Identification and Assessment of Livestock Best Management Practices (BMPs) Using the REDD+ Approach in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Deforestation is a severe threat to diversity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (EAR). To mitigate deforestation, it is necessary to know the relevant stakeholders’ roles and interactions and deepen our knowledge of the local livelihoods, objectives, potentials, limitations, and “rights of being” amon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Agronomy (Basel) 2021-07, Vol.11 (7), p.1336
Main Authors: Torres, Bolier, Eche, David, Torres, Yenny, Bravo, Carlos, Velasco, Christian, García, Antón
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agroforestry
Best management practices
Biodiversity
Biosphere
biosphere reserve
Carbon
Cattle
Climate change
Costs
Dairy farms
Deforestation
Ecuadorian Amazon
Emissions
Emissions control
Farms
Forest degradation
Households
Humidity
Land degradation
Livestock
Meat
Milk
Milk production
pasture
Public private partnerships
REDD
restoration
Sea level
Sustainable production
Timber
Variables
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Summary:Deforestation is a severe threat to diversity in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region (EAR). To mitigate deforestation, it is necessary to know the relevant stakeholders’ roles and interactions and deepen our knowledge of the local livelihoods, objectives, potentials, limitations, and “rights of being” among farms, as well as the best management practices (BMPs). In this study, our aim was to identify and assess livestock BMPs along an elevational gradient to foster sustainable production and reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). This approach could be environmentally and economically beneficial. Data were collected from 167 households along three elevational gradients, as well as from 15 interviews held among a multidisciplinary panel of key stakeholders and researchers in the EAR. The results showed that most of the Kichwa population lives in the medium zone, which features a larger agricultural and forest surface. Conversely, in the lower and upper areas, livestock predominates, where the upper area is specialized in milk production and the lower area in dual-purpose cattle (meat and dairy). The stakeholder assessment provided several key results: (a) social, structural, and technical factors have complementary effects on BMP adoption; (b) the sixteen assessed BMPs facilitated the implementation of existing financial incentive programs and enabled public–private partnerships to develop REDD+ projects. The policy implications of implementing these approaches are also discussed.
ISSN:2073-4395
2073-4395
DOI:10.3390/agronomy11071336