摘要：Land-cover change has been identified as one of the most important drivers of change inecosystems and their services. However, information on the consequences of land cover change forecosystem services and human well-being at local scales is largely absent. Where information does exist,the traditional methods used to collate and communicate this information represent a significant obstacleto sustainable ecosystem management. Embedding science in a social process and solving problems togetherwith stakeholders are necessary elements in ensuring that new knowledge results in desired actions, behaviorchanges, and decisions. We have attempted to address this identified information gap, as well as the wayinformation is gathered, by quantifying the local-scale consequences of land-cover change for ecosystemservices in the Little Karoo region, a semiarid biodiversity hotspot in South Africa. Our work is part of astakeholder-engaged process that aims to answer questions inspired by the beneficiaries and managers ofecosystem services. We mapped and quantified the potential supply of, and changes in, five ecosystemservices: production of forage, carbon storage, erosion control, water flow regulation, and tourism. Ourresults demonstrated substantial (20%–50%) declines across ecosystem services as a result of land-coverchange in the Little Karoo. We linked these changes in land-cover to the political and land-use history ofthe region. We found that the natural features that deliver the Little Karoo's ecosystem services, similar toother semiarid regions, are not being managed in a way that recognizes their constraints and vulnerabilities.There is a resulting decline in ecosystem services, leading to an increase in unemployment and vulnerabilityto shocks, and narrowing future options. We have proposed a way forward for the region that includesimmediate action and restoration, mechanisms to fund this action, the development of future economicactivity including tourism and carbon markets, and new ways that the science–stakeholder partnership canfoster these changes. Although we acknowledge the radical shifts required, we have highlighted theopportunities provided by the resilience and adaptation potential of semiarid regions, their biodiversity,and their inhabitants
关键词：carbon; grazing; human well-being; land degradation; ostriches; tourism; trade-offs; water.
