Open AccessMapping regional livelihood benefits from local ecosystem services assessments in rural Sahel
Author(s) -
Katja Malmborg,
Hanna Sinare,
Elin Enfors,
Issa Ouédraogo,
Line Gordon
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0192019
Subject(s) - livelihood , ecosystem services , provisioning , environmental resource management , scale (ratio) , geography , distribution (mathematics) , land use , ecosystem , poverty , business , environmental planning , agriculture , ecology , environmental science , cartography , economic growth , computer science , economics , telecommunications , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , biology
Most current approaches to landscape scale ecosystem service assessments rely on detailed secondary data. This type of data is seldom available in regions with high levels of poverty and strong local dependence on provisioning ecosystem services for livelihoods. We develop a method to extrapolate results from a previously published village scale ecosystem services assessment to a higher administrative level, relevant for land use decision making. The method combines remote sensing (using a hybrid classification method) and interviews with community members. The resulting landscape scale maps show the spatial distribution of five different livelihood benefits (nutritional diversity, income, insurance/saving, material assets and energy, and crops for consumption) that illustrate the strong multifunctionality of the Sahelian landscapes. The maps highlight the importance of a diverse set of sub-units of the landscape in supporting Sahelian livelihoods. We see a large potential in using the resulting type of livelihood benefit maps for guiding future land use decisions in the Sahel.