The perception of ecosystem services in the wooded pastures of the Swiss Franches-Montagnes : an assessment using public participation GIS

Abstract

Agroforestry has long proved itself to provide many ecosystem services, ranging from provision of biodiversity to climate mitigation. In Switzerland, the region of Les Franches-Montagnes is famous for its large areas of wooded pastures, which compose the typical mosaic structure of the landscape. Integrated management plans and typologies of the wooded pastures have been developed to better understand and manage these silvopastoral systems. However, few studies have considered their benefits to the local population and assessed their role in the landscape as an ecosystem services provider. This study aims to show how the people of the region perceive ecosystem services provision in their surrounding landscape and how the latter contributes to their well-being. To do so, a survey using public participation GIS developed for the AGFORWARD project, was answered by the inhabitants of Muriaux, one of the 13 municipalities of the district of Les Franches-Montagnes. In this survey, they were asked to map different ecosystem services indicators on web-based maps of the region. Their answers were analyzed and the relationship between the ecosystem services indicators and land cover types was assessed. The results show that the diversified landscape of Les Frances-Montagnes provides many ecosystems services. However, the wooded pastures do not seem to hold more importance than other elements of the landscape in the provision of the latter. Answers to additional question of the survey suggest that the contribution of the landscape to personal well- being is mainly based on people-landscape relationships, such as tranquility and space and on social interaction between the inhabitants. Because this study only assesses a small proportion of the population of the region, it can be regarded as an exploratory work on the perception of ecosystem services in the Franches-Montagnes.