Socio-economic valuation of abandonment and intensification of Alpine agroecosystems and associated ecosystem services

The aim of the study was to analyse, using the ecosystem services framework, the sociocultural and economic value of a number of positive functions of Alpine agroecosystems (in north-eastern Italy) in a context of simultaneous processes of intensification and abandonment. Firstly, we used qualitative methods (interviews with farmers and other local stakeholders) to explore the relationships between the dairy livestock systems and the environment. Secondly, we used a choice model to rank and value the most important functions of the current agroecosystems (dairy livestock systems and permanent crops) according to the views of local (residents of the study area) and general (residents of the six neighbouring provinces) populations in three policy scenarios. We found that all the local stakeholders had a positive opinion of the outcomes of the mountain dairy livestock system. Within the current agroecosystems, regulation services (water quality) were found to be the most valuable for the well-being of society. Moreover, people were willing to compromise on production (quality products) rather than cut back on environmental services in a hypothetical sustainable development scenario. The current trend of intensification of permanent crops and dairy production, with the consequent abandonment of summer pastures, was rejected by respondents. The Total Economic Value of a set of four ecosystem services of an Alpine agroecosystem was €159.30 per person per year, which clearly exceeded current expenditure on agroenvironmental programmes.