05-09_Libro_Practicas_Agricolas - Territorios Centroamericanos

Buenas prácticas agrícolas para la adaptación al cambio climático Parte 3las cuales realizan importantes contribuciones al secuestro de carbono, alos parámetros hídricos, a la conservación de la biodiversidad y ayudan amejorar los ingresos en la finca.Palabras claves: balance hídrico, bosques, cercas vivas, fincas ganaderas,índice ecológico, pasturas con árboles, pasturas degradadasAbstractBetween 2003 and 2007, the GEF/Silvopastoral project evaluated the effectof the payment for environmental services (PES) on the changes in landuse (LU) in cattle farms in Esparza, Costa Rica. A total of 120 cattle farmerswere selected and randomly assigned as follows: 67 to the group thatreceived PES with technical assistance (TA), 26 to the group with PES, and27 to the control group. The farms belonging to the groups PES+TA andPES were classified according to their size into small (2–24.5 ha), medium(25–49.9 ha), and large (≥50 ha). An ecological index (ecological points)was developed as a tool for PES, which was based on the potential ofeach LU to sequester carbon and preserve the biological diversity. Resultsshowed that the PES led to a decrease of degraded pasture areas by14.2%, to an increase in areas with improved pasture with trees of 39.4%,and in forests of 0.9%, as well as 125.6 km of multistrata living fences. Theincremental ecological points ha -1 showed a significant difference (p