TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing water services in tropical regions
T2 - From land cover proxies to hydrologic fluxes
AU - Ponette-González, Alexandra G.
AU - Brauman, Kate A.
AU - Marín-Spiotta, Erika
AU - Farley, Kathleen A.
AU - Weathers, Kathleen C.
AU - Young, Kenneth R.
AU - Curran, Lisa M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
PY - 2015/9/28
Y1 - 2015/9/28
N2 - Watershed investment programs frequently use land cover as a proxy for water-based ecosystem services, an approach based on assumed relationships between land cover and hydrologic outcomes. Water flows are rarely quantified, and unanticipated results are common, suggesting land cover alone is not a reliable proxy for water services. We argue that managing key hydrologic fluxes at the site of intervention is more effective than promoting particular land-cover types. Moving beyond land cover proxies to a focus on hydrologic fluxes requires that programs (1) identify the specific water service of interest and associated hydrologic flux; (2) account for structural and ecological characteristics of the relevant land cover; and, (3) determine key mediators of the target hydrologic flux. Using examples from the tropics, we illustrate how this conceptual framework can clarify interventions with a higher probability of delivering desired water services than with land cover as a proxy.
AB - Watershed investment programs frequently use land cover as a proxy for water-based ecosystem services, an approach based on assumed relationships between land cover and hydrologic outcomes. Water flows are rarely quantified, and unanticipated results are common, suggesting land cover alone is not a reliable proxy for water services. We argue that managing key hydrologic fluxes at the site of intervention is more effective than promoting particular land-cover types. Moving beyond land cover proxies to a focus on hydrologic fluxes requires that programs (1) identify the specific water service of interest and associated hydrologic flux; (2) account for structural and ecological characteristics of the relevant land cover; and, (3) determine key mediators of the target hydrologic flux. Using examples from the tropics, we illustrate how this conceptual framework can clarify interventions with a higher probability of delivering desired water services than with land cover as a proxy.
KW - Hydrology
KW - Land use
KW - Payments for watershed services
KW - Tropical ecosystems
KW - Watershed management
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U2 - 10.1007/s13280-014-0578-8
DO - 10.1007/s13280-014-0578-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 25432319
AN - SCOPUS:84937976238
SN - 0044-7447
VL - 44
SP - 367
EP - 375
JO - Ambio
JF - Ambio
IS - 5
ER -