TY - JOUR

T1 - Economic valuation of ecosystem services for the sustainable management of agropastoral dams. A case study of the Sakabansi dam, northern Benin

AU - Baba, Check Abdel Kader

AU - Hack, Jochen

N1 - Funding Information: This paper is based on the master thesis of Check Abdel Kader Baba. Fieldwork was funded by the German Academic Exchange Service ( DAAD ) and took place from March to June 2013.

PY - 2019/12

Y1 - 2019/12

N2 - Agro-pastoral dams are multiple purpose water reservoirs primarily constructed to help pastoralists and riparian farmers address water shortages in rural areas. These dams are often surrounded by a buffer zone intended to minimize sedimentation and evapotranspiration. In spite of the importance of these dams for riparian communities’ livelihoods, their sustainability is nowadays challenged by various management issues underlined by stakeholders’ perception and valuation of ecosystem services provided by the dam system (reservoir-buffer zone). Taking the agro-pastoral dam of Sakabansi village in northern Benin as a case study, we assessed, quantified and valued both actual and potential benefits derived by riparian communities from the dam system using the ecosystem services cascade model as a conceptual framework. The Aggregated Economic Value of services provided by the dam system was estimated to 128,166 € based on nine ecosystem services. Fishery activities, despite causing conflicts between two major stakeholders of the dam, represented less than 0.09% of the Aggregated Economic Value. This suggests the crucial need to raise communities’ awareness on the economic value of various other benefits they derived from the dam system in order to facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of benefits and costs. We finally discussed the relevance of our valuation outputs in analysing trade-offs among services and in fostering stakeholder dialogues to inform land allocation and management at the local scale.

AB - Agro-pastoral dams are multiple purpose water reservoirs primarily constructed to help pastoralists and riparian farmers address water shortages in rural areas. These dams are often surrounded by a buffer zone intended to minimize sedimentation and evapotranspiration. In spite of the importance of these dams for riparian communities’ livelihoods, their sustainability is nowadays challenged by various management issues underlined by stakeholders’ perception and valuation of ecosystem services provided by the dam system (reservoir-buffer zone). Taking the agro-pastoral dam of Sakabansi village in northern Benin as a case study, we assessed, quantified and valued both actual and potential benefits derived by riparian communities from the dam system using the ecosystem services cascade model as a conceptual framework. The Aggregated Economic Value of services provided by the dam system was estimated to 128,166 € based on nine ecosystem services. Fishery activities, despite causing conflicts between two major stakeholders of the dam, represented less than 0.09% of the Aggregated Economic Value. This suggests the crucial need to raise communities’ awareness on the economic value of various other benefits they derived from the dam system in order to facilitate a more comprehensive assessment of benefits and costs. We finally discussed the relevance of our valuation outputs in analysing trade-offs among services and in fostering stakeholder dialogues to inform land allocation and management at the local scale.

KW - Agropastoral dam system; Ecosystem services; Aggregated economic value; Trade-off analysis; Riparian communities; West Africa

KW - Aggregated economic value

KW - Agropastoral dam system

KW - West Africa

KW - Ecosystem services

KW - Trade-off analysis

KW - Riparian communities

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070963315&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105648

DO - 10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105648

M3 - Article

VL - 107

JO - Ecological indicators

JF - Ecological indicators

SN - 1470-160X

M1 - 105648

ER -