Evaluating ecosystem services and disservices of livestock agroecosystems for targeted policy design and management

We present a critical analysis of the positive and negative impacts of pasture-based livestock systems on the environment. We use the case of sheep and mixed sheep-crops systems in Mediterranean Spain to illustrate our arguments and results. In the first part of the paper, we enumerate some limitations in the use of the ecosystem services concept when applied to agriculture in general and grassland ecosystems in particular. Next, we present an expert-knowledge assessment of the relationships between Agricultural practices and a number of relevant ecosystem services identified in previous research. We introduce a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) system based on these relationships that can be applied at the farm level and can accommodate different policy targets. In the second part of the paper, we critically discuss the use of live cycle analysis in grassland-based livestock systems to evaluate ecosystem disservices, usingas example the carbon footprint of lamb meat. We briefly discuss the limitations regarding the functional unit, the system boundary, the allocation approach, the availability of data, the consideration of carbon dynamics in soils, the land use management, and other sustainability factors