campanha, in Bagé RS (April 1998 to April 2014). He is currently a professor at the Universidade Federal do Pampa - Dom Pedrito Campus (April 2014-present). Has experience in the area of Agronomy, with emphasis on Extension and Rural Development having worked as an extensionist and teacher addressing the following topics: Rural Administration, Development of the Southern Half of Rio Grande do Sul, regional development, beef cattle ranching, He has developed his studies mainly on the changes of the Pampa gaucho in particular the reality of family livestock farmers and the existing agrarian changes in the region.

Pablo Boggiano, PhD in Animal Science, Professor, Department of Pastures, Faculty of Agronomy, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Paysandú, Uruguay

He holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad de la República, Uruguay (1990), a Master's degree (1995) and a PhD (2000) in Animal Science from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. He has been teaching at the Faculty of Agronomy of the UdelaR since 1986 and is Professor of the Department of Animal Production and Pastures since 2004. His main area of expertise is ecophysiology applied to pasture management and natural field ecology.

Monica Cadenazzi , PhD in Animal Science, Professor, Department of Pastures, Faculty of Agronomy, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Paysandú, Uruguay

She graduated in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad de la República, Uruguay (1992), Master (1996) and Ph. (1992), Magister (1996) and Doctor (2001) in Animal Science from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Professor at the Faculty of Agronomy of the UdelaR since 1983 and Professor of the Department of Biometry, Statistics and Computation of the Faculty of Agronomy of the UdelaR since 1984 as a teacher, researcher and consultant in statistics. She is a member of the SNI. Her main area of activity is experimental design and sampling.

Diana Restrepo-Osorio , PhD in Geography, Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Kansas Water Science Center, Lawrence, U.S.A

Diana L. Restrepo-Osorio, originally from Colombia, SA, obtained a PhD in Geography at The University of Kansas, where she also obtained a masters and a bachelors degree. Her doctoral research involved water resource management and native grassland conservation in cattle ranching operations in the Southern Cone of South America. Her Masters in Latin American Studies emphasized environmental problems involving water resource management in South America and Kansas, and she graduated as a McNair Scholar with a bachelors degree in Molecular Biosciences and a minor in Sociology. Diana is currently working at the USGS as a Geographer aiming to improve the quality of life for local and South American communities via water resource security through the preservation of traditional ways of life. 

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2021-12-28

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How to Cite

Schossler, D., Nabinger, C. ., Ribeiro , C. ., Boggiano, P. ., Cadenazzi , M. ., & Restrepo-Osorio , D. . (2021). Applying a participatory methodology to evaluate ecosystem services in the Pampa biome: lessons learned from the Tessa methodology in Uruguay. Sustainability in Debate, 12(3), 269–304. https://doi.org/10.18472/SustDeb.v12n1.2021.38175

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 3 (2021): Sustainability in Debate / Sustentabilidade em Debate

Section

Articles - Varia

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