5. Discussion

The findings of this research revealed that local residents living nearby or within Ceiba and Arenillas perceive and appreciate a wide range of ES provided by TDFs in southern Ecuador. The social actors in both areas mentioned provisioning services and cultural services, and to a lesser degree regulation services but hardly mentioned any supporting services. Supporting services were difficult to identify by social actors' especially those who are not familiar with ecological and biophysical processes. This finding supports conclusions from other studies suggesting that supporting services are harder to identify by the people [4].

Against the conclusions of these studies, we argue that the perception and prioritization of ES is also influenced by the extent to which a person or community is involved with the protected area. Prior studies [40–42], mentioned that regulation services are commonly perceived by populations whose members are not directly involved in agricultural activity. The results of our study indicate that municipality members, governmental officials and protected area managers, including community members contributing with the protected area, perceived more commonly regulation and support services whereas agriculturalists perceive more provisioning services. This suggests that the occupation and personal involvement with the management of the area inform the services that are perceived and prioritize. Moreover, while we agree that regulation services are hard to identify [43, 44], we argue that this is true for populations whose livelihoods depend on provisioning services. Indeed, the results of our study suggest that social actors perceiving and prioritizing regulation services were municipality members, protected area managers, and teachers. Finally, in Arenillas, people living nearby the reserve recognized the potential of developing tourism activities that would, in turn, generate an additional source of income for the communities. In Ceiba, cultural services were cited by municipality members and members of associations, but the cultural services were related to the intrinsic value of the TDF and the recognition of this ecosystem as an important area to transmit knowledge to different sectors.

People's Perceptions of Ecosystem Services Provided by Tropical Dry Forests: A Comparative Case Study…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75081

109

This study is a first step to build on the knowledge of TDF in an Ecuadorian context. It highlights the necessity to incorporate people's voices in the management of protected areas to achieve better conservation results. The integration of local people in policy making leads to a better compliance with conservation objectives [45–48], the results of our study also confirm these findings. This is especially important in developing countries where the stakeholders have not been fully integrated in the management process and where policymakers tend to prefer a top-down organization system. We argue that while this approach to conservation might be useful to conserve the natural environment, it doesn't necessarily guarantee the acquiescence of local communities with conservation policies on the long run, as the case of Arenillas showed us. We suggest that local governments should double their efforts in pro-

The findings of this research also revealed that social assessment methods are useful in the initial phase of studying ecosystem services as it permits managers to have an in-depth knowledge of the values, needs, preferences, and strains of the different stakeholders involved in a protected area. However, it fails to reveal some important supporting and regulation ecosystem functions and services that are invisible to local communities. Further studies should be carried out from an economic and ecologic point of view to obtain more rigorous

It was not associated with any economic benefit.

6. Conclusions and future challenges

moting a truly inclusive decision-making process.

assessments.

Our results suggest that there are two underlying forces that influence how people perceive their ecosystem: (1) the management strategies undertaken in each protected area, and, (2) the involvement of the different social actors with the reserves. Regarding the management strategies, we argue that the perceptions of ES provided by TDF are influenced by the models applied in the management of the protected areas. While in both areas the access to resources such as timber or pastures is restricted and regulated, in Ceiba sustainable activities, including agriculture, are allowed inside its territory if the owners permit it, whereas in Arenillas any production activity is banned by the Ministry of Environment.

The exclusionary model applied in Arenillas follows the trend applied in protected areas whereby these areas are set aside for recreation and restricted from other uses [34]. This conservation approach, as Pimbert et al. [35] pointed it out, seeks to exclude local communities from all forms of participation. Because conservation initiatives, namely protected areas, have mainly focused on protecting the regulation services and promoting the cultural services, it is not surprising that in Arenillas the ES that were most highly rated were cultural services. On the contrary, in terms of conservation, the inclusive management approach developed in Ceiba has positively influenced in that people perceive and value provisioning services as well as being aware of the impacts they have on the ecosystem.

While these results are promising for the conservation purposes, it is worthy to note that we have not analyzed how this inclusive management is influencing on the access to natural resources and on the people's livelihoods.

Regarding the second force, some authors have argued that the perception of ES and its further conservation depends on the beneficiaries of such services [9, 14, 36]. For instance, Benez et al. [37], and Verón et al. [38] indicated that ES are appreciated according to cultural values wherein the same service, namely water provision, could be perceived as human consumption or as hydroelectric power. Likewise, Reid et al. [39] suggested that ES are valued according to the level of urbanization and modernity wherein food supply is perceived differently in urban or non-urban areas. For example, mammals' abundance in the Arctic is highly valued as a food source whereas in urban environments meat suppliers may be less critical to the well-being of metropolitan populations given the wide array of protein substitutes and therefore are less valued.

Against the conclusions of these studies, we argue that the perception and prioritization of ES is also influenced by the extent to which a person or community is involved with the protected area. Prior studies [40–42], mentioned that regulation services are commonly perceived by populations whose members are not directly involved in agricultural activity. The results of our study indicate that municipality members, governmental officials and protected area managers, including community members contributing with the protected area, perceived more commonly regulation and support services whereas agriculturalists perceive more provisioning services. This suggests that the occupation and personal involvement with the management of the area inform the services that are perceived and prioritize. Moreover, while we agree that regulation services are hard to identify [43, 44], we argue that this is true for populations whose livelihoods depend on provisioning services. Indeed, the results of our study suggest that social actors perceiving and prioritizing regulation services were municipality members, protected area managers, and teachers. Finally, in Arenillas, people living nearby the reserve recognized the potential of developing tourism activities that would, in turn, generate an additional source of income for the communities. In Ceiba, cultural services were cited by municipality members and members of associations, but the cultural services were related to the intrinsic value of the TDF and the recognition of this ecosystem as an important area to transmit knowledge to different sectors. It was not associated with any economic benefit.
