Community-Based Importance and Quantification of Ecosystem Services, Disservices, Drivers, and Neotropical Dry Forests in a Rural Colombian Municipality

Few studies analyze people’s preferences for ecosystem services (ES), disservices (ED) and drivers of change in less populated, tropical municipalities. Understanding such needs by the community stakeholder groups before actually assessing, modelling, measuring supply ES is key decision-making planning municipalities, as well conservation nearby neotropical dry forests. We studied these dynamics a small rural municipality Colombia with limited data availability using semi-structured interviews surveys, ES-proxies geospatial analyses. then analyzed importance two identified one ED from adjacent forests during 2005–2017. found that respondents recognized air purification food production most important ES. Increased temperatures fires were ED, while also an driver change. Air purification, via pollutant deposition to forest cover, remained approximately constant (116 ton/year), (49 ton/ha) fire occurrence, increased. Findings show how transdisciplinary research participatory knowledge co-production among local communities, researchers land management institutions can improve governance, decision making, policy uptake efforts.