Ecosystem services provided by grazing systems: A review

What is it about?

This article reviews the trends and approaches used in the analysis of some relevant ecosystem services (ES) provided by grazing systems, in line with the framework principles of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA).

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Why is it important?

The scientific literature provides reports of many studies on ES in general, but the search here focused on grazing systems, which returned only sixty-two papers. This review of published papers highlights that: (i) in some papers, the concept of ES as defined by the MA is misunderstood (e.g., lack of anthropocentric vision); (ii) 34% of the papers dealt only with one ES, which neglects the need for the multisectoral approach suggested by the MA; (iii) few papers included stakeholder involvement to improve local decision-making processes; (iv) cultural ES have been poorly studied despite being considered the most relevant for local and general stakeholders.

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