Assessment of Ecosystem Services Provision: The Case of Mountain Olive Groves in Los Pedroches, Southern Spain

Abstract

The mountain olive grove is an agroecosystem that, despite low yields and high costs, is recognised for its marked multifunctionality and its significant potential to provide ecosystem services. Due to the close relationship between ecosystem services and human well-being, advancement in the identification and assessment of potential benefits is of great interest. Thus, by using the multi-criteria decision-making technique Analytic Network Process (ANP), this study offers an approach to assessing mountain olive grove ecosystem services provision. Based on three possible scenarios or alternatives, ANP provides data to determine the management system that has the most impact to provide ecosystem services. The results could supply technical data to support policy decision-making for the development of rural areas.

Olive Oil Sensory Analysis as a Tool to Preserve and Valorize the Heritage of Centenarian Olive Trees

“…This is especially true of traditional orchards, with well-adapted local olive cultivars and aged plants, some of them centenarian [2,3]. The benefits generated by traditional olive groves need to be evaluated in a holistic framework related to the production of raw materials (olives, leaves, and wood) as well as other social, geographical, and environmental aspects [4]. In today's climate change conditions, the contribution to carbon sequestration could be considered one of the most important of the ecosystem benefits provided by traditional olive groves.…”

Mapping and valuation of ecosystem services for informed decision making in spatial planning

“…In the case of providing and demanding a specific type of crop, tree crops (especially olive groves) were far more beneficial compared to other crop types. The potential of olive groves to provide high quality goods (i.e., food) services, as well as multiple ESs, has been highlighted by several studies conducted in other Mediterranean areas (Fernández-Habas et al, 2018;Marchi et al, 2018;Montanaro et al, 2017;Bernués et al, 2015). In addition to olive groves, a mixture of other crop types greatly contributed to the local economy of the Ionian Islands, either by providing goods directly to society or by creating products for tourism purposes (Kefalas et al, 2018).…”

“…Agroforestry is one of such land use systems that provides multiple ESs, combining the provision of agricultural and forestry products with non-commodity outputs, such as climate, water and soil regulation, and recreational, aesthetic and cultural heritage values . This phenomenon explains why different agricultural policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Rural Development Policy, have been reformed to highlight the need to enhance the provision of other ESs, aside from agricultural products (Fernández-Habas et al, 2018). In this way, agricultural activities will not exhibit a trade-off relationship with other regulating and recreational ES, which is a common pattern detected in other areas (Queiroz et al, 2015;Renard et al, 2015;Turner et al, 2014).…”